1997 March: While volunteering at Haddonfield (NJ) United Methodist Church's Sunday school resource center, a guy notices a book, Lifestyle in the Eighties: An Evangelical Commitment to Simple Living, by Ron Sider. Its overwhelming body of statistics and compelling exposition of Scripture about poverty rivet his attention. He reads another book by the same author, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. He feels as if he's walking in God's shoes, seeing what He sees, and he decides to do something.

1997 April: The guy, having chosen the pseudonym "Retiarius Zogreso," Latin and Greek for "net-man will capture," puts out the first monthly issue of Life-Net News, "Casting a LIFE-NET: A Living Weapon Against Poverty." It takes up both sides of one page and has no graphics whatsoever. He hands it out to taxicab riders in and around Camden, NJ, the fifth poorest city in the USA.

1997 October: Attending a Wednesday noon prayer meeting at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Moorestown, NJ, R.Z. hears Rev. Eileen Ricks say she has a radio show, and he says, "Y'know, I've thought about doing a radio show. I'd want to make sure, very sure, that it's God's will, though, 'cause otherwise I might get some inflated idea of being a radio star." Rev. Ricks invites him to do a guest spot on her show, All God's Children on WTMR-AM 800.

1997 December 4, 8pm: R.Z. does a ten-minute guest spot on All God's Children, including one of his musical compositions, a minimalist meditation on Philippians 4:8.

1997 December 18, 8pm: R.Z. does a second spot, interweaving his intense atonal composition "Amos 8" with excerpts from Jonathan Kozol's searing indictment of welfare hotels.

1998 January: Rev. Ricks has no more guest spots available for a few months. R.Z. must decide whether to stop doing radio, wait for another guest slot to open up, or launch a whole show. After much careful deliberation and prayer, he inquires at WTMR then signs a contract.

1998 February 2, 10:45pm: Life-Net Radio #1 airs.

1998 June 29: On Life-Net Radio #21, Monsignor Michael Doyle, humble priest and oft-quoted hero of South Camden, comes on the show to add his support to our cause.

1998 August 10: Life-Net Radio airs its first interview recorded in a nursing home with a resident (LNR #27). Grandmom loves the attention.

1998 August 22: R.Z. and wife buy an old Toshiba laptop computer for $25 at a garage sale. The seller has called it a "museum piece," but R.Z. finds it functional, including a modem. He hooks it up to the Burlington County Library's e-mail service, and Life-Net E-mail is born.

1998 August 24: Recorded at the Food Bank of South Jersey's Walk/Skate for Hunger, "Mrs. Ret" makes one of her only appearances on Life-Net Radio (#29), a quick interview comment.

1998 August 25: Life-Net Radio's occasional technical advisor (charitably anonymous) dies of a sudden heart attack at age 64. LNR #30 pays him tribute; R.Z. and family grieve.

1998 September: In Yahoo! chat, R.Z. asks "SerbianSerb" if he'd write a story or two about poverty for Life-Net News, because SerbianSerb has a vantage point on his own country that no American can have, that of a native. SerbianSerb becomes Life-Net's first World Bureau correspondent, bureau chief Aleksa Iorga.

1998 September 14: Life-Net Radio airs its first show recorded on the water, "Boat Live," with Paul Faust (LNR #31), a trip down the Delaware River to Cape May.

1998 October: Life-Net News expands to four pages.

1998 December 14: Life-Net Radio airs its first drama segment, "I Was Only Trying to Help!" by UrbanPromise's teen drama group.

1999 January 29: The Maple Shade Progress newspaper runs a story, "Maple Shade Man Fights Poverty With A Weekly Radio Program: With 15 Minutes A Week On A Christian Radio Station, 'Ret Zogreso' Works To Help Those In Need"--page one, big photo, and about three column-feet of story.

1999 February 3: A member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Maple Shade, wishing to remain anonymous, offers R.Z. a large donation. But Life-Net is a no-proceeds operation, so R.Z. says he'll use the money to cover airtime costs for people who can't afford the reimbursement. To this day, the same donor has been replenishing this sponsorship fund as needed.

