According to David Brookshire, with whom I recently spoke, KMUD recently doubled the amount of money it spends on the news department including $10,000 set aside to pay for community stringers. They have also recently expanded to digital radio. <div>
<br></div><div>I advocated for some time that KZYX look to this successful model for inspiration but was told by management that KMUD represented a niche market and a station like that would only work in Humbolt. While I was advocating this, KMUD encountered a hiccup in its financing when it had to sell a property for much less than it's budgeted value. As a result they went about 40k in debt. Management sent me the article about this as if to prove KMUD was just as insolvent as KZYX. KMUD instantly had an on air board access program to explain the situation and apologize. They then held one special pledge drive that made up for the 40k debt and they were back in black.</div>
<div><br></div><div>At the board meeting where we approved the budget eliminating the news department, which I voted against, Annie Esposito explained the success of KMUD without NPR. Her pleas fell on deaf ears.</div><div>
<br></div><div>Doug <br><br>On Thursday, February 20, 2014, Patricia Kovner <<a href="mailto:pkovner@yahoo.com">pkovner@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Thanks for that info. I don't know what you mean by restricted income for NPR at KMUD, as they don't have NPR. They do, however, have many reporters contributing to their news show, but I don't know who is paid or how much. I bet some of them are volunteers.<br>
--------------------------------------------<br>
On Thu, 2/20/14, Tim Bray <<a href="javascript:;" onclick="_e(event, 'cvml', 'tbray@wildblue.net')">tbray@wildblue.net</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
Subject: Budgets & news<br>
To: <a href="javascript:;" onclick="_e(event, 'cvml', 'pkovner@yahoo.com')">pkovner@yahoo.com</a>, <a href="javascript:;" onclick="_e(event, 'cvml', 'kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org')">kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org</a><br>
Date: Thursday, February 20, 2014, 10:07 AM<br>
<br>
<br>
According to<br>
the financial reports,<br>
KMUD has a slightly larger income than KZYX. Looking<br>
at the 2012<br>
Annual figures (available on each station's<br>
Website), KMUD<br>
received $562K and KZYX received $521K. Those<br>
figures are for<br>
"Unrestricted" income; KMUD had an<br>
additional $147K of "Restricted<br>
Income" which is tied by the donor to a specific<br>
use. I can't<br>
quite find what all of that is supposed to be<br>
earmarked for, but a<br>
chunk of it is CPB grants and direct contributions<br>
restricted to<br>
NPR programming.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
KMUD does not have a full hour of local news, it is a<br>
half-hour<br>
program.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I don't think there is a single, simple reason why<br>
KZYX could not<br>
sustain a 50-minute local news program. (It was<br>
never quite a<br>
full hour.) It takes a lot of effort to produce that<br>
much news,<br>
more than one full-time newsperson, and so the<br>
budgetary<br>
restriction is a big part of it. It isn't a<br>
simple matter of<br>
trading 28 hours/week of NPR for 5 hours/week of local<br>
news.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Tim Bray<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2/19/2014 3:07 PM, Patricia Kovner wrote:<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Is the reason KZYX no longer has a full news<br>
hour, because NPR programming has priority and there is not<br>
enough $$ for both? I'd like to know how KMUD budgets<br>
it's much smaller income to expand its already full news<br>
hour, with several reporters, and no NPR.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
Oak &<br>
Thorn<br>
<br>
Facebook: Oak and Thorn<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div>