The idea for RADIOFREEBEAUFORT popped into my head one day when I was listening to R.E.M.’s song “Radio Free Europe.” I realized that “Radio Free Beaufort” sounded pretty good, and I decided to sing along with the song that way. Ra-di-ooo Freeeeee Beaufort. Also floating around my brain at the same time: a desire to find a writing outlet to start up some creative nonfiction, or even just journaling, during a time of political upheaval, both at the local/state level and nationally. I did a little digging into Radio Free Europe, both the organization and the song, and everything started to come together.

Briefly, RFE the organization was started in the 1950s as a way to provide an ostensibly free press to countries in Eastern Europe where totalitarian governments controlled the media. I say “ostensibly” because this wasn’t a purely high-minded noble effort – it was a CIA-backed enterprise set up as a foil to the Soviet Union’s propaganda machine.

RFE the song, well, as far as I can tell it has nothing to do with any journalistic efforts. According to Mike Mills in the liner notes of “And I Feel Fine … ” they liked the sound of “Radio Free Europe” and that’s the extent of it.

Though I’m but one insignificant voice among the masses, here in early 2025 it feels necessary to write things that are true, and to resist a media space that is becoming increasingly subservient to wannabe-totalitarian leadership. And it also feels necessary to write things simply because I like the sound of them.

The loose model of RADIOFREEBEAUFORT, then, is that of a small radio station trying to broadcast reality in the face of misinformation. “Reality” might be local Beaufort news/politics, state-level stuff, or reactions to national events; it also might mean random musings or human interest stories or music recommendations or travel guides…the stuff that fills the spaces between news broadcasts on the radio.