Fundraising is a challenge for WDUQ

Pittsburgh Public Media, a group of station staffers and community volunteers wants to keep WDUQ pretty much the way it is now with a mix of NPR news and Jazz. Raising money toward the purchase of the station is problematic. Money raised during the pledge drives cannot be used toward the purchase of the station. The group does not have access to the current donor lists. PPM is trying reach out to the current members through social media and a website. The article does not mention how much PPM has raised toward the purchase price. Duquesne University says it wants full value for the station. It is estimated to be worth $10 million.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10151/1061679-67.stm#ixzz0pXMBDaKi


To find out more about Pittsburgh Public Media go to: http://www.pittsburghpublicmedia.org/

Kan. gov. saves money for public broadcasting - KHGI-TV/KWNB-TV/KHGI-CA-Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings, Lincoln

Kan. gov. saves money for public broadcasting - KHGI-TV/KWNB-TV/KHGI-CA-Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings, Lincoln

Public Broadcasting in Kansas gets a reprieve. With just weeks left to the end of the fiscal year, the cuts would have been felt deeply by public broadcasters in Kansas. The cuts would have been deepest in rural areas. Local programming, the programming with the potential for the deepest impact on the local community, was on the line.

KEDM Holding An Emergency Fund Drive

Is KEDM close to falling below minimum standards for CPB funding?  This was in the Monroe, Louisiana News-Star.

KEDM Public Radio has scheduled an emergency three-day fund drive next month to shore up a local funding requirement by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The region's only public radio station, which is housed and supported by the University of Louisiana at Monroe, has set a goal to raise $30,000 or risk having programming restrictions being placed on it. Joel Willer, ULM's director of University Broadcasting, said the station fell short of its fundraising goals during its annual fall and spring fundraising drives.

The emergency fundraiser is June 2-4.

"Basically what CPB is looking at is that they want us to raise 48 cents per potential listener in our service area, which translates to $152,000 a year," Willer said. "We have been really falling short for some time and it's finally catching up to us.

"We need to meet the minimum or start facing restrictions on programming. As it stands, we are about $45,000 short."

The station's funding sources include the university, listener memberships and underwriting from businesses and CPB. However, CPB requires that the station raise 48 cents for each of the estimated 305,105 potential listeners in its coverage area.

"In this case, even if the university was able to write a huge check for the amount, it would not take care of the requirement," Willer said. "The $30,000 will get us a good way to where we need to be."

Willer said the station is working with its Community Advisory Board trying to find local business donors to meet the overall $45,000 funding need. The radio station is sending out additional mailings to its membership and listeners who have never been members in addition to sending out mailings to lapsed members asking them to rejoin.

"It's a matter of getting the message out," Willer said.

Community Advisory Board member Lyle Miller said the radio station's main challenge is to develop new supporters to expand its base. For several years, the station has focused on selling sponsorships, particularly to corporate partners. KEDM's annual budget is around $300,000.

"So many times we lean on our corporate sponsors, but we can't depend on the same core people time and time again," Miller said. "It will certainly be difficult (to raise the needed funding) because this is not the best of times to do that.

"Our supporters and the university have been very magnanimous, but we really need to broaden our base of support. To be successful, we need to show the importance of public broadcasting to the younger generation. Sooner or later, listeners need to come to the table."

Traditional news outlets are being challenged by "new media." But, to what end? What happens to a democracy when true, in-depth reporting cannot support itself and disappears. Here are some interesting comments on the future of journalism that also includes previous findings from the Aspen Institute. One conclusion ...It is time to try things. Another...funding is still a major issue.

Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism

Posted by KnightComm on Apr 30, 2010 in Featured, Local Journalism, Spotlight

KnightComm is pleased to provide an advance download of the Aspen Institute Communication and Society Program’s publication, Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism. The report addresses a critical aspect of the Knight Commission’s deliberations: the need to develop innovative business models for “sustainable, meaningful, local journalism”. It is written by Michael R. Fancher, former executive editor of The Seattle Times and a participant in the writing of the Knight Commission report.

