PNB Meeting - Jan 2007 - KPFK Report

January 1, 2007:
KPFK Doc Day: On this day KPFK will broadcast several radio documentaries developed and produced at KPFK.

January 21, 2007:
Launching of KPFK Programmer Speaker Series. This will be a monthly series hosted and presented by KPFK programmers and designed to increase station profile and outreach. This series will be live and from remote locations.

We are currently developing manuals for staff producers and programmers packets for volunteer programmers containing important policy information, which will be available and distributed starting January 27, 2007.

In conjunction with our LSB Committee focused on Programming, a “Needs Assessment” for Volunteer Programmers in the area of material support is underway.

 

Progress Reports on Current Station Initiatives:

• National Spanish-language Newscast, Informativo Pacifica, has seen its distribution increased in the last quarter. New affiliates and participating radio stations from around the country and world are now downloading the newscast for their station.

• A innovative process of selecting new programming was embarked upon in 2006, utilizing a collaborative model which seeks recommendations from the KPFK Program Council (Interim), that are then delivered to the Program Director for final deliberation with the GM and others. Two new program recommendations (Music and Literacy) have been made to the Program Director to fill open slots in 2007. The new programs launch on January 1, 2007 and January 31, 2007 respectively.

This process highlighted some functional challenges in the iPC, among which were varying degrees of experience among participants as they struggled to establish evaluation criteria, and the challenge of making the required quorum to conduct business. The process is under review to determine improvements for future efforts.

 

Important Dates, Moving into the 2007…

• Saturday, January 27, 2007:
  Annual All-station Programmers Meeting.

• February 13, 2007 – February 27, 2007 KPFK Fund Drive
  (To be reconfirmed upon Eva’s return from vacation.)

 

DEVELOPMENT / MEMBERSHIP

2005 Fall Fund Drive Summary:
Fulfillment: Payment in:	$927,696	Pledges paid or	85.2 % per $1,088,380 pledged
Premium shipment:	9121	Items mailed or	100%
Pledged Web:	$56,985	Web Pledges Only:	509

 

2006 February Fund Drive Summary:
Fulfillment: Payment in:	$867, 282	Pledges paid or	81.0 % per $1,070,349 pledged
Premium shipment:	8772	Items mailed or	98%
Pledged Web:		Web Pledges Only:

 

2006 Spring Fund Drive Summary: June 13- June 25 (Extended to June 29 to meet goal)
Fulfillment: Payment in:	$869,280	Pledges paid or	80.3% per $1,082,466 pledged
Premium shipment:	8200	Items mailed or	94%
Pledged Web:	$31,777	Web Pledges Only:	301

 

2006 Fall Fund Drive Summary: October 10-October 23 (Extended 2 days to meet goal)
Fulfillment: Payment in:	$818,695	Pledges paid or	77% per $1,062,664 pledged
Premium shipment:	5655 mailed	Items mailed or	72% fulfillment
Pledged Web:	$25,520	Web Pledges Only:	209

 

Major Donors:
(non-Fund Drive; unsolicited, or responses to Major Donor mailings): $18,300. (since Oct 1, 2006)
12/18/06 Anonymous donation of stock: $1963.06 value

 

Direct Mail Response:

November 27, 2006 Direct Mail $13,533

August 28, 2006 Direct Mail $25,491
(Final Direct Mail of Fiscal 2006)

July 27, 2006 Direct Mail $34,968

April 2006 Direct Mail $34,152

 

Planned Giving:
-Response to check-off on direct mail response slip being monitored.
I am thinking about including KPFK in my Will or Estate Plan.
I would like someone to call me with more information.
(We have received three responses so far and development director follows up with a call)

-Special Outreach on-air segments about legacy giving, bequests.
-Legacy Wall highlighting donors for Station Reception area.

 

Car Donation:
Total since active promotion of program in May ‘05: $73,602.20 as of 1/8/07 (of that amount $22,450.70 since Oct. 1 2006)

 

New Fundraising Project:
Projected start date the week of Jan. 2- Recycle/refiller empty inkjet and toner cartridges. Full Circle (rep is KPFK listener for 5 years). They provide boxes, bags and signage. When boxes full, they pick up at “no charge”. Proceeds to KPFK up to 20%.

