Ziggy Mrkich Presents Radio KCLA-LP100.7FM + San Pedro Film Festival SPIFFest.orgBy Writer and Contributor NJ Jaeger
Last year, an exciting new San Pedro community radio station for the South Bay, KCLA-LP 100.7FM went live. Australian born Station Manager Ziggy Mrkich, a former rock concert photographer, radio DJ and founder of the San Pedro International Film Festival turned her vision for a South Bay community radio station into a reality.
San Pedro’s KCLA-LP 100.7 FM is a new and important communication pipeline for community access to emergency broadcasts, area news, public information, education, influencer interviews, local entertainment and social events.
KCLA 100.7 a Low Power FM (LPFM) Station, can also be heard online at kcla.fm plays alternative adult album fare along with local news and regular programming like The Port Report where Ziggy interviews dignitaries such as former Harbor Commissioner Dianne Middleton and Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. Despite there having been another radio station in San Pedro almost 100 years ago, currently KCLA-LP is San Pedro’s only on-air broadcast radio station.
Radio KCLA’s Mission Statement: KCLA’s on-air programming aims to cover San Pedro’s vibrant music, culture, and arts scene and strives for excellence in both content and delivery.
Ziggy says, “We're looking for partners and programs. Pete Manghera used to do a show for RPV television, called Pete’s Place, is now going to do a similar show for Radio KCLA. We are a small non-profit but we're also fundraising to do an educational workshop for youth, to teach journalism on the topic of Terminal Island history, which currently is struggling to preserve the last two remaining buildings.
Radio KCLA is accepting vinyl and CD’s donations from the community. That’s how we built our music library. We also use automation to run the programming. You know, people are busy these days and some can't come in and do a live show so they might prerecord and send it into us, or they can prerecord here at the studio and then schedule for later airing.”
Ziggy’s 2025 objectives for KCLA are threefold: increase the station’s reach and sponsorship partners, launch new community programs, and find a Peninsula location for KCLA’s radio antenna, most likely on an existing tower or on top of a building.
AUSTRALIA to LONDON to BURBANK
Ziggy learned the world of broadcasting at Curtain University’s Radio 6NR in Perth, Australia while completing her studies in Photography, Film & TV at the then Western Australian College of Media Design and Fine Arts. 6NR is a full power station and Ziggy was the on-air announcer for three shows including the busy weekday drive-time show. “It was one of those things I was in my early twenties, and I didn’t know what direction my career should go in, and somebody suggested it because I loved storytelling socially and they knew I could tell a story visually. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and they teach you how to be an on-air announcer, so I thought, hmmm, that sounds like fun. It’s creative. They started me on the graveyard shift and once I had that under my belt, I was roped in to do a drive time show for new album releases where I regularly interviewed and photographed heavy metal celebrities like Metallica.” Ziggy said. Ziggy’s ability to capture astounding images and expressive faces was honed as a concert photographer during her early years in Australia.
Ziggy relocated to London and worked for record labels such as Polygram and MCA Records International in London in the early 1990’s. “As an Australian citizen and part of the Commonwealth, I could apply for a live-work visa in another Commonwealth country which allowed me up to 2 years with a 6 month extension. During that time, I always wanted to come to the US but there wasn’t a legal way until I found out about the new DV1 visa the Diversity Visa green card and so I applied to come to the United States while still on the live-work visa in London. I had to give my passport to the UK authorities for a certain amount of time as I had to apply for an extension while waiting to hear back regarding my US green card, and then once you ask for your passport back, you have 30 days to leave. So it was this tightrope like experience, will the approval for the green card arrive in time? This is pre-internet days. And if not, what do I do? What's my plan B? Well, I didn't want to go back to Australia as it was so far away, but on the other hand, my parents were in a war zone in Croatia. My plan B was Croatia.