1999 March 1: Life-Net Radio airs its first and only commercial: R.Z. goes to Fox Meadow Golf Center, asking manager Nick Manari for free passes which R.Z. will give to Big Brothers Big Sisters. In return, R.Z. produces and airs a 30-second spot.

1999 March 29: The NATO bombing campaign has been going on. Bureau chief Aleksa has been filing reports, and Life-Net Radio has been airing them. R.Z. tips KYW-TV, who decides it's a good story. KYW-TV sends a camera guy to film R.Z. at WTMR's Studio B reading Aleksa's report live (LNR #58).

1999 March 30: "Mrs. Ret" wakes R.Z. up for a phone call. It's KYW Newsradio 1060's Mark Drucker asking for an interview. Throughout the day, Drucker's report of R.Z.'s voice and Aleksa's words airs repeatedly on KYW 1060. At 11:04pm, on KYW-TV Eyewitness News, a 48-second television report read by bigtime anchor Larry Kane, showing R.Z. in the WTMR studio, airs: "Messages from Serbia," ending with a close-up of LNR #58's handwritten script, "Poverty and police oppression are two sides of the one coin, the foul issue of that irresponsible, kleptocratic dictator Milosevic."

1999 April 9: The Maple Shade Progress contains a short report about us.

1999 April 11: R.Z., driven by concern about Aleksa under NATO attack, attends a prayer vigil for peace at the Liberty Bell. Wanting to catch attention for the vigil and its message about the need for prayer, he stands praying under a big white net holding a sign, "Enmeshed in War." TV cameras do show up, and at 10pm and 11pm, two TV news reports air, on WB-17 and NBC-10, with R.Z. close-ups as key shots. Pray for peace!

1999 April 20: R.Z. gets the idea that a weekly Life-Net News would be easier to coordinate with the weekly Radio, and that a one-pager would be easier on readers. Life-Net News becomes a weekly three-column page with graphics.

1999 May 10: UrbanPromise's "The Ultimate Challenge" (LNR #64) quiz-show spoof makes our first use of special sound effects.

1999 June 28: One of the best shows, "Slavery Still Exists!" (LNR #71) starring Mauritainian activist Boubacar Messaoud, brought to you by the American Friends Service Committee, airs.

1999 July 26: Another favorite: "Nuclear Anniversary" (LNR #75) recorded at Lockheed Martin's AEGIS site, a vigil organized by Brandywine Peace Community, is the first show in which R.Z. uses digital editing.

1999 August 6: After recording Hiroshima survivors (LNR #81) at the South Jersey Campaign for Peace and Justice with TV cameras present, R.Z. sees himself in the background on Channel 6 Action News.

1999 September 13: Life-Net Radio airs its first recording of a professional musician. Betty Jean performs her "You Ain't A Throwaway," on the show (LNR #82) starring House of Grace Catholic Worker Community's vigil against sanctions on Iraq, an event also covered by WHYY-FM. At this event, demonstrators' civil disobedience drew an arrest.

1999 October 4: R.Z. gets to act in a drama segment (LNR #85). Playwright Yvonne Talton-Kersey casts him as The Demon, which "Mrs. Ret" finds amusingly appropriate.

1999 October 25: Life-Net Radio airs its first live call-in talk episode (LNR #88).

1999 November 29: After R.Z. records interviews for LNR #93, New Visions homeless center director Carol Riley expresses great gratitude, because she'd played the LNR tape of New Visions' previous broadcast for many, many people, and when her clients had heard themselves on the tape, it had done wonders for their self-esteem.

1999 December 6: Aleksa invites R.Z. to come look at Life-Net's new website (this one), which Aleksa has been planning for several months.

1999 December 20: We post audio clips on the Website, so for the first time ever, our e-mail subscribers can hear our voices.

1999 December 23: R.Z. shows up on Action News again (Gary Papa reporting). The cameras were covering a peace vigil, organized by Brandywine Peace Community, held on the 30th Street bridge in Philadelphia; R.Z. was recording impromptu interviews with participants. (LNR #97).