 

Update on Voices of Tomorrow:
Youth Training Grant. Project coordinator started the first training with ten youth on Oct. 2 at New Jefferson Continuation High School on Washington Blvd. at Alameda. First session group had culminating visit to KPFK on Monday Dec. 4. The second training will begin Dec. 11 with 10 youth from Bravo Magnet School. Third training of ten youth in the community at Ben Caldwell’s Kaos Network is set for early Feb to March ‘07.

 

Grant Proposals Pending:
Proposal Submitted December 28, 2006 to CPB Radio Major Market Service Extension Project in the amount of $75,000 for a community outreach project to create unique content for broadcasting utilizing youth trained under Voices of Tomorrow grant from CTFC.

Proposal submitted October 2 to California Council for Humanities for KPFK Radio Documentary project: Born in California: Lewis Hill and the Invention of Listener-Supported Radio. $77,000 with required equivalent match of in-kind contribution of time and materials. Expect notice by December 31.

NEA Collaboration with Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum submitted by Theatricum Botanicum on August 14. KPFK to provide quality recording of six plays to produce a high quality DVD/CD, of which KPFK would be the sole broadcast entity. KPFK’s portion: $21,900. Also rights for the CD can be negotiated with the goal of making the CD's available for sale through Theatricum's gift shop and website and for KPFK's archives and as a KPFK fund drive premium. The titles of these scripts are:
The Strength of Women (the Suffrage Movement)
American Portraits (Birth of the Nation)
Black History in North America (Civil Rights Movement)
Searching for the American Dream (the Labor Movement)
The Woody Guthrie Story (the rise of folk music in America)
La Raza (Chicano Rights Movement).

 

Outreach Committee:
Meets monthly. Next meeting on Tuesday, January 9 @ 7:00 pm (KPFK Conference Room).
December meeting highlights:

• Mad Dog (Eric M.), volunteer consultant to Outreach Committee is working up the MEMBER website page by starting with our TALENT POOL form inviting KPFK Members to provide their talent pro-bono to support the graphic design and outreach materials we will develop for 2007.
• Reza P. has made a contact with 18th Street Complex as a good site for KPFK outreach or events as well as restaurants in Silver Lake and Pasadena. He will send contacts to DD.
• DD announced that PD Armando Gudino is working on a Monthly Speakers project called Conversations With…bringing KPFK programmers to the communities in our signal area. Venues suggested included Tia Chucha and Italian Fisherman for informal "Conversations" with KPFK programmers.
• Don C. met with Skylight Books and is refining his concept of a KPFK bookshelf featuring books by authors covered on KPFK.
• Lawrence R. suggested contacting Urban Studies Programs and seeking students to serve as Outreach Interns to support committee work and recommended setting up Ad Hoc group to plan next Town Hall. (tentative dates) are Saturdays-March 17 and March 24. Possible locations --downtown or westside.
• Bella de S. urged committee members to review earlier Outreach plans she submitted.
• Wendell P., unable to attend, sent the T-Shirt committee selected from submissions.
• Member website and Member Card. Staff and committee working on best type of card easily integrated into standard membership department process. Chaired by Arturo L. (Development Director is staff).

 

Film Club Initiative Ongoing:
Jay K. will submit report and photos of documentary screening in Hemet and Idyllwild.
Development director directing film festival inquiries to Jay Kugelman and asking for at least 25 pairs of tickets for Jay to offer for Film Club.

Current Film Club Challenges Under Discussion:
1.Limitation of seats/passes for current film club subscribers.
2.Problem with same members who are first in line for passes.
3.Need to establish a station policy to limit members to a certain # of films a month in order to provide more opportunities for others, perhaps 3 films a month or 36 a year which would be a 50% savings.
4.Creating more venues and special screenings.

