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27 Responses to “‘Spruce’”

1. Paula LeRoy Says:
   June 2nd, 2015 at 8:06 pm

   This plan will actually improve KUSP as a local radio station with local talent and programs of which we are overflowing. I get bored hearing NPR for morning and evening commute.
   As for erasing the debt of $720,000. We would need 7200 people to make $100 EXTRA donations. or 3600 people to give $200. Considering that SC has millionaires, Google, Apple, Adobe, Plantronics employees that is a drop in the bucket for many. They just need to know how important it is. Even those of us not in the category, might reach down deeper if we knew it was a life or death situation.

   I for one would help with a big fundraising party. I would contribute programming. I have 40 hours of interviews with experts on all kinds of things: counterinsurgency, economics of recession, human rights, global arms control.. . .to offer (with some improved editting)

   We can do this, lets harness the communities interests and talents.

2. James Anderson Merritt Says:
   June 3rd, 2015 at 3:15 am

   This sounds very promising. I would hasten to add that outreach to educational institutions should include high schools. I taught radio drama at a private middle- and high-school recently and have never had a more engaged group of students, or taught a class that more effectively coaxed forth talents that many of the students didn’t even suspect they had. Outreach to high schools, providing a venue for students’ efforts in radio drama, news & sports production, musical programs, airworthy podcasts, or other types of audio programming, would not only help to train a new generation of energetic, enthusiastic program producers, but also weave KUSP tightly into the fabric of regional community, which would bond the station to a critical base of financial supporters, as well. For instance, the same parental population that contributes big money toward high school sports would almost certainly have no trouble at all routing some of that funding toward a station that aired play-by-play broadcasts of their schools’ “games of the week”; many local businesses could be found to underwrite such broadcasts, especially if the air-talent included volunteer student announcers from the schools in question.

   I think that asking the question, “how can we sound professional” with volunteer productions is backward. The delight in a community station comes from rising to the challenge and learning just how professional we can ALL sound when it is our turn to use the big megaphone.

3. Jeff Rudisill Says:
   June 3rd, 2015 at 9:50 pm

   As one who has had the pleasure of working to establish a Youth Radio group in Southern California, I strongly support this concept. The challenge becomes how to integrate this into a financially viable business plan that can keep the KUSP station license from being sold to Corporate Public Radio. Your ideas and plans???

4. Says:
   June 4th, 2015 at 10:27 am

   The basic tenets of this plan have strong community support. Keep the signal/transmitters, downsize and re-invigorate local involvement. Note: I use local to mean all the varying communities around the listening area. Some remaining NPR, APM and Pacific shows can be shifted to times they are not in competition with KAZU. Develop 5-10 flagship local issues and culture shows. This may take a few months to get ready to air. Start now. Volunteers do not equal amateurs.When paired with paid staff it’s a great combination. There are experienced radio people who have done this all their lives who are ready to come on now and do shows. They do not need training. There are many broadcast writing students of mine from Cabrillo College who would love doing news features, commentaries, and other radio. The new youth radio will be up soon and could feed young voices on the air. KUSP had a large cadre of very experienced, professional, charismatic and knowledgeable programmers, who for years did shifts from 1-4 hours a week, and did other duties such as work on the music library, run fundraising events, etc. They are still here, ready to come back if allowed. Some fear volunteers will degrade the quality of programming. Dr. Dawn, Geek Speak, Brett Taylor, Agony Column; those are all volunteer-run shows. They get better over time. They have volunteer producers. Talk of the Bay ran with all volunteers for years before we had a paid producer.I encourage folks to look at the program grid at or even better listen to shows like “This Green Earth” or “Local News Hour”. They have the same sized budget, fewer listeners, strong local news component, lots of volunteers and are not in debt.

   Each proposal on here under “considerations” says: “must have revenues higher than expenses to pay down debt”. Currently at KUSP, revenues are below expenses. Let’s just say for the moment that there were other ways to restructure the debt and make it less of a burden. There are creative funding solutions that can get the debt under control. A bigger deal is to get the budget into balance. Would breaking even be ok? What if KUSP found a place to move that had lower or no rent? I am looking forward to exploring these ideas with the group which has volunteered to analyze the station’s finances and make recommendations.

5. Gary Patton Says:
   June 5th, 2015 at 10:28 am

   This option (of those outlined, with their various forestry-affiliated names) seems to be a good one to me.

   My MAIN POINT, however, is not that this or any other option is what must be accomplished.

   What MUST BE ACCOMPLISHED is an option that will NOT RESULT IN THE SALE OF THE FREQUENCY AND TRANSMITTERS.

