In terms of a venue, this place is great. I've seen a lot of great local and out-of-town bands at…read morethis spot. It's quaint, and has a cool ambience.
In terms of a radio station, it's awesome that they are playing eclectic music on FM. There is a wide array of content, from all walks of life.
The owner is awesome, and should be commended for his efforts and making this place a reality.
In terms of a volunteer organization, it absolutely fails. I volunteered there for several years, and found it to be very cliquey. Aside from one or two people, volunteers with more seniority make zero attempt to make you feel welcome, resulting in a high turnover of enthusiastic new members who stop coming after a few times. No one introduces themselves. Countless times I'd walk in to the station to be un-greeted, and looked over with apathy and indifference. It was so palpable at times, that it killed my enthusiasm and made me leave.
Most of the contact between volunteers is done through email and Slack, a cloud-based collaboration tool. All of the regulars are quick to respond to one another, pat themselves on the back, and quick to tell you when you're doing something wrong, but if you have a question, they literally never, ever get back to you, unless they need something from you. That's the reason new people don't stick around, and that's the reason I left. Actual face-to-face meetings felt like a cool kids table.
If you are a self-motivated, DIY kinda person who wants to have a radio show, you are certainly given the tools to get you there. If you want to feel like you a part of a community, you are ranked based on age, melanin, and genitalia. There's a lot of younger volunteers who pollute the meetings seeming to care nothing about music, professionalism, egalitarianism, and instead want to wear a provocative t-shirt and push their political agendas and SJW ideologies. Literally, the biggest safe space banner you will ever see hangs on the wall as a constant reminder that you're only welcome in this spot, if you fit the criteria. People went out of their way to make me feel unwelcome.
A few times I was working in the station during a new member orientation, listening to the organizer with ill-fitted attire and a water bottle with an Antifa sticker say "like" every other word, and repeatedly making it clear that they don't want "bands with like, all white guys, like, playing shows here". No one is there to reprimand this unprofessional behavior, resulting in less than 1/10 of the new volunteers each meeting sticking around more than a few weeks.
I suppose in defense of H.E.R., you're only as good as your volunteer base. I hope some fresh faces with outgoing personalities really clean up the place, but you'll, like, have the cards, like, stacked against you.
