Public Broadcasting 101

Go to http://www.170millionamericans.org/

Recent controversy surrounding NPR has renewed calls in Congress to de-fund public broadcasting in America, particularly National Public Radio.

This is distressing for us at KAXE. Public radio is not the same as NPR. The public broadcasting system is more complicated than that.

Public broadcasting is a system. National Public Radio is a nonprofit organization that creates programming for the system. Some stations elect to buy programs from NPR, but NPR is not the public broadcasting system itself.

The public broadcasting system is made up of 900 local public radio stations and more than 300 local PBS TV stations. If Congress takes away the funding from the public broadcasting system, the money will come directly out of the budgets of local stations.

Here’s how federal funding works for KAXE:

KAXE receives about 20% of its annual revenue—or about $140,000—from federal funds. These funds come from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB. They are KAXE’s third largest source of funding, after membership and underwriting.

About 1/4 of the CPB money going to every public radio station is restricted. We have to use it to buy programming that is distributed nationally and serves a national audience.  KAXE has always used its restricted money to buy programs and satellite services from NPR. We buy All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Car Talk and World Cafe. Other public radio stations (most of the other CPB-funded AMPERS stations in Minnesota, for example) choose to buy programs from other producers like PRI or American Public Media or others.

After that, we are allowed to use the other 3/4 of the money to operate KAXE. Federal money helps us pay for all of our other expenses, like operating our 100,000-watt transmitter, buying equipment and producing local programs like the Morning Show, On the River, the Phenology Show, RealGoodWords, Currents and Between You and Me.

For big stations in large cities, CPB funding is a smaller share of the budget. For small, rural stations like KAXE and rural public TV, it is a much larger share.

In our smaller market, government funding makes a crucial difference in our ability to do a good job for our community. NPR would be inconvenienced by the loss of government funding (it makes up about 2% of their budget), but entire stations—especially small, minority and rural public radio and TV stations—would be severely hurt by this same loss.

We hope you keep this in mind as you consider contacting your legislators, or as you hold discussions with your friends and family in and around our community about public broadcasting’s future.

.--Maggie Montgomery, General Manager, Northern Community Radio

It's New Year's Eve!

By Jennifer Poenix

Today is the last day of fiscal year 2009 at KAXE Tomorrow we begin fiscal year 2010 with a brand new budget.

KAXE's budget is split into different categories for money coming in and going out of the station. The amount of money in the 2009 budget for membership money received is $183,000. So far, we have collected $180,915.43, which means we still need to collect $2,084.57 (as of 9:24 this morning). Pledges are great. Payments are even better.

This money can come from new or renewing pledges. It can even come from previous pledges that are still unpaid. The most important thing is that pledges are fulfilled. The best way to do that today is by credit card, which you can use online, here, or by calling the station at 218-326-1234. If you're in the Grand Rapids area, feel free to stop by our studios to make a payment.

KAXE members are vital to our success. We would not be here without them.

Thank you, and happy new year!

Big Challenges for KAXE in the Year of the Ox

by Maggie Montgomery

The lunar year 4706 is a Year of the Ox, according to the 12-year Chinese zodiac. The Ox is a sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Oxes (Ox people wouldn’t be called “Oxen” would they?) are dependable, calm and modest. They are logical but have great imagination and appreciation for beauty. They speak little but with intelligence. They can be articulate and eloquent. They are tenacious and self-sacrificing and make good parents and teachers. President O’Bama and KAXE’s Scott Hall are both Oxes.

The Year of the Ox will be a tough one financially for KAXE. Like many nonprofits, our organization has received news of serious budget cuts. KAXE’s 2009 budget started out $42,000 smaller than it was in 2008. But that budget was created last summer. We just learned that the State will pay us only $12,000 of the $35,180 that was appropriated for the station last year, and KAXE’s endowment lost so much money that the station will have to forego the budgeted $16,000 annual distribution. These items total $39,000, and more losses may be coming.

Some nonprofit organizations are in imminent danger of “going under.” For example, we have seen a rather dire letter to the editor in the Pioneer newspaper from a board member of the Headwaters Science Center in Bemidji. We have read warnings of possible closure and pleas for funds in the Cedar Cultural Center newsletter.

KAXE entered the current recession in good shape. The organization has some money in the bank to maintain cash flow and has no long-term debt. In this, KAXE is definitely Ox-like. Oxes are not extravagant. Being in debt makes them nervous. KAXE will not go under—but it will also not go untouched.

KAXE’s response to the financial challenges will be like the Ox. The station has always been frugal. The staff and volunteers are hardworking and will selflessly do a wonderful job with fewer resources. Oxes have many friends, so we’ll look for more friends ask current members to pitch in just a little bit more.

We will also make further budget cuts. At this point, those cuts will have to go deeper and will likely include the station’s retirement plan, a reduction in the quality of our health care plan and, possibly, staff lay-offs. These things are very difficult to contemplate, let alone do. I hope the measures will be temporary.

I wish all of you prosperity this year, through fortitude and hard work! If you have reactions or ideas for us, please let us know!

NOTE: Our family celebrates Chinese New Year because our daughter-in-law, Siau Yean, is from Malaysia, and her family is of Chinese ethnicity. Celebrating the New Year in northern Minnesota connects her to family and friends at home. The pictures on this blog are from our family’s New Year’s Eve celebration and include an Ox (Babe, of course. This is Minnesota!), some hot pots (for cooking Tom Yum soup communally, as a family), and fireworks (firecrackers are supposed to scare away evil spirits).