1999 December 27: We see a familiar face on the cover of the Philadelphia Daily News, a full-page photo of Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and her budding movie-star son. Cheri had joined us via telephone while leading a month-long march from DC to NYC. (LNR #86)

2000 January 1: We carry our Life-Net glitch-free across the threshold into the "Net Century".

2000 January 2: Marge McGinley of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Mt. Holly, NJ, who starred on LNR #10, shows up in the Burlington County Times as one of ten selected people "Making A Difference" in 1999.

2000 March 16: We find this site listed on the Open Directory: It's the Internet equivalent of a "thumbs up" from Siskel & Ebert. We're under "Top: Arts: Radio: Programs," and if you use the search box instead, the words "poverty radio" or "WTMR" bring us up in the number-one slot. Life-Net Radio joins the world class!

2000 April 3 and 10: LNR airs its first episodes (a two-part series with Westfield Friends Meeting's Young People's Peace Group) that starred children but weren't scripted by adults. Credit goes to the leaders of that group for sitting back and letting it happen.

2000 April 19: Your host R.Z.'s picture appears in a photo gallery on www.viequeslibre.org, "Web Central" of the Vieques movement. I had dozens of cameras on me this day, in front of the White House; I'd traveled there with El Comite Pro-Vieques, which brings to mind another LNR milestone: This is the farthest we've yet traveled to record for a show.

2000 May 4: The Big Raid, the removal and detention of protest campers out of the Navy's bombing range, doesn't snare your host. He was scheduled to join the campers, as part of the Pastors for Peace delegation from the US, and bring back for-air recordings from the scene, but a last-minute snafu bumped him from the flight. In response to the raid, protests erupt nationwide.

2000 May 6: Your host R.Z. appears on page B1 of the Philadelphia Inquirer, taking a stand with Vieques protestors who blocked traffic at Broad & Cherry Streets the day before. The caption reads, "Ret Zogreso of Haddonfield (left) and Nora Maldonado at the rally. Zogreso was covered in a net to reflect his sign, which reads, 'Throw nets not bombs,' and contains a Spanish message ['Paz para los pescadores!'] urging peace toward the fishermen." Some days later, I was told I was also seen on three television news shows, NBC-10, ABC-6, and Fox-29.

2000 May 8: LNR airs its first Buddhists, whom we recorded as they were walking from Massachusetts to western Pennsylvania against the death penalty, praying "Namu myoho renge kyo," led by Buddhist nuns.

2000 May 11: Your host appears in a big black-and-white photo on page 2 of the regional newspaper El Hispano, with the caption: "THROW NETS NOT BOMBS!, that's what these supporters of Vieques are saying." (Nora Maldonado also appears, with a sign, "HONK For VIEQUES".)

2000 May 15: Having stood publicly as in individual in protests against the Navy's presence in Vieques, R.Z. hopes to hear opposing views for editorial balance. At the May 5th demonstration, a retired Navy gunner approaches, saying, "Y'all are wrong!" R.Z. replies, "May I tape you for our radio show?" In the middle of a show with El Comite Pro-Vieques, we air his view, presenting it with no lapse in attention to quality.

2000 May 19: Your host pays an educational visit to a West Philadelphia school. For the first time, I'm asked for my autograph--by about half a dozen children.

2000 June: R.Z. loses home Web access and starts using public library Web terminals to maintain the site. We're grateful for libraries, having gained a new appreciation of their vital role in a democratic society.

2000 June 26: LNR airs its first parade. Highlights of the San Juan Bautista Parade through Camden City. (We're also marching, with the hundreds-of-yards-long Vieques contingent.)

2000 July 25: The laser printer we were using has gone on the blink. We decide to post a printable version of Life-Net News on our site so we can print it at libraries. A fringe benefit emerges: Not only we, but also anyone in the world can print it. (Though it doesn't print presentably on all computer/printer combinations.)

2000 July 31: The day after the Vieques protest outside the Republican Convention, R.Z. appears in a black-and-white photo in the Camden Courier-Post. The story: "Security force tops 1,000 for GOP festivities along Camden Waterfront". The caption: "Protester Ret Zogreso of Haddonfield waits to be searched outside the New Jersey State Aquarium Sunday evening."

