Foundation Journal

Community media outlets like KKFI 90.1 FM in Kansas City have thrived for decades, maintaining a well-established broadcast model: high-quality studio sound broadcast to a wide geographic area serving the "community." Non-profit community radio station like KKFI, along with college radio and small commercial radio stations keep costs low by renting small studios and operating with few paid employees. These stations attract small audiences but differentiate themselves by focusing on community issues, music and culture. This focus is what defines community media, along with -- in the case of community radio -- maintaining cooperative ownership, not corporate ownership. Community radio operators always knew that "community" was more than a geographic region; it was the various cultural, ethnic, social and artistic communities for which locally-produced radio shows target. KKFI has local radio shows by or directed to African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and immigrant...

Since serving on the KKFI board of directors for three-plus years I've witnessed a range of activities which indicate the station is moving in a positive and stable direction, but KKFI faces some serious challenges to remain relevant and grow, while staying true to it's mission. For those of you with your ear tuned to the community radio world all is not calm in the world of community radio -- WBAI, one of five Pacifica Radio Network stations, laid off 19 of 29 employees last month as a step to fix it's $3 million debt; WPFW, the Washington DC-based Pacifica station, has seen a large drop in listeners and has been working to correct "six-figure deficits;" KBOO in Portland is in the middle of a nasty public dispute ; and Pacifica announced recently that Free Speech Radio News may be shutting operations due to a financial crisis at the radio network. In the public radio sphere National Public Radio announced last week that it is seeking to reduce it's ...