KUNM 89.9 FM operates in a 44-year-old, 10,000 sq. ft. old student dormitory. Because of their cramped and antiquated studio space, the station is unable to expand new and local programming; efficiency and collaboration operations are limited as is the number of volunteers and students who can be accommodated.
Richard Towne, general manager, is looking to change all that.
“Through our remodel, we will double our news production space, enhance our ability to offer community collaborations like Youth Radio, create a functional music library and create a fourth studio to create more local programming and services,” he said.
Other benefits of the remodel include expanding local voice and cultural reporting, enhanced sound/fidelity, new community meeting spaces and improved accommodations for volunteers, guests and staff with disabilities.
“We will also have the capacity to expand to digital broadcasting,” Towne said, which will make KUNM one of the state’s first digital radio station.
Costs of the project are projected at $650,000. “The first phase, totaling $350,000 is completely funded,” Towne said. The second phase, coming in at $300,000, is scheduled for completion by December 2004.
To help cover the costs, KUNM has received a $100,000 challenge grant from the Lannan Foundation. “The goal is to raise $125,000 from business foundations, faculty and friends. Public radio is dependent upon its friends to help KUNM earn the Lannan Foundation challenge,” Towne said.
The other $75,000 will be raised, Towne said, from KUNM listeners. “Our hope is that they will give over and above their annual gifts,” he said.
The McCune Foundation is a KUNM supporter. “Why did the McCune Foundation give? Because our funds have always been wisely stewarded and effectively managed. And, because KUNM is an organization of the highest quality and integrity,” said Owen Lopez, executive director, McCune Foundation.
KUNM serves nearly a million people in central and northern New Mexico with main studios on the UNM campus and news studios at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.
Approximately 88,200 people tune in to KUNM each week for diverse news and
music programming (source: Arbitron Diary Data, Spring 2004).
Editor’s Note: Remodel photos and a journal of the work are available at www.kunm.org.
Press tours are available to anyone in any media organization – please e-mail
RichardTowne@KUNM.org.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920
Posted by scarr at September 2, 2004 04:30 PM