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Rafe Mair is going back on the air. And this time, he's his own boss, with no advertisers or corporate handlers hovering in the wings worrying about what he might say next.

"We will be continually hammering issues," vows the veteran broadcaster, who will continue to write his Monday column for The Tyee.

Rafe Live launches tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 4. Mair's first guests: Mayor Lois Jackson of Delta on the threat she perceives from the massive Gateway road project slated for her town. The second half of the show will feature Conservative MP John Cummins on B.C.'s embattled fisheries.

The one-hour netcast, which will be streamed over the Internet in real time on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 10 a.m., is an "experiment" backed by a handful of business people, Mair says. Every show includes the patented Mair editorial. During the live broadcast, listeners are invited to interact with Mair and his guest by e-mailing comments and questions, which Mair will read on the air and comment upon.

Every show also will be archived for downloading at the listener's convenience.

Back in business

At first, people will be able to tune in for free. Once the audience takes off, Mair says, the plan is to charge five dollars a month to get Rafe Live.

Mair laughs when he reveals the intro tune will be Gene Autry singing "I'm Back in the Saddle Again." Mair says he doesn't care if that leaves him open to people saying later, "And then he fell flat on his ass again."

"I have to be optimistic and assume it will be a success. We will need several thousand regular listeners to make it one," he estimates. "If even a quarter of the people who have written me and urged me to do this tune in, we should do well."

Producing the show will be Wendy Conway-Mair. Handling the technical details is Chris Bouris, an expert in community-oriented web-based media.

The experiment is worth running, Mair says, because the offerings of today's advertising-dependent corporate media are so tepid. "Looking for an opinion has become like finding a needle in a haystack," he says. "We'll be all about holding government's feet to the fire."

Rafe Mair, after being on holiday, resumes his regular Tyee column next Monday.

Related Tyee stories:

• Mair: On Being Yanked off the Air
  What it says about free, fierce speech.
• Mair: I Miss My Panic Button
  And a few other things about being on radio.
• CanCon Adapts to a Wild New Media World
  Satellite radio, TiVo, iPods change the game.