2000 August 14: Life-Net Radio crosses paths with the Independent Media Center, a network of radio, Web, and TV producers and talent which, in the wake of the "Battle of Seattle," forms temporary media production centers at big protest events. Daily IMC coverage of the Republican convention has aired on public-broadcast WYBE-TV 35. LNR #124 airs a production by the IMC's Ken Carl.

2000 September 4: Recording at Philadelphia's Labor Day parade, R.Z. gets to ask mayor John F. Street a question one-on-one.

2000 September 11: LNR takes its first dip into literary criticism, with magazine editor Steve Paulmier who reviews Lorraine Hansberry's teleplay The Drinking Gourd.

2000 September 16: R.Z. attends a Camden event and laments the apparent lack of other media present. The Hearts & Hands Arts Festival. Show sponsored by Camden Printworks.

2000 September 18: LNR airs its first poetry reading by the poet. Msgr. Michael Doyle reads his nuanced piece, "Listen, Camden! All Is Well!"

2000 October 30: In our first presidential election season, we've avoided endorsing any candidate, strongly preferring editorial neutrality. We do decide, however, to highlight the fact that voters have "More Than Two Choices". We air LNR #136, a compilation of quotes from third-party candidates.

2000 November 10: Life-Net Web adds its List of Stars. Now the world can see who we are, a great diversity of people listed on one Webpage. As we've asked, "God is calling; who will answer?" Now we know.

The Latest

2000 November 22: We add a Quick Index to Life-Net Web, saving scroll-down time for experienced visitors.

2000 November 25: We see another of our ad-hoc broadcast associates (Stars) on TV: Rev. Larry Falcon (LNR #116, "Affluence-Warped Bible Versions Exposed") appears on WHYY (PBS) for about 3 minutes, telling about his ministry to West Philadelphia children. Part of a documentary, Holy Philadelphia.

2000 December 11: We're privileged to air (on Show #141) one of the first releases of material from the UN's State of the World's Children 2001 report--a day before its public release--thanks to star Cantor Ron Fischman. The episode opens a 3-part SOWC series.

2000 December 14: Sponsored by an anonymous Lutheran, we attend a meeting featuring Ismael Guadalupe, one of the biggest leaders in the Vieques movement, in person, recorded and aired on Show #146.

2000 December 27: Reminded of personal faults, R.Z. begins opening the "Love Lab". First goal: Learn to love more. Second goal: Share the learning by finding and displaying biblical information in a relatively unfiltered way so people can draw their own conclusions and make their own applications. Life-Net Relevance: aGApe- is an essential set of choices and skills for activists and others in our field--Christian or not.

2001 January 1: Happily, the true first day of the Third Millenium AD falls on a Monday, one of Life-Net Radio's weekly air days. The episode: "State of the World's Children 2001, Part 3" (Show #144).

2001 January 19: After an exciting interview with Dr. Gloria Stone-Mitchell of RESPOND INC., Camden, NJ--and weeks of telephone tag--R.Z. walks into the Firehouse Afterschool Program (K-6) for the first time. He hopes to succeed this day in starting a long-term paid ($100/wk) contract as a "communications consultant," in which he would get kids involved in open-air broadcasting through their own segment series on LNR. He receives a warm, sincere welcome from the children, some of whom form an impromptu recording crew, walking R.Z. around the place and interviewing people.

2001 January 29: Show #148 introduces a new-to-us idea: Get a business to sponsor air time for a charity. This episode has us interviewing Andy Joshua of URBANPROMISE, sponsored by Schimpf Auto Body--who humbly declined our offer of an added advertising spot.

2001 February 10: We receive a story from correspondent Dr. Richard Lloyd Schwenk that surely ranks as one of the most intense so far: Dr. Gyaneshwar Rao's first-hand account of the outdoor ER he frantically ran in the aftermath of the earthquake that shook India January 26. His hospital had collapsed. We aired the story on Show #153, setting it to music by John Corigliano from Altered States.

2001 February 12: LNR passes a half-century mark-- its 150th show--by airing its first compilation of music (and poetry) from previous episodes.

