For KDLL in Kenai, Alaska, $100,000 in funding from Press Forward comes at an important time.
The station is running a deficit in this fiscal year’s operational budget, with a little under $360,000 in projected revenue compared to just shy of $400,000 in expenses, said GM Jenny Neyman.
“We’re trying to balance the priorities of making our organization more sustainable into the future and the more immediate needs of supporting journalism today,” Neyman said in an email. “We want reporters to not just come to Alaska temporarily, for the adventure, but to see rural Alaska journalism as a sustainable career choice.”
KDLL is one of 205 news outlets to receive money for general operating support from Press Forward. The funding, announced Wednesday, totals $20 million and is intended to help close persistent news coverage gaps.
Nine public media stations were each awarded $100,000. The others are KCAW Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska; KUCB in Unalaska, Alaska; Redwood Community Radio (KMUD) in Redway, Calif.; KVNF Mountain Grown Community Radio in Paonia, Colo.; Indiana Public Broadcasting News in Indianapolis; WTIP North Shore Community Radio in Grand Marais, Minn.; KZUM Community Radio in Lincoln, Neb.; and WJFF Radio Catskill in Liberty, N.Y.
The recipients were selected out of 931 proposals from newsrooms with budgets of less than $1 million.
“Our application underlined Radio Catskill’s ability to and proven track record of providing timely news to our rural community,” said GM Tim Bruno.
The funding will help Radio Catskill hire at least one additional reporter, which would increase its original journalism and add content for its news shows, website and social media, Bruno said. The station’s 2024 operating budget is about $600,000.
“Staff bandwidth on the two person reporting team does not allow for more in-depth reporting on specific stories of interest to our community, such as local government, elections, and environmental issues,” Bruno said in an email.
At Colorado’s KVNF, the funding will help convert a part-time reporter to a full-time position and grow the station’s news broadcasts from four to five per week, said GM Ashley Krest. It will also help add more funds for freelancers.
KVNF plans to provide translation for some of its radio and digital stories to reach Spanish-speaking listeners and address a news gap for the growing Hispanic population, Krest said.
The station’s FY24 operating budget was $638,069, and Krest sees the grant as just the beginning.
“We plan to leverage this prestigious recognition to support our major donor engagement to help us achieve our long-term goals,” Krest said in an email.
Back at KDLL in Alaska, the board is “agonizing” over how to use the Press Forward funds, which Neyman said was a “wonderful problem to tackle.”
“The reality of rural journalism in Alaska is it takes time and travel to get to the smallest communities that need a voice the most,” Neyman said.
KDLL has worked to be a bridge between decision-makers living in more urban areas and those living in rural communities who are affected by those decisions, Neyman said.
“At the very least, Press Forward will help us continue to devote the time and travel it takes to maintain that bridge today, while we think strategically about how best to support journalism at KDLL into the future,” Neyman said.