California State Funding Status Fellow Radio Pubcasters, Sorry I’m a bit tardy in getting this out to you, but our little music festival is coming up in a week. And happily, we sold out earlier today! The “steering group” has been working on developing a strategy and approach to seeking the state funding appropriation that we’ve discussed in the last several months. I want to bring you up on where we stand. Based on conversations with the California Public TV group, we would like to propose engaging the services of Will Glasscock to assist us in our efforts. Will’s fee is proposed at the rate of $3000 per month, and we anticipate a 6 month engagement. California Public TV has agreed to pay half the fee, and we as the radio counterpart need to decide if we’re prepared to match that. I believe we should. Firstly, because we’ll want radio and tv to share any appropriation, 50/50. That will be difficult to demand, if we’re not willing to accept ½ the risk to secure funding. And based on the following initial proposal that Rick Eytcheson has floated and has been shared with the TV group: “I’d like to propose the following as a starter for our conversation on Thursday morning. For a whole host of reasons, (not the least of which is a $23 billion budget surplus) I believe it is reasonable for us to ask for an $80 million. appropriation from the State of California. That’s about $2 per capita which is much less than some states. For argument sake, I propose that it be split 50/50 between radio and TV. I realize that most of you are in TV and may not agree with that, but I just don’t understand how you make the case for doing it differently. There are only 12 CPB TV grantees in California as opposed to approximately 26 in radio. And 5 of the TV grantees are joint licensees so you get disproportionate funding as well. I think the allocation should be restricted to CSG grantees. That leaves out Pacifica, some community licensees, and some music stations, but I don’t know how else to be fair. I would propose that the funds go directly to California Public TV and to California Public Radio. I think allocating 10% of the budget for each to be granted for individual initiatives and support of the association. The balance would be granted to the participating stations based on a formula similar to that used for CSG grants. So, California Public Radio would get $40 million. $million of which could be granted in support of special programs/initiatives, and administration of the association. The remaining $36 million allocated directly to the approximately 26 stations for general support, based on the same percentage of the CSG grant for California. Under this scenario, for example, KQED Radio would get $6,265,670. KPBS Radio $2,136,452. KCBX Radio $543, 463. And so on. Using the same formula for TV would yield the following: KQED TV $7,685,667. KPBS TV $6,195,154. KVIE $3,022,621, and so on. These are very large numbers! For TV, it amounts to nearly double the CPB grants and for Radio its about triple what we get from CPB. As I said, this is just intended to offer us a starting point for the discussion. I would also point out that this would have a big impact on the NFFS calculations for all of our stations which could result in each of us getting a larger appropriation from CPB. I believe these numbers are worth pursuing with vigor. I’m looking forward to our discussion on Thursday.” Since then, we’ve received some feedback that our best chance for success will probably be to enlist the governor to include our request in the next budget and that the public safety is probably the most compelling of the 3 legs. To be a part of this plan, we will need to begin charging dues at the same level as past years, $500/station, to fund the process, and we’ll need to participate in discussions. Let us know your thoughts. Thanks, Frank *Frank Lanzone, Jr. * President ~ General Manager *KCBXfm* <http://www.kcbx.org/> *KCBXnet* <http://www.kcbx.net/> * Calif Public Radio* 4100 Vachell Lane San Luis Obispo CA 93401 805-549-8855 *Frank Lanzone, Jr. * President ~ General Manager *KCBXfm* <http://www.kcbx.org/> *KCBXnet* <http://www.kcbx.net/> * Calif Public Radio* 4100 Vachell Lane San Luis Obispo CA 93401 805-549-8855