   The important thing is to restructure the management and operations of the station so that it can continue to function as a local station. That means getting income and expenditures into balance (the obvious necessity of doing this has apparently been ignored for the last several years). Obviously, as well, there is now a debt problem. That, too, has to be solved.

   Selling the station to eliminate the debt is not acceptable! “Spruce” or some other solution that preserves KUSP as a local radio station allows “all” options for the future. Selling the station eliminates all options.

6. paul gratz Says:
   June 6th, 2015 at 1:49 pm

   Selling KUSP is not acceptable! Selecting Spruce or another similar community-responsive and fiscally sound solution allows the radio station to transform and thrive. Selling eliminates all options forever.

7. Carolyn Trupti Israel Says:
   June 6th, 2015 at 10:01 pm

   In the ’90′s, KUSP boasted a number of locally produced folk music and interviews of interest programs that went on for a considerable time. Community TV has some such programs which would be amenable to radio production. It is clear that KUSP can be a good-quality community radio station without relying on extensive expensive NPR programing. I believe a number of capable volunteers will make themselves available, some of them skilled. (They may create a pool from which staff can be recruited, as more staff become possible at the station.)

8. maureen davidson Says:
   June 8th, 2015 at 2:32 am

   The “spruce” mixture of locally-produced news, opinion and unique music programs seems like the essential KUSP to me. Several elements stand out in the outline of this format: the word “collaboration” appears early and often…as well as a realistic fundraising approach.

   The news of this crisis appeared just as or just after I left for a three-month stay abroad. Otherwise I would be there participating in the discussion. I do commit to volunteering once again with KUSP, on-air or online if that’s wanted or needed, or in the background if that is needed. I also commit to donating regularly and as significantly as I am able.

   There is almost no need to turn on the radio to get good music, the kind that you like to hear–except to be guided to music you didn’t know you wanted to hear until a knowledgeable producer introduces it…please keep the mixture of jazz and world music, classical and kooky so that I can stumble across new delights constantly. And keep the local wisdom of Geek Speak and Dr. Dawn to inform us delightfully about their expertise. And issue-oriented programming that lets us delve deeply into subjects about which we need to know.

   KUSP is a vital and relevant part of the local landscape. Please do not spend the signal to keep a vestige, let’s go after an even better station.

   From St. Ives, Cornwall
   Maureen Davidson

9. Tracy Rosenberg Says:
   June 8th, 2015 at 3:01 pm

   Spruce is the right plan to keep KUSP relevant, local and community-based. A financial crisis can provide an excuse to give up and let KUSP get absorbed into chain syndication, or it provides the opportunity to re-commit to providing something different and of value to the people of Santa Cruz and the surrounding metro area. I can’t encourage you strongly enough to do the second. Anything else would be a abdication of KUSP’s heritage and history and a terrible disservice to all of the people who have supported the station for so long. Give yourselves a chance to succeed at doing what KUSP was meant to do. All organizations go through periods of change, sometimes traumatic change. You can either come out of it stronger by leaning hard into your mission – or not. Please work on this plan, make it better if you can, but don’t default on our mutual responsibility to keep KUSP intact and serving the region.

10. Roberta Troxell Says:
    June 9th, 2015 at 5:17 pm

    This is the best option and one i would completely support. The local programs are the ones I do not want to miss and recommend them to many of my friends that are out of the Monterey area. They are unique and provide amazing varieties of subjects and content.
    Keep the transmitters! This is the best option.

11. Jean Brocklebank Says:
    June 11th, 2015 at 6:49 pm

    Keep Land Use Report and First Person Singular.

12. Peter Gelblum Says:
    June 12th, 2015 at 2:18 pm

    I agree with those who insist that the key is not to sell the frequency and transmitters. Once we get to that point, we can have a robust conversation about exactly what the station will sound like, and that can and will change over time. I like the community-focused vision of Spruce. One of the things that attracted me to this area seven years ago, and one of the things that continues to fill me with wonder, is the astonishing volume of creative people in such a small place. I have to believe that, properly motivated and organized, this community can put together vibrant and varied content for KUSP.

    Although I do regularly listen to the NPR morning and afternoon shows, I can hear them on KAZU if buying them for KUSP is not financially viable. Obviously, any plan must be financilly viable, and I understand there is a knowledgable group working on that.

13. Says:
    June 12th, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    KUSP has to stay local. There are a zillion opinions about format and programming. I care way less about specific options as I do that KUSP is not sold. I also have zero experience in the world of running a community station but I would enthusiastically volunteer at a “Spruce”-like KUSP doing whatever I could to support our beloved station.

