Ron Chew: My Unforgotten Seattle
Ron Chew is a local Journalist, Author and the Executive Director for International Community Health Services. He reflects on decades of recording the stories of the people in Seattle’s Chinatown International District in his new book, My Unforgotten Seattle. (more…)
Meet the Student Fellows Working in Partnership with KBCS
Meet the student fellows working in partnership with KBCS.
KBCS is partnering with International Examiner a Northwest Pan-Asian publication and Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Engagement (APACE). Meet the four outstanding local student fellows working at KBCS to hone their podcasting skills below.
Some Matters of Relative Significance
Dear Friends and Supporters of KBCS,
I hope my message this month finds everyone safe and doing as well as can be expected during these difficult times. We are still processing and collating the donations and comments from well over a thousand KBCS true believers that were made during our “virtual” fall fundraising campaign.
Have you spotted KBCS on your commute?
Have you spotted KBCS on your commute?
You may have noticed the KBCS logo along with some of your favorite KBCS news hosts featured on buses around the Seattle metro! Next time you you spot one, take a picture next to it, then send it with your name and a short blurb about why you love KBCS! Email your submission to office@kbcs.fm.
With your permission, we may post your picture to our website and or social media accounts and our website.
*When taking your picture, do not put yourself or others at risk! Make sure that your surroundings are safe and that the bus is parked.
Thank You KBCS Donors!
Thanks, KBCS donors! As a result of your generosity, the KBCS 2020 fall fund drive was a success, and we raised just over our goal of $120,000!
Moreover, your support has ensured that KBCS remains commercial-free, independent, and beholden to our community. We’re immensely grateful to you and honored to serve you and your neighbors in the Puget Sound region.
Also, thanks to a successful fall fund drive and the support of our monthly sustaining donors, KBCS is off to a strong start to our year-long Sustainability Campaign and our goal to make up for the loss of supplemental funding from Bellevue College, stemming from COVID-19.
Thank you again for your support of KBCS, and please know that none of this would be possible without you! We look forward to serving you for years to come, and appreciate your commitment to keeping KBCS strong for the next generation of listeners.
Here’s an update on our journey to financial sustainability:
KBCS receives funding to cover the station’s operating expenses in the form of direct contributions from individual listeners, proceeds from in-kind donations of vehicles, in-kind support via event sponsorship/promotion, matching contributions from our donor’s employers, support from corporate underwriters, and grants from private foundations. KBCS also receives public support in the form of an annual community service grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The KBCS fiscal year runs July 1 – June 30. In order to make up for chronic budget shortfalls and a recent announcement that Bellevue College will no longer appropriate supplemental funding for the station, due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, KBCS must increase its financial support this fiscal year (July 2020 – June 2021) by $150,000.00 to cover our total yearly operating expenses.
Since the start of our fiscal year on July 1, 2020, KBCS has added 378 new monthly sustaining donors towards our fiscal year goal of adding 1,000 additional monthly donors this fiscal year. By adding 1,000 new sustaining donors to our base of supporters, we’ll be able to better budget from month to month and year to year, and create a more sustainable and reliable stream of revenue.
Compared to our previous fiscal year to date, support for KBCS has increased by approximately 31.5% or $61,901.
This is an encouraging start to our overall goal of ending the fiscal year, with a $150,000 increase in funding. While there’s still nearly nine months remaining in the fiscal year, we’re confident that with the continued support of our long-time donors and the addition of new supporters, we’ll be able to come out of these difficult times stronger than ever. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us get a strong start on our path to sustainability!
Here’s a look at our overall fundraising goal for fiscal year 2021:
Spot the Troll
Sock puppets are living in your social media feed.
A type of internet troll, sock puppets appear to be real people. They post on social media not just to provoke but to influence. These fake personalities are active in election season.
KBCS’s Jesse Callahan spoke with Darren Linvill, the lead Researcher at Clemson University’s Media Forensics Lab about how trolls work, and how to spot them.
How to be a Good White Ally
Social media is abuzz about race, as the #BlackLivesMatter movement sweeps the country. White allies are stepping forward, to help. Find out what it takes to be a good white ally. Black Musician, Athlete and Activist, Aron Lee speaks with KBCS reporter, Kevin Henry.
Producers: Kevin Henry and Yuko Kodama
Photo: Aron Lee
General Manager Message – Sept 2020
A
Fall has always been my favorite season of the year.
Now that the night air is a little crisper and leaves on the trees are losing that shiny emerald green luster, it’s a sure bet that autumn is just around the corner. Another sign of the change in seasons is the planning and excitement associated with the launch of our annual fall fundraising campaign on KBCS. Like our spring fund drive in this challenging world of this dreadful pandemic, this year’s fall drive will be a lot different than the traditional fundraising campaigns of the pre-pandemic world.
