Since May 2004 Alan Hale has been hosting a weekly radio program entitled "The Other Side of the Sky" (this name coming from a collection of short stories by Arthur C. Clarke). Each program features music from a variety of genres (we have played everything from Beethoven to Judas Priest -- often within the same episode!) and we have a special weekly feature, "Songs From the Earth," that features music from nations and cultures all over the planet. In addition to the music, we also include thought-provoking discussion of various current topics and events (astronomical, political, and otherwise), and we will often have various special guests on for interviews. Some of the guests we have had on during recent weeks and months include:

Erik Lindbergh, X-Prize Foundation and grandson of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh

Elaine Walker, lead singer of the band Zia

Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., Producer, and son of Star Trek creator Eugene Roddenberry

Vanna Bonta, author/actress/musician

Congressman Steve Pearce (2nd Congressional district, New Mexico)

Dr. Peter Diamandis, Founder and President of the X-Prize Foundation

Peter Mitchell, former Executive Director, New Mexico Office for Space Commercialization

Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Don Machholz, discoverer of Comet Machholz C/2004 Q2

Several participants of the Southwest Institute's "science diplomacy" visit to Iran in August 1999

Joint broadcast with NMSR Science Watch

Currently, "The Other Side of the Sky" can be heard on Saturday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00 (Mountain time) on KUPR-FM (91.7) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and on KHII-FM (88.9) in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. We hope to be implementing a web-streaming capability within the not-too-distant future, and as time goes by and our listening audience increases, we hope to expand to longer hours, additional days, and additional stations.

We are an independent contractor at the radio stations where we appear, and by arrangement with the stations' ownership we are funded by sponsorships from businesses and other organizations and individuals. Since the current stations are non-commercial institutions we are prohibited from airing advertisements, however we acknowledge our sponsors per the following schedule:

$55 (plus tax) per month: one acknowledgement per hour

$100 (plus tax) per month: two acknowledgements per hour

$200 (plus tax) per month: five acknowledgements per hour

We will also list our sponsors on this web page. At present, our sponsors are:

Southwest Institute for Space Research, Cloudcroft, NM

The Jeff Diamond Law Firm, Carlsbad, NM

If you or your business or organization would like to be a sponsor of "The Other Side of the Sky," you may either contact Alan Hale directly, or contact KUPR-FM at (505) 437-0917.

One of the things we like to do at "The Other Side of the Sky" is feature music that may not be receiving much airplay on mainstream radio stations. If you have some suggestions for music that we can play, or if you are a musician (or are in a band) that would like to have your music played on "The Other Side of the Sky," please contact Alan Hale.
We have sample broadcasts of "The Other Side of the Sky" available on CD for potential sponsors and other parties who might be interested in listening to them. While these are not for sale, we do ask for donations (suggested donation: $20) to the Southwest Institute for Space Research, with proceeds going to the Earthrise Project. Specific broadcasts we have available are:

"Songs from America" July 2, 2005 (in honor of the Fourth of July weekend)

"The Music of Hale-Bopp" July 23, 2005 (in conjunction with the "Comet's Tale" event marking the 10-year anniversary of the discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp)

"X-Prize!" October 8, 2005 (in conjunction with the "Countdown to the X-Prize Cup" held in southern New Mexico that weekend)

These sample broadcasts can be ordered by contacting Alan Hale; please specify which broadcast(s) you wish to receive.

We also have a list of musical artists who have been featured on "The Other Side of the Sky."
Back to Southwest Institute main page

Back to Alan Hale bio