Download Publication

Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism details the insights and forward-thinking frameworks resulting from the 2009 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) in which over 40 leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs addressed the crisis facing journalism, highlighted by recent closings and bankruptcies of numerous traditional news outlets. The Report describes the innovations, experimental business models, and evolving philosophies that could be harnessed to preserve journalism as a critical instrument in American society. The idea to gather leaders and innovators to address the changing news marketplace was closely related to the work of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities, itself an outcome of an earlier FOCAS and which calls for ”innovation, competition, and support for business models that provide marketplace incentives for quality journalism”.

Grants Budget May Get Slashed in Kansas

According to an article in the Wichita Eagle, funding for public broadcasting may get cut by about $900,000 in Kansas. The state Legislature proposed the cuts this past weekend. The amount is more than half the grant money originally set aside for public broadcasting. For station in the more populous eastern Kansas, the cuts represent about a 4% drop in funding. For stations in the rural western part of state, the cuts will be more deeply felt and could all but eliminate local programming.

Those stations traditionally receive more funding because they cover more territory and have fewer             viewers and listeners. Smoky Hill covers 71 counties in Kansas; High Plains, half the state.
"It amounts to 15 percent of our operating budget," said Lynn Meredith, general manager and CEO of Smoky Hills Public Television. "It is going to affect local programming," Meredith said. "We are already running with a fairly slim staff."


 In all cases, stations have about six weeks to figure out how to offset the shortfall before they take effect on July 1.

Budget slashes funds for public broadcasting - Becky Tanner

Musing on Format Change

Looking over the release from WUFT about the success of their first drive after the format change to news and information, I was reminded of how some listeners will never come to terms with the change and never forget what I did to their favorite radio station.
This past weekend I was out collecting data and information. One of the people I polled asked what I used to do. I told him I worked for public radio without getting into specifics. He immediately offered that he doesn't give to the station I managed anymore. He was upset that the station dropped classical music in favor of news and information. I pointed out there were still four other stations offering significant amounts of classical music in the market, and that maybe the program change was a combination better serving the community and a good business decision. His reply was, "I bet they've lost a ton of listeners and nobody supports them anymore." I did not respond directly. I said something like it's always difficult for listeners when their favorite radio station makes a change like that. (It was four years ago.)
Then he added, "you know, I stopped giving when they took Robert J. Lurtsema off the air." That was in 1989.
Despite making changes for all the right reasons, and despite longstanding positive results in community service, some listeners will never forgive or forget. Radio is a personal medium. Strong listener loyalty to a particular format can create some very strong feelings. For this former listener, the feeling never subsided. For him time did not heal.

• WUFT and WJUF complete record-breaking spring membership pledge campaign

  Filed under Announcements, InsideUF (Campus), Top Stories on Tuesday, May 4, 2010.
  Gainesville, Fla.–Public radio stations WUFT-FM 89.1 and WJUF-FM 90.1 recently completed one of the most successful listener membership campaigns in the stations’ history. This was the first full membership-pledge campaign since the stations changed format last August to primarily news/talk programming on WUFT/WJUF-FM, while also adding high-definition programming such as classical music on digital sub-channels. WUFT and WJUF-FM are part of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Division of Multimedia Properties (DMP).

  The Spring Fund Drive, from April 21 through May 1, received 1263 pledges of nearly $128,000, which exceeded the goal of $120,000. More than half of the contributions were from new members, with the remainder coming from renewing and returning members. Added to the almost $15,000 pledged during the March 18 one-day sweepstakes drive, the total amount was more than $143,000.

  Randy Wright, DMP executive director, said, “Our staff is thrilled with the support our listeners have shown during the spring membership drive. To over-achieve our goal by such a wide margin, and to welcome so many new supporters to public radio in north central and mid-Florida, is truly gratifying.”

  WUFT-FM 89.1 and WJUF-FM 90.1 broadcast three steams of programming to 19 counties in north central and mid-Florida. The first broadcast steam, in both analog and HD1 digital format, features news/talk programming from National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and American Public Media (APM), along with variety and music programs. HD2 features 24/7 classical music and HD3 features 24/7 old time radio programming. HD1 and HD2 are also available at www.wuftfm.org.

  Pledges of support may be made at anytime via the website.