The telephones at KRVM have been ringing off the hook lately.
Since the 4J School Board announced it may cut funding that KRVM depends on for survival, the community response has been tremendous, said Carl Sundberg, the station’s general manager. A school board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. today at the 4J School Board on 200 N. Monroe St. to review this year’s proposed cuts including those to the station.
Barbara Bellamy, the board’s director of communications and intergovernmental relations, said the board is expecting the state to decrease school funding by anywhere from $2 million to $10 million. In an effort to avoid having to lay off additional teachers or decrease school hours, the district Superintendent George Russell proposed to eliminate the $100,000 in district money spent on KRVM.
KRVM also receives funds from underwriting, member contributions and a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bellamy said school board cuts to KRVM won’t necessarily lead to its demise. However, if the district funded fewer than five staff positions at the station, KRVM wouldn’t be eligible for much-needed CPB funds.
One option is to sell the station to
another noncommercial company.
“Several companies have called with offers to buy the station,” Bellamy said. “We could still maintain the station’s public stance.”
Bellamy said the downfall in selling is the possibility of losing the ability to allow high school students to work at the station. This is one of KRVM’s most valued aspects, Sundberg said.
KRVM’s program “Keeping it Real: Variety in Music,” which airs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, is managed by students interested in learning broadcasting and the ins and outs of running a radio station.
In addition to providing educational opportunities for high school students, KRVM, established in 1947, is also one of America’s oldest FM stations. At a time when FM radio was not as widely heard as it is today, the station was used to broadcast lessons of school intercoms. Today, KRVM offers music programs for almost any taste, from “Blues for Breakfast” to “9 to 2 Rocks.”
KWVA, the University’s station, is also dependent on school funds to keep it going. Charlotte Nisser, KWVA’s general manager, said the campus station’s budget consists of funds allocated by the ASUO as well as money collected from
underwriting.
Nisser said running a radio station on a small budget is very difficult. The $10,000 the station is issued for equipment and repairs is hardly enough to keep their computers going, and oftentimes they must resort to using broken equipment, she said. And the pressure to move to digital radio also has Nisser wondering how such a small station will survive on a tight budget.
“If we don’t move to digital within the next couple of years, we will not make it,” she said.
Darren Aboulafia, an environmental studies major at the University, has worked at KRVM for the past three years. Aboulafia hosts his own show, “Live Archive,” in which he features rare live recordings from various artists. Aboulafia was troubled by the possible cuts to KRVM.
“When schools make cuts, there is often the idea that when funding becomes available again, the schools can reinstate the program,” Aboulafia said. “If you sell a radio station, it’s nearly impossible to buy the station back and make it a public station again.”