2001 February 26: Kids Radio Camden debuts on Show #152. The contract with RESPOND INC. looks reasonably secure. R.Z. is proud to enter the children's broadcasting business as a grassroots alternative to Radio Disney and its like: On KRC, the kids themselves get more creative control than they would in many another outlet--with no commercials or pledge breaks.

2001 March 18: R.Z. comes up with a new idea in gift-giving: He attends Cantor Ron's birthday party, microphone in hand, offering free air time as a birthday present. Impromptu conversations recorded go through digital editing the next day and air as Show #154.

2001 March 31: Star Ken Heard brings us to a conference in Philadelphia, "Education Not Incarceration", which becomes a three-part LNR series including workshop interactions and live hip-hop. (The conference also received a few column-inches in the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

2001 April 9: Show #157 ("Education Not Incarceration Part Two") stands out as one of our best technical achievements to date.

2001 April 10: R.Z. tries putting a whole show on the Web. He can only do it by floppy disk, which necessitates breaking the episode up into more than ten separate files. Having Web access only through public terminals, he decides the procedure may be too lengthy to do again.

2001 April 25: An example of kids radio power: A quote from Kids Radio Camden's Samantha, age 8, has appeared in the same Life-Net News issue as a quote from Cantor Ron, who e-mails us that his saying "can't hold a candle to" that of KRC's Samantha. R.Z. passes the info to Samantha's mother--smiles all around.

2001 April 30: LNR commences a heavier-than-usual involvement with a single issue when it records South Camden residents' celebration of Judge Stephen Orlofsky's ruling against St. Lawrence Cement. (Thank God, we managed a technical success airing this important event.)

2001 May 5: Life-Net News & Radio in its Kids Radio Camden guise makes its debut as an exhibitor, having been invited by RESPOND INC. to help man their table at the Salute to Youth Weekend at the Tweeter Center. We set up a microphone and directly connect it to our notebook computer so that passing children can see the shapes of their sounds. A huge hit.

2001 May 9: KRC receives its first visiting guest as KAIROS prison visitor Randy Shipley comes to the Firehouse. KRC's Shakeira does most of the interviewing. (Show #162.)

2001 May 21: Our first use of digital compression, which in Show #163 brings extra intelligibility to Ten Thousand Village's Brendan Dougherty's presentation.

2001 May 23: We've conducted our production sessions at the RESPOND Firehouse so far with little structure. Today marks a new approach with the founding of the Radio Champs broadcasting club. (Named by Nyasia.) Most kids who sign up are female, we note with curiosity.

2001 May 28: We acquire a digital camera (Kodak DC-3200), intending to bring more visual elements to Life-Net News & Radio. First, R.Z. snaps a shot of a black net against a green background. After being processed in Adobe PhotoDeluxe, the resulting picture-file, netgreen.jpg, forms a bold new (tiled) background on Life-Net Web's front page.

2001 May 29: Almost all, if not all, Life-Net Breaks (the 3 minutes in the middle of each LNR episode) have been written or adapted by R.Z. Today we donate the time by recording at a public meeting of South Camden Citizens in Action, where environmental-justice expert and author Robert Bullard speaks, giving us ample material to start this new production approach with a richly packed Break segment (in Show #165).

2001 May 30: R.Z. makes our first photo-Webpage with the new digital camera. Pics taken at the SCCIA meeting yesterday.

2001 June 5: R.Z. brings the camera to the RESPOND Firehouse. It eclipses the microphone in popularity with the children. R.Z. wonders whether we'll ever be allowed to post any of the photos on Life-Net Web, though, given the prevailing American climate of parental fear.

2001 June 8: R.Z.'s grandmother, one of his best friends, who has appeared on two LNR episodes informally representing nursing-home residents everywhere, dies suddenly at 82, only one day after a visit from him. (If you don't visit your "loved ones", then they're not really loved by you!)

