Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Hello, I'm glad to be joining in now... I am an independent producer​
and editor of audio documentary airing on public radio, most often​
with Radio Diaries. (I also make films some for PBS, and back in the​
last century worked at stations.)

It makes sense if, within the whole system, there is a​
reconsideration, a "ok, what now?" mission and operations moment.​
Its a time to reassert key values and hunt new approaches. That is​
positive and exciting, OTOH like others I'm concerned about losses​
especially at stations especially serving communities where there​
are fewest resources.

What I am hearing about fundraising these days--and this is more for​
production projects tho I expect for broader pubrad support too--is​
that not surprisingly, non-gov funders foundations etc, are​
interested in supporting the system, but that for the time being​
haven't settled on particular plans or strategies, so what form this​
support takes is still fuzzy. And yes, staff time already in limited​
supply especially at smaller stations will have to go towards​
development.
  

    
When I took the GM job at KZYX in 2008, I did not do enough due​
diligence on the state of the station's finances.  I thought it was​
around $40K in debt.  On my first day or work I went to the GM desk​
for the first time and there was a 4 inch pile of envelopes in a​
stack and a sticky note on top from my predecessor that said, "don't​
send these until you get some money."  Yikes. I opened the envelops​
and they were all checks to pay bills.  And real basic stuff too​
like the electric bill.  So I went into the books and discovered​
that in fact we were $200K in debt.

I almost walked out and said, "I'm sorry but I have made a mistake​
and cannot do this."  But I said I would do it so I proceeded.

First I went to the local bank that handles our line of credit,​
which was maxed at $50K.  I had a seven person payroll and nothing​
to pay them with.  So I asked for a $10K bump so I could pay them. ​
My banker said, "if I do that I will just be giving you a bigger​
shovel to dig yourself into a deeper hole."

I, realizing that I was about to get sent away, said, "you don't​
know me but here is who I am and what I have done. All I can give is​
my word that I will not walk away from this until the station is​
once again solvent."

He bought it and gave us the loan that allowed the staff to get​
paid.

Then I went through the entire operation and divided expenses into: 
Necessary fixed cost
Necessary variable cost
Valuable but no necessary.

Necessary is what it takes to keep the signal up and in good shape. ​
And it was notoriously unreliable in the bad weather months (until i​
got a grant for a generator).  Fixed are costs like the rent and​
variable is the power bill.

Unnecessary but valuable is the programming and news we pay for,​
even when those expenses are fixed.

Then I immediately went on the air and told everyone what was really​
going on, that we needed an emergency pledge drive right away and I​
would have to lay people off and cut some valued programming.

This of course was extremely controversial and I think a lot of​
people still don't forgive me for laying off our popular and way​
left wing junior news person and keeping the senior, but more​
politically neutral, News Director.

Then I got some of the programming entities like PRI to work with us​
by  giving us huge discounts until we got back on our feet.

And we still owed NPR $100K.  How I dealt with that is a good story​
for later in this conversation.

Anyway, it took 5 years for us to get out of debt, but we did.  It​
was a combination of local bootstrapping and cooperative help from​
national providers. (APM however gave us no consideration at all so​
we dropped them).

So the point of this overly long tale is how I divided up the​
expenses to deal with the situation and the hard choices that I had​
to make.

Part of being a boss requires a willingness to bring bad news to​
people who don't want to hear it.
  

    
I didn't know what APM was, so looked it up: assume it's American​
Public Media?

That story makes an interesting point: it makes a difference to have​
managers with wisdom about how to proceed financially. You need some​
critical and creative thinking to make it work. The operations that​
will survive the loss revenue will be operations that can do that​
sort of thinking, and can focus on the sustaining the fundamentals.
  

    
Right.  American Public Media.  Thus we had to lose Prairie Home​
Companion and Car Talk.

I am supremely grateful that I got the chance to start and manage SF​
Gate. That is where I learned how to do it. Before that I had never​
managed another person or an entire budget. Ever.
  

    
I just got email from KQED asking me to donate to a "Donor Advised​
Fund."  So they are getting creative over there.

When I started in 2008, the main on-air fundraiser for KQED, Greg​
Sherwood (son of legendary SF DJ Don Sherwood) was on the Board of​
the Marin Country Day School whe3n my wife <calliope> worked there​
for 7 yrs.  She gave me Greg's number and I called him.

One big piece of advice he gave me was to not get lost in the world​
of ever-more-enticing thank-you gifts. He said that KQED went down​
that tunnel years ago and cannot get out of it.  He advised that we​
keep the gifts small and always emphasized the real reason someone​
should donate.
  

    
We went through that on KPFA, too. Too much focus on premiums, and​
we tried to get away from that.
  

    
A question for Ben Shapiro..
> non-gov funders foundations etc, are interested in supporting the​
system, but that for the time being haven't settled on particular​
plans or strategies, so what form this support takes is still fuzzy.

How has this impacted your own funding for your projects?