It took about a year before Ziggy was approved for a green card. Ziggy remembers, “I got my passport back, gave it to the Americans, and then a month later I am in Burbank, California and I knew no one. I had a small suitcase full of old school photographic gear, a couple of items of clothing, and $1,000 in my back pocket, and that was it. And from there, I started working at the Warner Bros studios for Morgan Creek Productions in the music licensing department and after that at Walt Disney in development.
I worked for various studios for 20 years and then I started a nonprofit because I wanted to start up a film festival. I love curating content. Reminds me of my days at 6NR and coming up with playlists. So then we established the nonprofit Art in Motion Inc., and launched the San Pedro International Film Festival in 2012, and then right around the same time, the FCC opened up a window for applications for LPFM community radio stations, and I knew I had to apply.”
PENINSULA ANTENNA LOCATION SEARCH
A Low Power FM is granted a 10-mile signal radius. ”Our main antenna currently is on top of the building here; however, we're at sea level and it's really hard to get a signal over the San Pedro hill to the Peninsula, so we need a closer location to the Peninsula and then we would have a much broader signal reach. However, as we know everything is on the internet now and so we also stream online via our website at KCLA.FM ” Ziggy said.
During emergencies first responders may need to rely on radio transmissions when other communication sources fail. “Right, exactly. And we're community radio, so the license that we have from the FCC is LPFM, is Low Power FM, and that requires to serve the community.
Sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh,you can hear KCLA clear as a bell – and then the weather, or the ocean is a conductor, interferes with our signals, or I hear the San Diego Station coming through” Ziggy said.
(1920’s Era Antenna)
SOUTH BAY’S HISTORIC RADIO STATION
Radio historian Jim Hilliker recently posted a summary of San Pedro’s KVLD’s evolution: KFVD/KPOP/KGBS/KTNQ is 100 years old this year. KFVD San Pedro was licensed on March 13, 1925. KFVD's first broadcast was on the evening of June 13, 1925, three months later. KTNQ-1020 is the 9th oldest radio station in the Los Angeles market.
From 1925 to 1926, the McWhinnie Electric Company put KFVD broadcast news and current events promoted by a reciprocal agreement with the Daily Pilot. Religious services, musical events and a student play rounded out its programming. In 1926 the station closed almost overnight and moved to Venice. Management is said to have relocated seeking to expand its audience, however; locals believe the station’s radio broadcast interfered with Navy ships.
SAN PEDRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
With the historic Art Deco Warner Grand Theatre undergoing a 22 million dollar renovation, Art in Motion, the nonprofit behind the San Pedro International Film Festival, is searching for a temporary Rolling Hills Estates screening location.
For 14 years Ziggy Mrkich has helped raise San Pedro profile as a go-to destination for the Hollywood community with the San Pedro International Film Festival.
Ziggy writes, “SPIFFest is committed to exhibiting films that embody inspiring entertainment for all. Works that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the intent that these films enlighten audiences while providing invaluable exposure for filmmakers, local and international.”
San Pedro’s port, coastline and historic buildings have appeared in network shows like ‘NCIS’, along with several feature films including, ‘Silence of the Lambs’, ‘The Usual Suspects’ and ‘Titanic’ and many more.
SPIFFEST 2025
Submissions are still open on the SPIFFest.org website for the 14th Annual SPIFFest and the official list of 2025 nominees will be announced later this year. The San Pedro Film Festival will screen November 6-9 at various locations. These features and shorts are where bold ideas, fresh voices, and wild creativity thrive—and often where future Oscar-winning directors first get noticed or go on to win! So mark your calendar, get your popcorn ready, and keep an eye out for the lineup you won’t want to miss it! #SPIFFest”
NJ is a storyteller who has written in many voices for clients in health, education, entertainment, food, sport and politics. Her firm managed publicity for documentary films, book authors and the U.S. Championships. NJ received the Lynn Weaver Award from the Entertainment Professional Publicists Society for her lifelong commitment to philanthropy and community volunteerism.