KSER's Voice of the Community Celebration

It's here!  The sixth annual KSER Voice of the Community Award Celebration takes place this Saturday evening. You can still buy tickets at the door for the event which takes place at the Jackson Conference Center on the Everett Community College campus.

The KSER Voice of the Community Award recognizes local individuals, organizations and businesses that speak up to raise awareness about community or cultural concerns with positive results. During the past several months, we received nominations for this years awards, and here's the list of recipients who will be honored this weekend:

Community Impact by an Individual
Kristin Ebeling, director, skate park and youth programs for Mukilteo YMCA
Sandra VanderVen, senior organizer, Fuse

Community Impact by an Organization
Japanese Gulch Group

Community Impact by a Business
Economic Alliance Snohomish County

Cultural Impact by an Organization
Everett Music Initiative

Cultural Impact by a Business
Whidbey Telecom

2012 Voice of the Community Recipients Roger Pawley, Jan Vance & Lillian Ortiz-Self

 Online ticket sales have ended. But you can still buy tickets at the door, Saturday evening at the Jackson Center on the campus of Everett Community College.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Pledge Drives (but were afraid to ask).

People are always asking us questions about pledge drives.

Do you have to do them? Are they really necessary? Do people even listen? Wouldn't it be better for the station if you didn't do them? Do people really call and pledge money?

Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes.

We do have to do them because more than 50% of the money we receive to operate KSER comes from listeners. And much of that money comes in during our pledge drives. So yes, they are necessary and we know people listen because, thankfully, they call and pledge money. So if we didn't do pledge drives, KSER just wouldn't be able to operate.

But, like everything else, you have to put things in perspective.

We do three pledge drives a year - Spring, Summer, Fall. Each pledge drive is just nine days long. That means every year we're doing pledge drives for 27 days. 338 days out of the year there are no pledge drives on KSER. (339 in leap year!)

Compare that to a commercial station and the ads they run. Commercial stations play commercials 365 days a year. Zero days commercial free, compared to our 338 pledge-free days.

We do occasionally receive the 'please stop talking and get back to the music' phone call. But put that in perspective, too. We do 4 or 5 three-minute 'pledge breaks' each hour. Compare that to commercial stations which frequently run a commercial break that is 7 or 8 minutes long several times an hour. Some stations run more than 18 minutes of commercials every hour, every day, all year long.

The other sometimes not-so-obvious issue with all those commercials is the 'clout' the advertisers may have. Even PBS may have succumbed to corporate pressure.

The truly good thing about pledge drives for radio stations like KSER is the fact that it is YOUR opportunity to support an independent community voice. KSER is your station. We don't have a corporate owner or out-of-town consultants. Everyone involved with the station - board members, volunteers, staff - are all doing this to serve the community. To provide an independent voice that is not tied to corporate interests or control. And we can only do that if the community continues to provide support.

And pledge drives can even be fun. This Saturday, October 5th from noon to 3 p.m. we're once again having a free cookout in the KSER parking lot at 2623 Wetmore Ave in Everett. In the summer we served hot dogs, this time it's brats as a nod to October. You  could make your important donation in person and meet your favorite KSER Saturday DJ's!

Of course if you can't make it to the station you can call anytime during the pledge drive, or, just go to KSER.org and make a pledge online.  If everyone who regularly listens to KSER would go online once a year and make a $35 pledge, we'd never have to do pledge drives.

Fact: most people listen and never donate. But that's okay. That's why we count on special people like you who are willing to support independent public radio. Thanks!

 

Government Shut-Down; Radio and the FCC

Of all the agencies and offices impacted by the US government shutdown, here's one that you probably haven't even thought about: The Federal Communications Commission.

Despite the FCC shutdown, the people on the air at KSER still aren't going to use any of George Carlin's 'Seven Dirty Words', even though some of us might have a few choice words for congress

The Federal Communications Commission has reportedly told 98% of it's staff to stay home and most of the tools and resources on the FCC website have been deactivated. For most Americans, the FCC shutdown is not exactly a big deal..or of any concern at all. But for those of us in the radio business, it's a concern.