2001 June 9: Grief mingles with joy as R.Z. attends his 25th high-school reunion: A Powerpoint presentation (computerized slide show) entertains the attendees with pictures of treasured moments, classmates who died, etc. Four "Life Achievement" slides appear: One, a classmate who produces network television. Another, a 'mate who's worked with top Nashville songwriters. Another, a 'mate who won a (basketball) coach-of-the-year award in the Great Lakes Conference of colleges. The fourth, R.Z., who "helps the poor" through Life-Net News & Radio.

2001 June 18: R.Z. makes his first attempt at replicating Kids Radio Camden elsewhere. He calls other child care centers and get an encouraging wave of response, suggesting that the Kids Radio idea may work out as a portable paying business.

2001 June 24: R.Z. goes to a tavern somewhere in Northeast Philadelphia with star Stephen Daniel who sits in on harmonica with the live Irish band there. R.Z. introduces himself (in a group) to a woman who, it turns out, has heard the show. It's the first time R.Z. is "recognized on the street" by someone he's never talked to before. (Hi, Barbara!)

2001 June 25: Mrs. R.Z. buys a cell phone with Wireless Web. Now we can check e-mail every day, though replies are do-able only tediously. We try using the phone to access our site, and, to our surprise and delight, the site comes up looking well-adapted to the Wireless Web: If you have a Wireless Web-connectable cell phone, please have a look!

2001 June 30: For the first time in several years, R.Z.'s wife participates in a recording session for LNR. As R.Z. records high-school girls from Reading, PA who read (for Show #169) letters they wrote to the NJDEP in support of South Camden vs. St. Lawrence, "Mrs. Ret" shoots pictures, which later appear as a Gallery photo page.

2001 July 3: R.Z. takes the Kids Radio concept to Dusk 2 Dawn 24-Hour Quality Child Care in West Philadelphia. He and the kids have noisy fun with their first recording session.

2001 July 12: Kids Radio Camden reorganizes again: For the summer we'll be joining the kids on some of their daily field trips. It requires that R.Z. take a more directive role, but the resulting recordings have greater coherence from the structured nature of each all-day event. The first KRC-enhanced field trip is today, to Wheaton Village, a day-trip resort featuring the history and art of South Jersey glassmaking.

2001 July 14: We buy a computer (a 486) at a yard sale for $30. After a promising Windows 95 start, the machine freezes and we can't get back up into Windows any more. We can still run it in MS-DOS, though, which is fine for plain-text newsletters and HTML editing. Over the ensuing months (and longer, we hope), you'd be surprised how much of our work comes out of this pre-Pentium, "obsolete" machine.

2001 July 30: We air Dusk 2 Dawn's pilot episode. (Show #172.) The Kids Radio concept has now begun to replicate on the air. Scheduling problems at the center have put the program on hiatus, however.

2001 July 31: R.Z. shows up on Channel Six news. He was recording NAACP spokespeople and others speaking out in support of South Camden vs. St. Lawrence. He stood alongside the TV cameras of Channel Six and Comcast CN8, with reporters from the Associated Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Newark Star-Ledger also present. LNR star/sponsor Jose Gonzalez tells us we'll be going far with this issue, because, he predicts, local and state political candidates will have to address it.

2001 August 6: Included in the NAACP/St. Lawrence episode (Show #173) of Life-Net Radio, a new series of Life-Net Breaks debuts: Life-Net News Special Reviews: segments made up of short reports backed by R.Z.'s original electronic music.

2001 August 13: Pressed for time, we can't get the studio tape of Show #174 to WTMR in time for air, so we make a new arrangement: R.Z. calls the station and puts the phone to our loudspeaker. In other words, we made an excellent tape, but we end up "phoning it in." The end result turns out OK, so we will likely be using this technique again sometime in a pinch.

2001 August 24: The RESPOND (Kids Radio Camden) summer-camp 2001 field trips end at Camden Community Day. At the Firehouse afterwards, some of the children and R.Z. indulge in an end-of-summer romp before the program goes on hiatus.

2001 August 29: R.Z. replies to the first e-mail response we've gotten from a Web visitor previously unknown to us: Elizabeth wrote, "Nice site! Do you broadcast in Winnepeg?"

2001 September 12: Life-Net News chooses deference to Life-Net's many voices for its response to yesterday's devastation.