I begin with my financial plan to buy freedom and opportunity for independent audio producers. I close with a smattering of audio dreams.

    My friend and collaborator Kim Stafford heard former Soviet President Mikael Gorbachov speak the other day. Gorbachov said the successful leaders of the future will form creative partnerships. Hm, sounds like good advice for us independents.

    We should try partnerships in fluid and innovative ways--look for them across the oceans or just across the mountain from La Madera to El Rito. We should try on partnerships with institutions and other broadcast entities, with our fellow independents, small businesses and corporations or even the government when shared goals make these relationships satisfying for both parties.

    What would partnerships provide? Financial security, expanded opportunities, unforeseen possibilities. I'm not saying bigger is always better, just that deeper pockets offer greater travel and production budgets, longer horizons, maybe even a little time off between bigger productions and series ... time to refill the creative well. Imagine that.

    To strengthen our financial forts, we need to work together to take over the ownership of some and sometimes all of our program copyrights so that down the road, a group like AIR or its offshoot could form an online audio treasure-trove of independents' work and collect money for site visits.

    Through dozens, hundreds or thousands of appropriate internet links, listeners would find our websites and our work. Imagine the newcomers who would stop by our individual and professional websites if we were conveniently located. Yup, location, location, location. We'd reach more listeners. We'd get royalties. AIR could be at the hub of our connections to the world.

    We producers would be rewarded over time for good work that attracts more listeners. Perhaps we could actually afford health insurance and some new microphones along with the annual equipment, travel and supply essentials.

    I am not, by the way, advocating any kind of rebellion against our radio broadcast friends. No indeed, in fact, we want to work in partnerships with stations, networks and worldwide broadcasters to create and distribute programing.

    Closer to my home amidst cottonwoods, aspen and white ashes turning yellow, I keep driving over the mountain to El Rito where I'm working with the public library. Fortified with a bit of grant money, a small group of us are developing literacy tutoring programs for adults and reading and storytelling hours for toddlers.

    We start each meeting with dessert, by indulging ourselves with 15 minutes of talk about our dream to start a local public radio station. We fantasize about bringing the many voices of our community to the air, from weavers, furniture makers and loggers to blacksmiths and adobe home builders, from artists to musicians, storytellers, local leaders and regular folks.

    And we don't stop there. We imagine putting our station on the upcoming satellite audio receivers inside cars and trucks. We couldn't possibly do without our own website, we note. We could buy programing from independent producers worldwide and in the area, work together in dozens of inventive ways. We picture little modules called "The Haiku Minute."

    Member Marilyn Bacon never says no to our wild ideas. She always nods her head yes, that's possible.

    Driving home after our meetings, I pick up these mental program images and move to other collaborations with friends and colleagues. I think of radio plays produced with our local community college and the newly re-created Midwest Radio Theater Workshop, now National Audio Theatre Festivals.

    I dream about the feature I'd like to produce about an elephant. I imagine my neighbors Dora and Christina swapping recipes and tales in a cooking show. I wander to faraway places I'd like to visit with my tape recorder and my questions, with an ear for the ambiance, language, drama, music and sounds of an unfamiliar place.

    Staff travels would provide wonderful opportunities for independent producers to be guests at the station, opening further doors to fresh ideas. Fluidity would serve all of us.

    Twice in the middle of the radio dreaming sessions that precede our literacy program planning, Marilyn has stopped us dead in the tracks of our laughter and idea tossing.

    "This is exactly how we started the public radio station in Philo, California," she says. "We just sat around and dreamed about it out loud. If you can hear it, you can do it."