New chance for public radio

Appeared in the Monterey Herald

March 7, 2008

by John Laird

I appreciate The Herald shining a light on the future of Central Coast public radio. A recent editorial referred critically to efforts to vilify one station, KAZU, and I certainly hope that the bigger public policy issue can be understood without anyone attacking the motives of others. For me, here are the issues surrounding the recent discussions of a joint KAZU-KUSP operation.

In the mid-1970s, KUSP began broadcasting as the leading Monterey Bay area public radio station, growing into a first-class National Public Radio affiliate, operating almost totally from local support. KUSP has been Santa Cruz-based, but provided programming and invested in infrastructure to serve the greater Central Coast region. Service was expanded into parts of Santa Clara County and southern Monterey County. For many in Big Sur, it's the only local radio station.

Two other community radio stations operate on the Central Coast. KZSC operates from the University of California-Santa Cruz campus. It receives some UCSC support, airs community programming and provides opportunities for students to learn the radio business. For more than 30 years, KUSP and KZSC have played complementary roles.

KAZU, meanwhile, was purchased in 2000, with CSU-Monterey Bay assuming the previous operator's approximately $150,000 debt. Instead of operating on campus, Pacific Grove-based KAZU went head-to-head with KUSP as a second regional NPR affiliate, offering similar NPR programming and competing for the same donors. Both developed subscriber bases in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Today, the ratio of listeners from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties is nearly the same for both stations.

The competition cost KUSP listeners and funding, which has been well-reported. CSUMB's unrecovered costs for KAZU have also been significant, totaling over $1 million.

I've had regular involvement with all three stations over the years, so I was pleased when in February 2007, CSUMB approached KUSP about considering joint operations of KUSP and KAZU. That resulting study, funded by the Community Foundations of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, recommended combining operations. CSUMB rejected that conclusion, establishing its own private process to try to maximize the financial value of its radio license without including the needs of its listeners as a priority to be considered.

Following the CSUMB Foundation's closed-door decision last week, it announced KAZU would move to campus. It did not accept KUSP's most recent offer for joint operation or seek to renegotiate.

If CSUMB's intent was to end head-to-head competition with KUSP and emphasize the new journalism disciplines mentioned in The Herald editorial, providing a chance for CSUMB students to get radio training in a manner that hasn't existed to date, then this is a good move. It's a model that works elsewhere and justifies the large subsidy CSUMB has been making to KAZU in these difficult budget times.

The disappointment over CSUMB's decision is the lack of a public statement on the future of KAZU. KAZU is funded through the private CSUMB Foundation, which is funded partly through campus housing, food and bookstore operations. In the middle of a major state budget crisis and student fee increases, this was the time for CSUMB to clarify its future financial commitment and plan for KAZU.

Will CSUMB continue to subsidize KAZU? What role will donor and taxpayer dollars play when donations are at a premium and student fees are rising? Will KAZU change its format and provide a place for student learning?

These are fair questions to ask a public institution. But none was answered because the process was not public, despite being a public university in control of a public radio station.

I hope CSUMB provides good guidance on these matters shortly, and resolves these issues in the best interest of our local area and its statewide role. It has a chance to end the drain of CSUMB money, solidify Central Coast public radio, and maybe even offer students journalistic opportunities they do not now have. So far, it's taken over a year and significant additional financial investment just to get back to where we started.

John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, represents the Central Coast in the Assembly.