Math, Public Broadcasting and KAXE

Recently we’ve heard a lot of talk about cutting or even “zeroing out” public broadcasting. I remember when this happened in the mid ‘90s. At the time, Newt Gingrich led congressional leaders in calling for a “glidepath to zero” for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That plan was ultimately scrapped due to a huge outpouring of grassroots support from the listening and viewing public.

This time, the fires seem to have been fanned by NPR’s (National Public Radio) firing of Juan Williams. Yesterday we also learned that cuts to CPB were part of the proposed $200 billion in spending cuts identified by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility.

So I did some math, based on the most recent public broadcasting appropriations. (This is not “per-taxpayer” ciphering—the numbers are based on “total population” and include everyone, even our kids). What I found is that even in these fiscally challenging times, public broadcasting is still a heckuva good deal.

If you are a typical taxpayer, you probably pay less for public broadcasting than you realize! On average, each Minnesotan invests just $1.76 per year—total—both federal and state—to help support our national and state public broadcasting systems.

Here are the nuts and bolts of how public support for public broadcasting breaks down for us in Minnesota:

On the federal level:

The total CPB appropriation for FY11 is $430,000,000

The CPB subtracts its own operating costs (about 11%) and then distributes what’s left (89%) to stations and program producers.

• 75% of what’s left goes to TV.
• 25% goes to radio (by that formula, $95,675,000 will go to public radio stations and programs in FY11).

The population of the US (estimated as of 11/11/10) is 310,681,000 people.

This means each American invests $1.38 to help support the public broadcasting system in its largest sense, of which 22¢ per year is for public radio.

In Minnesota:

In the State of Minnesota, the entire public broadcasting budget for 2011 is $2,015,000.

More than half of that is for public TV ($1,378,000). MPR receives $250,000/year and 11 AMPERS stations receive $387,000/year (equipment and operating combined, or $35,181/station—one AMPERS station is too small to qualify for state funding).

The population of MN (2009 estimate) is 5,266,214

Doing the math, the average citizen in Minnesota invests just 38¢ to support public broadcasting statewide.

Of that amount, 26¢ supports public TV.

For radio (AMPERS and MPR combined), it’s 12¢/person.

For AMPERS stations only (like KAXE), that investment is 7.3¢ per person per year.

Here’s what we get for our investment: The money that goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is used to help fund 1,214 independent, nonprofit TV and radio stations like KAXE across the US. The stations use their federal dollars to leverage six times that amount in programming and services, creating 17,000 jobs in the American economy.

We also get educational and entertaining programs created by trusted news and production organizations like NPR, PRI and PBS, including Car Talk, Sesame Street, Nova, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In a Harris poll conducted in 2005, NPR and PBS were named the most trusted news sources in the United States by the general public. NPR and PBS receive most of their funding from stations. Only a tiny part of their budgets come from government sources.

In Minnesota, our long-time investment in public broadcasting helps keep stations relevant and vital. It helps Minnesota Public Radio buy critical new equipment. It supports public television stations in the Twin Cities, Appleton, Austin, Bemidji, Brainerd, Duluth and Hibbing. For AMPERS stations like KAXE, it is used for operations and infrastructure, which underpin our ability to create meaningful programming for our local communities. State funds help us employ local people, and form a basis for pulling in additional matching funds.

I hope you agree that we squeeze a lot out of your investment. Public broadcasting is a treasure that is available to everyone. Please keep this in mind as the federal and state budget year unfolds!

Maggie Montgomery, General Manager
Northern Community Radio

AMPERS receives $2,650,000 from MN Legacy Amendment

by Maggie Montgomery

The 12 Independent Public Radio/AMPERS stations of Minnesota received news on May 19, 2008 that they were allocated $2,650,000 for the first two years of Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy funding. The funding comes from a constitutional amendment, approved by voters last fall, that implements an added sales tax to pay for arts and cultural heritage activities (in addition to improving Minnesota’s natural environment).

The funds have to be used to “create, produce, acquire, or distribute programs that educate, enhance, or promote local, regional, or statewide items of artistic, cultural, or historic significance.” The money is specifically for creation of noncommercial radio programs that are broadcast. Stations must also archive the programs produced with these funds and make them available to other broadcasters and public educational institutions.

How AMPERS will handle and distribute the funds will be a big topic at the association’s annual meeting in June. Obviously, the available money opens many options for all the stations, including KAXE, because it will add to their capacity to produce arts and cultural programming for their listeners and communities of service. Do you have ideas for arts and cultural programming you’d like to hear on KAXE? If so, let us know. We’re just beginning to consider the possibilities!