Proposal: Annual KPFK Documentary Series:
Multi-purpose film program:
1.Make available to Film Club Members as a Bonus.
2.Plan to screen in different areas of our signal.
3.Present documentaries of broad interest resonating our multi-formatted grid.
4.Instill a sense of community by inviting all KPFK listeners to attend.
5.Start with 1 documentary a month and graduate to 2 during summer months of June/July/August when there are fewer first-run movies of interest to our audience.

Steps to Develop Documentary Series:
1.Working with Jay Kugelman, research and continue to develop venues in different areas of signal. Initial list is growing. Confirm availability, contact, cost if any etc.
2.Enlist KPFK programmers in recommending documentaries for consideration.
3.Use screening as an outreach opportunity and invite KPFK programmers to host.
4.Create list of documentaries and contact filmmakers for permission etc.

 

ENGINEERING

The studios have been operating without incident.

The transmitter site is stable and operating properly.

Transmitter manufacturer upgrades and modifications will be installed in the transmitter within the next three months.

The low power translator on 98.7mhz has had intermittent problems from time to time. KPFK 90.7mhz is received and rebroadcast from Gibraltar Peak, which is in the mountains above Santa Barbara. The biggest problem has been interference from the Tijuana station broadcasting on 90.7mhz. Pacifica needs to make a substantial effort to eliminate or, at least, reduce the interference to KPFK from Tijuana. The Santa Barbara translator was installed about eight years ago on a very tight budget. It is time to upgrade the facility, to stabilize it and possibly null most of the signal from Tijuana. In addition, we will set up a computer that we can use to feed KPFK streaming audio to the translator to back up audio from KPFK 90.7mhz and have the 98.7mhz translator better serve its Santa Barbara coverage area.

 

OPERATIONS

Phone System:
Gateway TelNet will now take the place of Corporate Telecom as of December 26th. We have decided to discontinue our 2006 service contract with Corporate Telecom due to the following:

• Service has been consistently poor
• Erroneous charges and over charges
• Persistent problems with phone directory

After careful review of the problems KPFK has experienced with Corporate Telecom’s services, we agreed in management to investigate other services. Operations Director secured bids from three companies including Corporate Telecom. After diligent and comparative review of references, prices and services, we decided to contract Gateway TelNet for 2007 specifically because of the savings on maintenance and a lower hourly rate.

• Gateway’s maintenance contract represents a savings of $1,127.80 for 2007.
• Gateway’s hourly rate for the first hour of service is $119 vs. Corporate Telecom at $180.
• One of Gateway’s techs actually worked for Corporate Telecom during the installation of our phone system. We anticipate a smoother transition because of his knowledge of the system.
• Gateway will revamp our phone directory by December 31.
• We are investigating the possibility of providing the phone directory in Spanish.

A/C Units:
The last repairs were made in December. BARR engineering donated some essential parts to fix A/C unit #2. All A/C units are working properly.

We now have digital thermostats in all areas that feed all non-studio areas (except the edit bays and the news room).

The digital thermostats learn from experience, and seem to be getting better at managing the temperature in an energy efficient way. The construction of various offices has made it a challenge to manage the temperature, but this problem is near solution.

Most units operate only M-F 6am to 7pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm. We will have an estimate on the amount of energy costs savings soon.

Parking Lot:
The parking lot and sidewalk area will now be cleaned on a weekly basis. The service is provided by Philip Jordan for a monthly fee of $100.

Ergonomic Evaluation:
In late October, at the direction of the general manager, the Operations Director invited a representative Carla Slepak, Industrial Hygiene Consultant, Department of Industrial Relations Cal/OSHA Consultation Service to provide consultation “free of charge” on the application of the principles of ergonomics throughout the station. We received helpful and informative recommendations and will initiate a thorough ergonomics evaluation of all full-time staff offices starting with a focus on desk and chair positions.

On the Horizon:
The Operations Director in discussion with the Program Director will initiate production workshops for KPFK programmers once a month, or every other month to enhance their skills with studio equipment, audio editing and related issues. Details will be made available in early January 2007.