PNB Meeting - Jan 2007 - KPFT Report

Recent staff changes include the departure of long-time operations coordinator Byron Jackson. He has been replaced on an interim basis in the evening by Abel Solis, who has been a continuing volunteer on Gus Garza’s “Bailando in Tejas”. Midday operations have been taken over by Laura Slavin, who also continues to volunteer as music librarian and host of “Laurapalooza” and morning operations are now being handled by Paul Maslar. Also, the Volunteer Coordinator position has been filled, effective this week, by Shahi Ayoub, a longtime KPFT pledge drive phone volunteer. The Events Coordinator job should be filled in the next few weeks. Current staff levels equate to 8 fulltime and 8 part-time employees.

The outstanding lawsuit against Harris County Appraisal District is still pending, with trial set for the second week of March. We remain very confident of success in the ultimate outcome of this suit as Business Manager Markisha Venzant Sampson and I continue working closely with Mike Martin toward this end.

Our physical plant improvements continue. We have been focused on the building exterior, the front lobby area of the station and the music library area. We hope you have noticed the results of this hard work by members of the KPFT LSB Building Committee.

Development and Fundraising

The Fall Membership/Fund Drive had a revised total of over $322K on a goal of $340K, about 95% of the goal. The return rate thus far shows over $242K paid, representing 76%, with 81% of the pledges having been fully or partially paid. The Winter Drive is set to run from January 24 thru February 11 with a goal of $320K.

Our 100K watt transmitter upgrade project continues to progress rapidly. Steve Brightwell and the Building Committee have spent the previous several weekends at the transmitter site. Installation is nearly completed and the new unit should be online this month. The HD conversion process is proceeding as well, with the HD transmitter on order and projected to be installed in February. The Watts Up! Campaign has already generated over $42K in pledges and brought in over $30K in payments.

Board Relations

Overall, Board relations are improved and 2007 holds great promise. The Development Director and LSB Development Committee are working together on the transmitter Watts Up! campaign. The Outreach Committee is developing townhall meetings as well as representing KPFT at a wide variety of events and pursuing the development of a newsletter to augment the new KPFT outreach brochure. I have committed to assigning key KPFT staff members to relevant LSB committees to further the process of collaboration. I continue working closely with the LSB Chair to move this process forward as well as the maximized utilization of grant monies targeted toward board development and strategic planning.

Programming

KPFT is proud to be producing the Pacifica national broadcast from the National Media Reform Conference in Memphis, January 12-14, under the executive eye of Ernesto Aguilar. The MLK weekend presents several great outreach opportunities for KPFT, with a silent march and program at Macgregor Park on Saturday the 13th and the MLK Parade on Monday the 15th. Special Black History Month programming is being planned during and after the fund drive, along with a very special collaboration between KPFT, the Pacifica Radio Archives and Texas Southern University’s Terry Library. PRA’s director Brian Deshazor will be coming to town prior to the PNB meeting and making a presentation to TSU of historic Pacifica archival material. Obidike Kamau and Brian are working to make this a great moment for the university, the station and the archives.

The KPFT LSB and station management renewed a new collaborative agreement on a KPFT Program Council. The new PC will be selected this month and should continue their work with KPFT’s Program Director beginning in February. The first priority of the new PC will be to continue a comprehensive program evaluation process begun in the past few months by the outgoing PC. They will also work with the Program Director to incorporate ideas and information coming from LSB program-related committees.

With KPFT about to bring HD radio to Houston possibly as soon as February, we are thinking of how to best actualize the great potential of digital broadcasting. The programmatic possibilities will be developed along with input from the relevant program committees of the LSB, the Program Council, management and the community at large.

Community Relations and Outreach

Our New Voices and News Training outreach program aimed at minorities, women and youth for education and exposure to community radio brings in approximately a dozen people a month on an alternating (Voices/News) basis. The KPFT Summer Youth program again expects to bring in several dozen young people for a 10 week intensive session covering all aspects of radio vision, production and operations. We are in the process of developing a grant proposal to fund a director position for this endeavor.

KPFT expects to again present a free concert series running for 6 weeks in the fall at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park through a grant from the City of Houston. A wide range of KPFT musical genres and performers will appear during a third season of KPFT’s collaboration with the City of Houston.

Elections

KPFT’s Election Supervisor has issued her report on the 2006 campaign. We are moving forward to insure the 2007 elections process goes even smoother and more effectively. It is our plan to have a much more participative outreach program to bring more candidates from more minority communities into the process. As well, we are already working on systems to make sure that both staff and listener representation accurately reflects the membership.

Technical

KPFT’s technical goals for 2007 include the afore-mentioned transmitter power upgrade and HD digital conversion, as well as a planned facilities upgrade through the Public Telecommunications Facility Program (PTFP) grant we intend to submit in February. This upgrade will include replacement of most equipment in both the on-air studio control room and production studio, the downstairs and upstairs news booths and much ancillary equipment at the station and in the studio/transmitter broadcast chain. Money pledged to the Watts Up! Campaign beyond that needed for the required CPB match will be available as matching money in the PTFP grant process.

The future of Pacifica Radio at KPFT in Houston appears bright as we look forward to adding several hundred thousand potential listeners to the KPFT signal area.