For example, every radio station in the state of Washington is in the process of FCC license renewal. You may have heard the announcements on KSER and other stations. Current licenses don't expire until February of 2014 and the government shutdown, hopefully, will be long over by then. But even if the shutdown should drag on for months, radio stations will continue to operate.

And, fortunately, the KSER Foundation already has an FCC Construction Permit for another station - a brand new station in the north Puget Sound. In fact, it may be the very last full-power FM signal that will be available in this part of the country for a long time. For the past couple of months we've been hard at work on this project that will allow us to provide more community service, culture, music, entertainment and news and information to even more people in the region.  The new station, KXIR-FM will broadcast at 89.9 from a tower we're building in Greenbank on Whidbey Island.

Crew Preparing Tower Pad

Our project team has cleared a very small section of land for a 180' tower that will be barely visible in the area - It's only about 30 feet above most of the surrounding trees and will not have any beacon lights - but it will enable us to reach more people in the North Puget Sound. In fact, the KXIR signal, combined with our existing KSER signal at 90.7 FM, will reach more than 1.3 million residents in the North Puget Sound. You can learn more about our new station at KXIR.org where you can also learn how to contribute to our three-year campaign to raise funds to build and operate the station.

The FCC might not be working during the government shutdown, but, thanks to your financial support, we're moving forward with this important project and will be on the air and broadcasting sometime in November.  It will be one more rare independent voice owned by the community, not by an out-of-town corporation.

The Only Constant: Change

If you missed Ed Bremer's Sound Living this past Friday afternoon (August 30, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.) you missed a great hour about the future of the media and newspapers in particular.

Ed's guest for the full hour was new Everett Herald Publisher Josh O'Connor.  Josh took the reigns as Herald publisher after his company, Sound Publishing, recently purchased the Herald from the Washington Post Company - just a few months before the Washington Post itself was purchased by Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

You can still hear the full interview with O'Connor on our website, KSER.org, by clicking on the Radio Replayer button and going to Friday at 4 p.m.

Among the topics covered: there are apparently no plans to cut daily publication of the Herald, but there may be future plans for a 'paywall' - meaning at some point in the future you won't be able to access all the news on the Herald website unless you pay.

That seems to be the clear trend in the newspaper business. Some are cutting out some days of publication or charging to view stories on their websites...or both.

One of the topics Ed Bremer asked Josh O'Connor about is the concern over fewer companies controlling more media outlets.

The radio business, as you probably know, has also been dealing with the dramatic shifts in the media business landscape - at a time when the economy in general has been struggling.  Just Friday one of Seattle's long-time heritage music radio stations pulled the plug on what used to be a very successful format.  The Mountain, owned by Entercom of Philadelphia, is no longer The Mountain.  But instead has switched to a "Hot Adult Contemporary" format.  The company says The Mountain will still exist as a web stream and as a secondary 'HD' channel.  But most people don't have HD radios, and more people still listen to radio versus streaming audio. But the trends keep changing.

Web streaming, smart phones, tablets, YouTube, Pandora, I-Pods. They've all garnered more of everyone's time and eaten into the amount of time most people spend with traditional media: TV, Radio, Newspapers.  And newspapers have struggled even more with the loss of classified advertising to websites like Craigslist.

But it all still comes down to content. And for many of us the most important thing is having independent voices and independent news coverage that's not controlled by an owner three time zones away who is concerned only about corporate profit or, in some cases, about pushing a political agenda. 

It's a reason many of us are rooting for the continued survival of an important local news asset like the Herald. It's a reason many of you continue to support independent media outlets like KSER. Even with the disappearance of The Mountain on the FM dial, you can still hear local artists you won't hear anywhere else on KSER.

And more commercial radio is being gobbled up by a handful of corporate owners. Read here about commercial radio operator Cumulus buying up news and sports content distributor Dial-Global for $260-million. But there are still independent outlets like KSER where you'll hear hour-long interviews focused on the rapidly shifting media landscape, and you'll still hear in-depth news coverage from Amy Goodman that you won't hear in the mainstream media.