14. larry blood Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    I appreciate the idea of return to local focus, but if the suggestion that 7-8 full-time staff is correct, I don’t see how this can be supportable in the short run with the already difficult situation of such a large deficit. My experience is that locally produced talk and information programming generally requires more staff in training, supervision and support. I would start with a heavier focus on music, initially, because facilitating a quality presentation by volunteers can, I believe, be done with fewer staff. News and public affairs alternatives should encourage and include local efforts augmented by no-to-low cost national/international programs. Any additional local spoken programs should move ahead slowly to develop a strong volunteer base. Proven local spoken programs should continue, and exemplary local [e.g. Dr. Dawn, Geek Speak, 7th Avenue Project, Agony Column] productions should be promoted to other markets via qualitative web outreach. Facilitation of web outreach for music shows should also help expand the listener base.

15. Roxanne Rothafel Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    As a long time supporter and listener (1977) I am in favor of KUSP option ‘spruce’. I would continue to be a supporter and possibly a volunteer under the ‘new’ format. KUSP is our local station. I listen to local programming now and will as long as it is available.
    I am opposed to the sale of the station and feel betrayed by this threat to sell it quickly. I think supporters should have been notified sooner. This last minute rush to save our station leaves little time for well researched viable proposals.

16. Eric Grodberg Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    I support Spruce.

    There’s a huge void in Santa Cruz in local news, public affairs and cultural events reporting. KUSP has a natural advantage in focusing a larger portion of its airtime on these types on local programming. It’s the only type of programming that KUSP is naturally positioned to dominate. Even if KUSP chooses to continue with significant NPR programming, a larger content of local programming would draw listeners away from KAZU.

    Furthermore there are a huge number of talented and energetic people in Santa Cruz who could make this work on a volunteer basis. I’ve never heard a good explanation for replacing “Talk of the Bay” with SF based “Your Call.” Restoring Talk of the Bay would be a great first step in providing more local content.

    Finally, if KUSP continues to have just a tiny amount of local programming, why would The Board and Staff expect the local community to support it? It’s a community station only to the extent that it directly broadcasts community issues – currently that’s not much.

17. Kathy Welch Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 6:50 pm

    This seems to me to be the most thoroughly thought out and appealing model offered. Keep it local and keep 88.9! As long as KUSP returns to its roots of a strong emphasis on local programming and use of volunteers and keeps 88.9, I would be happy to give a big extra chunk of money to help retire the debt, and I’m sure there are many more in the community like me.

18. Bob Reid Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    The number of.staff is a matter of concern. The number of staff submitted with the proposal was 3-4 and the group analyzing the options increased the number because they felt that number would be required.

    For this proposal, and the Elm proposal, it was my intent that people in the community would be serving the functions which I believe the filtering group assumes will be done by the station. In San Benito County we have people with experience in radio and journalism who would be excited to participate in a regional community radio project. I have no doubt there are people with similar experience in the other parts of the Monterey Bay Area.

    There needs to be a new way of thinking applied to this problem. There seems to be some dependence on doing things as they have been done, rather than seeking new ways which might address the situation in a new way.

    I believe that we must look at how this might be accomplished with a smaller staff.

19. Says:
    June 13th, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    This alternative would not require 7 to 8 full time staff, and it is not a forgone conclusion that it is not supportable. The non-commercial station in Park City, Utah, has a staff that size and operates in the black. I think it is worth considering, But the ultimate size of the staff is not inherent in a program mix of a little NPR (e.g., Morning Edition for the big bucks it brings in even with KAZU’s parallel broadcast of it, and possibly hourly news or one or two other, select shows) and a steadily increasing amount of locally-produced, local community focused programming, perhaps with local sponsors for content that reaches their target market/audience.

    There can be a staged transition that involves a lot more community volunteer involvement in the selection of programs and programmers. I propose that a broadly representative group serve as a programming committee with a clear, agreed set of criteria. That demo tapes be submitted and screened intitially by a three-member panel that looks only at quality, not content, then a larger group — between 7 and 13 — be asked to evaluate the demo tape using a standardized set of criteria and a rating sheet. Three cutpoints would be reject, consider, accept. Consider should be the largest group and should be discussed at a live (virtual or in-person) meeting of the Programming Committee.

    On a different note, I think a financially viable model might be to continue Morning Edition, presumably a net revenue positive NPR offering that might also result in NPR forgiving much of the current debt) and possibly hourly news (or not) other NPR, PRI, and BBC programs; to FEATURE local economic sectors — ocean sports or ocean recreation (O’Neil as a prime example);, downtown business;, organic food (production through wholesale and retail) and the people behind these movements (Staff of Life, New Leaf, Harmony Foods, etc.; sustainable forestry (Big Creek); Internent and new IT-dependent technology (Netflix, Google, Cruzio, etc.) and business’ etc. Periodic or episodic programs could have regular sponsors (like some of the businesses names and many more); and to consider excellent locally-produced music programs. All current and post programmers would be invited to submit a proposal and be subject to the review process outlined above.

