To the editor:
KYAQ, Lincoln County’s only community radio station, is in peril and desperately needs board members and volunteers. The station has reached a transition stage where it will either move forward to a new phase, or cease to exist.
KYAQ was a grand experiment from the start. It was founded as a response to the right-wing talk radio that was pretty much the exclusive political commentary on the local airwaves at the time. Firebare, the 501(c)(3) under which KYAQ operates, was originally founded in 2000 with the (partial) mission to:
“..educate the general public about constitutional rights and about the rights and duties of citizenship, to work for the preservation of all American constitutional rights, especially those in the first amendment, and to work for greater citizen awareness of and involvement in the affairs of government.”
In August 2007, the Firebare board reached out to the community for support for a non-commercial community radio station. With the community’s enthusiastic support, Firebare’s application was filed with the Federal Communications Commission in October 2007 along with six other mutually exclusive applications from five communities for the one available frequency in our area.
It was more than three years before the FCC ruled on the applications. In January 2011, Firebare was awarded a construction permit from the FCC to build a full power NCE FM radio station to serve the central Oregon coast on frequency 91.7 FM, with the call letters KYAQ.
KYAQ’s first broadcast was Jan. 1, 2014. The studio equipment at that time consisted of a modem to get the signal to the broadcast tower, one microphone, and one partially functional mixing board.
In the intervening 11 years, with the generous support of the community and the work of many dedicated volunteers, the station has grown into a fully equipped community radio station, with a focus consistent with the original mission.
KYAQ strives to serve all segments of the community with a mix of local, regional and national news, political talk and analysis, educational programs, community service announcements, and music, much of which is produced by local volunteers.
In all its history, KYAQ has never brought in enough revenue from donors and underwriters to cover expenses. The station has always operated at a monthly deficit, now near $600 a month. This necessitates several fundraisers a year in order to raise funds to cover the revenue gap, and our shrinking group of aging volunteers has increasing difficulty finding the energy or support in the community to continue this pattern.
It’s time now for members of the community to step up and offer their time and energy to the worthy goal of preserving this important community asset. Without it, KYAQ will cease to exist. If you are interested in serving on the board or volunteering, please send an email to comments@kyag.org.
— Bill Dalbey/KYAQ station manager
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