It's also why the KSER Foundation has started construction on a second FM station to expand our coverage in the North Puget Sound and to allow us to do more to serve our communities. You can learn more about our new station, 89.9 KXIR here.

KSER and, soon KXIR, exist because over the years thousands of people have made financial commitments to ensure an important local asset in our community. It's easy to learn about contributing online.  And with more media outlets shifting or vanishing or coming under corporate control, we're more thankful than ever that there are special people who keep these independent voices alive. Thanks!

Kaddywompas Weekend in Snohomish

You have another chance to enjoy a brand new Tim Noah Kaddywompas Radio Show this weekend in Snohomish!

Tim and his Thumbnail Theater crew are producing a new show and will perform it twice this weekend - Saturday night August 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday August 25 at 2 p.m. - before a live Thumbnail audience. You can be in the audience, be part of the fun, and be part of the making of a radio show.  Reserve your tickets here.

This weekend's edition of Kaddywompas is "The River is Risin', which you will be able to hear on KSER (90.7 FM and online at KSER.org) on Sunday, September 8 at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Enjoy the Everett Art Walk AND Support KSER

Thanks to Cafe Zippy, you can enjoy the monthly Everett Art Walk this weekend and support KSER at the same time!

The Everett Art Walk occurs the third Saturday of each month and Cafe Zippy at 2811 Wetmore Avenue in downtown Everett is one of the participating venues. This Saturday Cafe Zippy is going to feature the artwork of award-winning local artist Jules Anslow. Jules is the creator of the iconic artwork on the side of the KSER studios.

Jules Anslow Artwork on the KSER Studios

A portion of all the Jules Anslow art sales at Cafe Zippy will help support KSER, your local independent public radio station. The Everett Art Walk hours on Saturday are 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. It's your chance to support local business and local artists. And an opportunity to hang out at Cafe Zippy, meet Jules Anslow and support KSER!

"Zippy" from Cafe Zippy barking for support during a recent KSER Pledge Drive

The New KSER Board of Directors

The KSER Foundation Annual Meeting was held Tuesday evening (August 13) and ballots were counted for the KSER Board of Director's election.

Public Ballot Counting at the KSER Annual Meeting

There are two new members of the KSER Board of Directors.  KSER on-air host Ed Gasparini is a newly elected board member, filling one of two board seats designated for regular on-air KSER volunteers.  Ed is the host of the Academy of Comedy, which is heard every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. on KSER.

Ed Gasparini

Also elected to the Board is Sandy Thompson. Sandy is a former KSER board member who is returning to the board after a one-year absence.

Sandy Thompson

Three other current board members were re-elected: Kari King; Heather Bennett and Board President Brenda Mann Harrison.

Kari King; Brenda Mann Harrison; Heather Bennett

 And two dedicated, long-time KSER Board Members saw their terms expire at this election. Former Board President Candace McKenna is taking a break from her hard working board commitment. But even after more than a dozen years of KSER Board work Candace will remain involved with the KSER Foundation as a member of the newly formed KSER Endowment Committee.

KSER Treasurer John Thielke is also ending his board duties. John has been an important part of the KSER Foundation since shortly after it was formed to take over KSER from the Jack Straw Foundation.  John also will remain involved with the foundation, as a member of the project team for KXIR, the new FM station being built in Island County. John has been involved with KSER for more than 16 years.

John Thielke; Candace McKenna

Other KSER Board Members whose terms are continuing and were not up for re-election are Hayden Bixby; Brad Goergen; Marla Hamilton Lucas; Pam Somers and Cheryl Telford.

Just like most of the on-air hosts at KSER, our board members are all hard working volunteers.  They are elected by KSER members to direct the strategic vision and financial well-being of the KSER Foundation on behalf of the community. They devote hundreds of hours a year to board meetings; committee meetings and board-related assignments.

Thanks to those of you who returned your ballot and voted in this year's KSER election.

And if you're not a member of KSER, you can become one for a one-time donation of $35 or more. Then, next summer you'll get to vote and help set the direction for Snohomish County's only independent public radio station.