Coastside Buzz Founder Michelle Dragony

Michelle selfie

Michelle selfie
I grew up in Silicon Valley, pre-Apple, in orchards and open space. Not “Open Space”, just open space. I moved to England in the 70s and was surrounded by woods and meadows; more open space. When I came back the orchards were gone.

I moved to Half Moon Bay in 1989 to be near the open space of the hills and water.

I lived here mostly in a small world of work and play, then I had my son in 1998. All of a sudden the Coastside came alive for me. There was playgroup, kids sports, auctions, Mavericks Invitational, CERT (community emergency response team), KHMB Radio AM 1710, the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club… volunteering became a way of life while I was a stay-at-home mom.

It was during the Wavecrest/Cunha Middle school petition and voting process that I realized that we were not only Half Moon Bay, we are really The Coastside. As I asked people to sign my petition I realized more than half of my playgroup and soccer team and swim team and school friends could not sign and would not have a voice in a decision that would affect traffic and access for the whole Coastside. It bothered me.

Years later, I walked into KHMB Radio AM 1710 and immediately saw the potential for the radio to communicate in a way that would compliment the other media sources on the Coastside.

I have always loved radio. My first college degree was in journalism with an emphasis on photography and radio broadcasting. I came up with an now archaic idea to create a “Radio Guide” for local Bay Area radio stations (like the old TV Guide). Back in that day it was a manual effort requiring reading a lot of newspapers and making phone calls, making a manual database (that would be the old pen and paper and ruler ledger techniques) and then figuring a way to get advertisers to pay me to produce and distribute my great idea.

So you could see how I might get pretty excited at today’s state of technology. We are being freed to communicate more quickly and with greater articulation than ever before. As a case in point, a few years ago, I wrote and published my own book (Live to Die; The Birth-Day~DeathDay Planning Process) and was freed from the previous constraints of the larger publishing world.

And so, now, with Coastside Buzz I am again seeing how technology can free us and help us communicate better by using the Internet and Podcasts. I saw the potential for infinite Coastal Content. Everyone can have a voice and anyone can listen from anywhere. Stream or download from any device.

Coastside Buzz is an upgrade for Coastsider communication.