From the Station Manager
Now, more than ever, your financial support is critical. Your gift today will help sustain the high quality of WFIU programming in the future.
Read an article from the Herald-Times in Bloomington (login required to view):
Public radio, TV hit hard by state budget cuts
Read this article from The Elkhart Truth:
Can we afford to cut funding for public broadcasting?
Imagine a world without public radio. Here is a “funny” spot from our archive where WFIU has had to sell off all of our records and the announcer is forced to sing the musical selection.
Have a listen
July 1st Update:
Indiana has a budget!
Thanks for your support, in letters, phone calls, e-mails, and chats!
It’s been a long journey, but the state has finally passed a budget. Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS), of which this station is a part, was cut by eight percent for the next two years.
For WFIU and WTIU this is good news, considering the current economic climate. Our thanks go to friends in the statehouse for their excellent work in keeping our concerns before the legislature—and to our legislators for keeping public broadcasting and an informed citizenry in mind as they deliberated during this difficult time. The budget pendulum swung back and forth from total elimination of our state funding to an eight per-cent reduction, with several reversals along the way.
We plow ahead, hoping for an improved economy and a successful fund drive in November. In the meantime, we tighten our belts yet another notch for the coming year.
Thanks for supporting public broadcasting!
from the July issue of Directions in Sound
The Economy and WFIU—July update
Thank you for your overwhelming response to our plea for financial support to help bridge WFIU’s shortfall.
As this guide goes to press we are very close to reaching our goal and are confident that with the two weeks left in this fiscal year, we will be successful. Your generous contributions will cover the loss of our fourth quarter state appropriation and the decrease in individual giving. What a relief!
The future still remains murky. Indiana’s General Assembly adjourned without agreeing on a new state budget and necessitating a special session that hopefully will result in a budget for the next fiscal year.
Public broadcasting stations as well as universities and other entities still don’t know the status of their future allocations. We are prepared for a slight reduction to our allocation which is natural considering the shape of the state economy.
The Governor’s proposed budget, unfortunately, eliminates state funding to public broadcasting for the next two years. This could deal a severe blow to public broadcasting, particularly in areas of local service.
However, we are not without friends in the statehouse. Indiana public broadcasting stations continue to garner support in both the House and Senate from Republicans and Democrats alike. It seems that Hoosiers understand the value of public broadcasting to the state of Indiana, and this greatly inspires us to continue providing our services.
We heartily thank you for all you do for WFIU. Times are very tough, but it’s at times like these that you know who your loyal friends are. I hope to have positive news to print in our August issue of Directions in Sound.
Christina Kuzmych
WFIU Station Manager
from the June issue of Directions in Sound
The Economy and WFIU: an update
Dear Members,
First, thanks for the letters, calls and e-mails expressing concern over the economy’s effect on public broadcasting. We are working to hold services intact through very choppy waters. The economic downturn changed our budget projections nationally and locally. WFIU needs to generate immediate revenue to face the new reality, and we need your help.
As of this writing (May 6) we are anticipating a shortfall of over $40,000 in our budget. Some of this is attributed to individuals and families giving less this year due to economic strain. A more startling loss is our state appropriation. Acting on behalf of the Governor, the State Budget Director notified Indiana public broadcasting stations that our fourth quarter allocation would not be distributed to stations. As you can imagine, this unanticipated loss sent a shockwave through station budgets.
Funding projections for the next year or two are murky at this time. Indiana’s General Assembly adjourned without agreeing on a new state budget and necessitating a special session. Public broadcasting stations as well as universities and other entities will not know the status of their future allocations for some time to come. We hope for a slight reduction to our allocation which is natural considering the shape of the state economy. We fear deep cuts, or total obliteration of funding to public broadcasting as had been proposed by the Governor. In addition, we anticipate a reduction in university funding as IU struggles with its own funding at the statehouse.
In the meantime we have undertaken measures to adjust our budget. We worked with NPR to maintain the current dues level, though NPR too is suffering large corporate losses, particularly in the financial and automotive sectors, as well as in decreased endowment revenues. Other program providers have for the most part followed NPR’s lead. We cut several local programs slated for production, and froze hiring in areas that can still handle the temporary strain. Travel and equipment purchases have been reduced or postponed indefinitely. We found a lower priced software package for our public service announcement program, and are looking at reducing the monthly guide production costs. WFIU made a good decision several years ago to fund new technology initiatives (Online and HD2) with gifts and grants rather than operating funds. Now in the reduced budget scenario, these initiatives are not draining our main radio operation.
These cuts and measures will help us preserve much of our core programs and services, but not all of them. Programs other than Morning Edition and All Things Considered are still at risk. That’s why I write with a sense of urgency. During the months of May and June, we hope to fund at least $30,000 of our shortfall through gifts solicited by brief on-air announcements and an online campaign in June. This should keep us from having to interrupt programming and hold a full-fledged fund drive in June. We heartily thank you for all you do for WFIU, and ask that you take this opportunity to make an additional contribution now.
Christina Kuzmych
WFIU Station Manager
from the May issue of Directions in Sound
The Economy and WFIU: an update
Dear Members,
As expressed in last month’s Directions in Sound, the economic situation continues to take its toll on us. As of this writing (April 10) we are still awaiting news from three critical sources of funding for the next fiscal year: federal, state, and IU
In the last several weeks we received bad news from the state about our current year funding. Acting on behalf of the Governor, the State Budget Director notified Indiana public broadcasting stations that our fourth quarter payment would not be distributed to stations. This cut amounts to a 31 percent cut, or 1.1 million dollars that must be absorbed by stations across Indiana within the next three months, and represents money the stations had already budgeted.
In addition, Governor Daniels has proposed to eliminate all state funding for public broadcasting for the next two years. Indiana public broadcasting stations continue to work with the House, the Senate, and our Governor, to reverse this situation.
Thanks to all who have expressed their concern and support. Difficult as these times are, we know that together, we will get through this economic downturn. Our strategy is to preserve our main missions: to provide programming and public service to the community, and to remain “radio that matters.”
Christina Kuzmych
WFIU Station Manager
from the April issue of Directions in Sound
The Economy and WFIU
Dear Members,
Many of you have asked how WFIU is faring these days. The answer is that, in short, we are making ends meet—but like so many of you, we are trimming budgets deeply. Hiring is frozen and several program initiatives and technology purchases have been postponed. Only necessary travel is approved. Training for personnel, though reduced, is still taking place in critical areas thanks to your generous contribution to the Robert Samels Memorial Fund for staff training.
We are in the midst of a perfect storm in funding reductions. All our sources (federal, state, institutional, corporate, individual) are at risk and the scenario changes daily. As of this writing (March 13), Governor Daniel’s proposal to zero out state funding to public broadcasting was challenged in the House and is now being debated in the Senate. We are prepared to accept cuts equal to those of other public service institutions, but vigorously oppose the Governor’s proposal. On the federal level, public broadcasting leadership formulated a request to the Administration and Congress for an additional $307 million for its 2010 budget to assist stations in dealing with the financial impact of the nation’s economic crisis. On the institutional level, IU is experiencing deep reductions in many areas, as are our corporate supporters. Individual support is still very strong in number of members, though we are seeing dips in the dollar amount of contributions.
Despite all, we are still hanging in while we wait to hear from the state, the university, and the federal government. Our strategy is to preserve our main missions: programming and public service to the community. Times are very tough, but it’s at times like these that you know who your loyal friends are. Thanks to all of you for your concern and your support. We’ll keep you posted as the situation develops.
Christina Kuzmych
WFIU Station Manager