    In the interest of full disclosure – I do not seek and if offered, will not accept another regular air shift.

    In the interest of full disclosure, I think the economic interests of all current employees and BoD members should be declared and posted. I am have been working on a grant-funded project for the last 5 years where my and all of the other key players’ potential conflicts of interest are posted on the web site.

    Thanks for reading this far. If you wish to reply privately you can to hal dot levin at buildingecology dot com.

    -

20. Helen Garvy Says:
    June 14th, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    I find it hard to form an opinion when some of the things I care about (NPR news, some of the local shows) are listed as “may” continue.

21. Craig Kenyon Says:
    June 14th, 2015 at 9:42 pm

    I have been a supporter of KUSP for the last 4 years after discovering the wonderful Saturday night programming on the internet (Soul Shack and Skylarkin’ in particular). As long as KUSP continues to provide these quality programs,and others like them, you will have my unwavering financial support. I’m sure there are many other internet listeners who feel the same way, but may not be always aware of pledge drives, especially if they don’t stream the station that week. Greater effort during future pledge drives may increase revenues significantly, which over time may reduce the current debt load. Please try hard to keep your local station’s programming just like what your listeners now appreciate – a station that is real, funky and precious! Where there is a will, there is a way.

22. Jack Nelson Says:
    June 14th, 2015 at 10:43 pm

    This proposal leads off with “locally produced,” and that almost says it all right there, hurray!

    If this option was edited up by paid professional staff, that’s possibly why it could overestimate the need for paid professional staff. Plus, as described, are there some staff-intensive bells and whistles included that may not be the most important, compared to a shot at meeting budget?

    KUSP has had a lot of revenue, but somehow lacked the gumption to live within means. I heard it stated at one of the current meetings that the move away from volunteer programmers and local content in 2008 increased revenue and listeners, but evidently the full result was more calamitous when the accompanying budget cost is factored in.

    As a longtime public radio listener, I’ve wanted to encounter some programming that reflects diverse and genuine human personality and conversely needn’t have that sometimes over-polished professionalism of paid staff hosts. I’m fine when the real human being is not laundered out; don’t we all recognize authenticity when we hear it?

    We live in a time when climate change could cancel the future we’d hope for, when people born here may not be able to afford living here, yet the community conversation about vital issues like that is not so well represented on KUSP. Instead, we have recycled episodes of Car Talk. And when I want inspiration and relief, not much surpasses music personally curated by those who know and love it.

    To survive, KUSP needs to crunch the money numbers, but it also needs to build the community that loves having KUSP on the air. Not merely people with a lot of money, but a lot of people with a lot of love and some money.

23. Dane Hardin Says:
    June 15th, 2015 at 8:35 am

    Can somebody show me where the broadcast footprint of this option is described?

24. admin Says:
    June 15th, 2015 at 11:17 am

    Dane,

    This plan would keep the 88.9 signal. The ‘signal section’ was actually missing from the page. Thanks for pointing this out! It’s posted there now.

25. Dianne Dryer Says:
    June 15th, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    I support Spruce for all the reasons that have been stated in this section. More local interest is best, and collaboration with community institutions would be very beneficial. In addition, I think a variety of music programs should be included, especially World Music. I love hearing music on the radio that I never would have discovered on my own. I usually listen selectively to NPR programs online, so I don’t think KUSP should spend a lot of money getting them, especially when they’re already on KAZU. Please don’t sell the signal! If this option is selected, or something close to it, I will commit to generous annual contributions.

26. Grant Wilson Says:
    June 15th, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    My opinion is Spruce it UP!!!
    I could say a lot more, having been a public radio advocate in Santa Cruz for the past… 40 years.
    I’ve worked directly with some amazing national radio resources, over the years- that are avialable for KUSP & others: The National Radio Project, Alternative Radio w David Barsamian, Making Contact, Counter-Spin, Native News Network, etc, etc.
    I’m spending a good bit of time on the SJ side of the hill (looking after my elderly mother) and am listening to KPFA- which I have to say- is continuing to provide (not without struggles & challenges) Excellent Community Radio! Diverse, music, education, topical news, discussions, etc.

    Please communicate with yor listenership (even if it’s difficult stuff) & with your sponsors & underwriters.
    & let us know how we can help.

    Thank you

27. Sara Bassler Says:
    June 15th, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    I think this is my favorite option. I stumbled across KKUP 91.5 which is community-based and run by all volunteers and I just love the variety of their music shows and the show where they play old-time radio shows. Why can’t we do something like KKUP 91.5 in Cupertino which is staffed by volunteers?? I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, so perhaps we can add volunteers to the current staff?