CPB has granted KEET-TV in Eureka, Calif., a waiver to receive its fiscal 2014 Community Service Grant despite its failure to raise the required minimum in non-federal financial support (NFFS), according to Karen Barnes, the station’s director of programming and content, writing in the local Times-Standard.
The station, one of the smallest in the pubcasting system, has never met its mandated NFFS, and has received waivers based on its rural location and limited resources. CPB tightened its CSG policies in 2010.
“CPB issued a waiver for KEET again this year but put the station on notice,” Barnes wrote. “KEET must demonstrate a significant increase in NFFS in order to receive federal funds in the future.”
About 40 percent of KEET’s $1.5 million budget comes from federal funds, Executive Director Ron Schoenherr said in the article. “This $250,000 shortfall in NFFS will be a real challenge for KEET but the KEET Board of Directors and staff are developing plans to try and meet the challenge,” he said.
In April, KEET’s board of directors passed a resolution to collaborate with KIXE in Redding, Calif., which also struggles to meet the NFFS mandate.