Spring Radiothon is April 23rd to May 3rd this year. As in most years, $25,000 per fund drive is the basic amount needed to nourish the broadcast garden for another 6 months, and decades of successfully meeting that mark says a lot about Moab, and its love of community radio. Since KZMUs beginnings, the media landscape has changed in ways that have altered almost everything about the way we connect to each other and our world. But need to connect is as strong as ever, and so is the need to adapt, as this piece of news makes clear.

Mid November 2013, KZMU received a letter from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting regarding the ‘Glide Program”, a plan to eventually (2016-2017) defund stations outside the scope of their new criteria for federal Community Service Grants. KZMU has been a Community Service Grantee almost since the station’s inception. The grant of approximately 50K comprises half of the stations operating budget. The loss of funds is not due to any insufficiency in the station’s operations; the new CPB criteria requires a minimum annual operating budget of $300,000 . With one of the lowest operating budgets of any rural community station in the country, KZMU’s has remained steady at $100,000 per year, which includes CPB grant funds. This recent news poses big challenges, but not insurmountable ones. Fortunately, the station is blessed with a healthy savings account, a devoted community donor base, a board of trustees and staff who are leaning into the challenge of doubling its support in the next 3 years with confidence, team spirit and an eye to the future.

The CPB is proud to point out that most of the stations it supports provide 30% locally produced content. KZMU is far above average in this regard, locally producing nearly 80% of all on air content from a circulating, somewhat seasonal roster of over 100 volunteers who change shifts every two hours. No stranger to adapting to variable conditions, KZMU offers, for free, valuble opportunities to communicate the events, ideas, needs and aspirations of our time and place. Community driven, staffed by a handful of part timers, this resilient, adaptable station has weathered many changes and keeps its overhead among the lowest in the nation of its kind.Our reason for being is to provide open broadcast access to the public airwaves along with training, tools, content, educational and creative support, with additional outreach for the under served.

Several strategies are in the works, but the main point? KZMU, Moab Community Radio is owned by and for the community. At this time, the station needs input from all stakeholders interested in shaping the future of community radio in Moab. The radio term for it is ‘feedback loop”, and here are a few ways to get you circulating :
The board meets monthly at the studio on the first Tuesday’s, and public is welcome to attend. KZMU.org has a full roster of financial information for those interested in crunching some numbers.

The station’s Community Advisory Board has several openings, and meets on its own schedule to discuss and deliver its reflections. Call program director Christy Williams at 259-8824 to participate in CAB, an easy way to make a big difference.
A survey on the KZMU homepage at kzmu.org will soon be available for a convenient way influence with feedback. The website itself will be getting a makeover, so if there is anything you wish you could access or do with the website, from better archives and streaming to simpler browsing, please let us know at: info@kzmu.org and neal@quietlittlestudio.com
This spring and in the seasons to come, please consider contributing whatever your capacity allows. Time, money, creative juice, hands on deck, all deeply appreciated. Thank you for all the love, Moab! We’ll be 22 years old on 4/2/14, some good numbers for a new era.

Look for the Donate link on www.kzmu.org, visit volunteers at the City Market table April 23 - May 3rd, connect to DJs onair@kzmu.org or call the studio at 259-5968. Staff is glad to hear from you at 259-8824 .
For more information about the Glide Program, and CPB, go here: www.cpb.org