Public Radio Day on the Hill

The dust hasn’t settled from the Stay Warm fundraiser yet at KAXE, and at noon on the last day we don’t know for sure whether we’ll reach the $50,000 goal. But our fingers are firmly crossed we are hopeful. Listener support is KAXE’s largest and strongest source of funding, and members step up in unbelievable ways, especially when times are tough.

The funding picture is getting more serious as we move into the last half of KAXE’s fiscal year 2009. We already know we will not receive our $16,000 annual endowment payment (because the Pax World Fund, where the endowment is invested, lost so much money in 2008). We cut the budget to make up the difference. Because the state budget is decided in April or May, we won’t know about the state appropriation until late in the fiscal year, when it will be hard to make up any shortfall with budget cuts.

This Tuesday is Public Radio Day on the Hill. Starting at 8 a.m., members, volunteers, staff and board members from AMPERS radio stations from across Minnesota, along with their counterparts from MPR, will meet with legislators in St. Paul to talk with them about funding for public radio stations in our state.

KAXE usually receives about $30,600 annually from the state. Some of that is for operations ($26,090) and some for equipment ($4,545). This is about 5% of KAXE’s operating budget, or about one staff salary.

The entire AMPERS appropriation (for all 11 stations) costs each Minnesotan a little less than 7½ cents per person per year (MN’s population is 5,167,000 and the appropriation for AMPERS is $386,000/year).

For that amount of money, we are all getting a really good deal! People especially rely on information and entertainment resources like KAXE and other community-based media during hard times.

It’s going to be hard asking our legislators for money when they’re scratching their heads, wondering how to pay the state’s bills. All of us have to share the burden of this deficit. But we have to ask for some money nonetheless, because KAXE really needs it!

If you’d like to be part of Public Radio Day on the Hill, call KAXE. If you can’t make it to the Twin Cities, consider writing a letter to your legislators. Thanks to the volunteers and board members who are taking the time to be part of this effort on behalf of our regional community’s radio station!

AMPERS—A Brief History and a New Subsidiary

By Maggie Montgomery

The man in that photo is Jim Gullickson. “Gully” is president of AMPERS (which also calls itself “Independent Public Radio”) and general manager of KMSU in Mankato.

91.7 KAXE is one of 12 member stations of AMPERS, the Association of MN Public Educational Radio Stations. One of KAXE’s founders, Rich McClear, was one of the organization’s original board members.

According to a personal history of AMPERS written by founding member and current manager of the University of MN’s Radio K in the Twin Cities, Andy Marlow, the AMPERS stations originally came together to address issues related to unfair distribution of NTIA money in Minnesota. In the early ‘70s, the MN Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) was channeling all federal funds for public radio infrastructure improvements to MPR (then called MER—Minnesota Educational Radio) and Twin Cities Public Television (TCPT).

Several other stations statewide were pulled together as an advisory board to the HECB in an attempt to address this inequity, but the effort eventually failed because MER and TCPT refused to participate.

The group continued to meet in order to address MER’s monopoly on NTIA funds for radio in MN. Eventually the group found other common interests, formalized, and became AMPERS.

Andy’s history addresses an interesting facet of Northern Community Radio’s history: “Early on, we worked hard to differentiate ourselves from Minnesota Public Radio. Few people knew we existed as an organization. There was a lot of anger at MPR's behavior, particularly attempts to take over some of our stations by MPR (those included KUOM, KUMD, KMSU and others), MPR's efforts to prevent KAXE and KFAI from being licensed, and MPR's devious "theft" of the name Minnesota Public Radio from Rich McClear's effort to establish a station in Grand Rapids. The not-for-profit corporation created by McClear and his community supporters was originally incorporated as Minnesota Public Radio. Bill Kling of Minnesota Educational Radio and Marion Watson of KUOM convinced McClear to give up the name so it could be used generically by all public stations in Minnesota. McClear changed the name of the corporation to Northern Community Radio. Less than three months later, Kling changed to name Minnesota Educational Radio to Minnesota Public Radio.”

Andy, who is retiring from Radio K in early 2009, described several phases in AMPERS history. He does not describe the most recent phase—AMPERS has changed its name to Independent Public Radio. The stations are working together on a joint underwriting project that has led to the formation of a for-profit subsidiary called Independent Community Media, or ICM.

ICM was envisioned as a marketing and ad agency run for the benefit of AMPERS/IPR stations. It was formed because IPR’s joint underwriting ventures were so strong that they jeopardized the organization’s nonprofit status. Through ICM, potential underwriters can contract with any AMPERS/IPR station or stations. ICM can also make ad placements for other media. At the end of the year, all profits are distributed to the AMPERS/IPR stations. Jim Lowe is the vice president of statewide underwriting for ICM. If your business is interested in marketing through ICM, his phone number is 651/293-0077.

The concept is brand new! All of the AMPERS/IPR member stations will be monitoring ICM to see how the concept works in the coming months.