A great deal has changed over the past year as we continue our struggle to meet the difficult challenges of eradicating this deadly plague that has caused so much pain, suffering, and uncertainty across the land.
But recent past generations of Americans have faced hard challenges too. Working together, they found a way to put their differences aside for the common good and overcame all obstacles in their way to preserve our democratic way of life and keep the still unrealized dream of a more egalitarian, just, and fair world for all alive.
My parents and grandparent’s generation met the difficult challenges of eradicating a deadly flu pandemic in 1918 that took the lives of millions. They also marshalled the resources and collective discipline required to win two world wars and overcome an economic disaster called the Great Depression, the likes the world has never seen before or since. And they did that in one twenty-eight-year time frame from 1917 to 1945.
All this was accomplished by putting aside our many differences, rolling up our sleeves, and finding the way to work together as a united community to achieve a common goal. That can-do spirit still resides within each of us.
I am witnessing that same community minded spirit today in a much smaller way here at KBCS. The Bellevue College campus remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and access to the KBCS studios on campus is restricted. And rightfully so.
At KBCS we are taking this pandemic seriously and doing our part to follow the recommendations identified by empirical science and evidence-based practice to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Many people are working from their homes now and limiting their interactions with others to do their part to stop the spread of the virus, and so are we.
Today, most of our longtime community volunteer music hosts are producing their radio shows from their homes. These KBCS volunteers have ingeniously put together home recording studios at their own expense, just to keep this beautiful dream of true community radio alive. I am truly humbled by their dedication, individual initiative, and can-do spirit. This collective effort renews my faith in the true American ideal of how a diverse group of citizens can work together to build bridges to a better world.
In the end, we are all in this together and we must all do our part to help stop the spread of this dreadful virus that kills old people, young people, healthy people, and those that are not so healthy. The coronavirus is an equal opportunity killer. One unnecessary death is one too many. Especially if it is the death of someone you love.
I only ask that you do your part right now and help us to keep true community radio alive and thriving here in our little corner of the world. Community radio makes it possible for your friends, family and neighbors to share their passion for music and life with everyone in our community. Community radio builds stronger communities, provides the opportunity for greater diversity, and reflects the uniqueness of life here in the Pacific Northwest.
Become a sustaining contributor to KBCS today with a regular contribution of just twenty dollars a month or whatever you can afford. Some listeners can afford to give more, some less, but together in true community spirit it all adds up and makes this community treasure possible for us and for future generations to enjoy and participate in too.
Thank you for your support.
Dana Buckingham
KBCS General Manager and Proud Sustaining Contributor
KBCS Fall Fund Drive 2020
The KBCS Fall Fund Drive is underway! Please make a financial contribution today to keep the music, news and information you count on from KBCS going strong.
During our Fall Fund Drive we hope to raise $120,000 towards our overall goal for the year. We’re certain that with your help, and the support of fellow listeners we can accomplish this and keep KBCS viable for our community. The support of our individual donor-listeners makes up 85% of the funding it takes for KBCS to operate, and it’s that independent support that allows us to remain commercial free and independent.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we’re unable to have volunteers in to the station to take donations over the phone, so we’re counting on your support online, and through the mail, more than ever. You can make an online donation here, or, if you’d like to mail a check in support of KBCS, the address to do so is:
KBCS Radio
Bellevue College
3000 Landerholm Cir SE, A101
Bellevue, WA 98007
Our fall fund drive this year is especially important this year. As you may have already heard, KBCS is in a year long push to raise it’s level of support to become self-sustaining. Due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic Bellevue College will no longer be provide supplemental funding to KBCS. This means that KBCS must increase its support by $150,000 during each of its fiscal years (July 1 – June 30) moving forward. You can read more about our Sustainability Campaign here.
We’re humbled to say that the station is seeing a strong outpouring of support from the community and we’re making progress towards our overall year-long goal. While we’re excited about the progress we’ve made so far, there is still a long road ahead for KBCS to reach its overall goal and become sustainable. We hope that we can count on your support today during our fall fund drive and thank you in advance for being the most important part of KBCS.
Importance of Community Radio in Hard Times
Back in the late 70’s I worked as the News Director at a small AM radio station in Oskaloosa Iowa. There was an older fellow that was a faithful listener and he called me at least once a week just to chat, share a corny joke or two, and tell me stories about his longtime career in radio. He started working in radio during the 1930s and had only recently retired. I loved listening to his stories about radio’s “Golden Age” and looked forward to his calls. (more…)