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KALW reports fundraising gains and local journalism grants, seeks deeper school partnerships
Summary
KALW presented its annual report, noting audience growth for local news, a fundraising surge that mitigated a prior deficit, new grants for local beat reporting and interest in expanding student internships and classroom partnerships.
KALW, the district‑affiliated public radio station, presented its annual report to the school board on Jan. 12, reviewing programming, audience reach, financial trends and opportunities to expand student engagement.
Station leadership highlighted Crosscurrents, a daily local-news program that has attracted local and national recognition. KALW said its news director was named Northern California Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded $50,000 for coverage of the economic downturn; NPR selected KALW for a local‑beat reporting initiative. The station reported roughly 100,000 weekly listeners for its overall service.
Financially, KALW said listener contributions account for a large share of its budget and that a 14% decline in listener revenue in FY2009 created a deficit of roughly $130,000 (covered by cash reserves). A vigorous end‑of‑year fundraising push returned the station to better standing: as of mid‑year KALW reported being about 10% ahead of last year’s giving and projected an FY2010 deficit near $85,000 that it plans to cover from reserves while continuing development efforts.
KALW also described its educational work — internships, collaborations with Burton High School and potential classroom integrations for local programming — and urged board members to participate in spring fundraising and explore deeper internship pipelines.
Board members thanked station staff, asked about metrics and encouraged expansion of youth internship opportunities at KALW.
