KUSP on the Auction Block/Stop the Sale

Dear Friends,

For 40 years, KUSP has been a fixture in our community. I am writing to you because I was part of this great community radio station and I think our voices are critical in saving it.

On Monday, at their annual meeting (6pm, Community Foundation of SC County, Aptos) KUSP's foundation is voting on whether to sell its license. After spending lots of money trying to compete with KAZU by airing expensive NPR programs (many of them duplicated on KAZU) they are facing bankruptcy. This information has not been shared widely with listeners or donors.

Now, in a bind, the board is recommending the foundation sell the broadcast license to a southern California syndication company, Classical Public Radio Network, a group known for its predatory practices and bland Top-40 Classical music programming. Other options are to sell to KCRW or KAZU. No more "keeping it local". They have five proposals in front of them Monday, and only one doesn't involve selling. For more details, see attached pdf.

If you are in local arts, politics, nonprofits, or any other group who has had access to this station and the audience, please realize that is what's at stake. If you have not listened recently, it is still worth saving.

There is a sixth option the board at KUSP has not yet considered: Downsize. localize, and thrive. This means possibly losing staff, finding a cheaper studio to rent, and losing some beloved NPR programming (it can still be heard on KAZU or online). But it could also mean the return of locally-produced shows, live from the Kuumbwa, live from the Jazz Festival, and the revival of news and public affairs.

Other communities have vibrant, solvent, scrappy and relevant public and community radio stations. Check out WWOZ in New Orleans or KGNU in Boulder. When you tune in, you know exactly where you live and how special a place it is. In Cape Cod they have little "audio portraits" of local folks airing all the time. It means people connect to and feel pride in their community. KUSP has been, and can be that important.

Surely Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties deserve the same? So many things nowadays seem to be out of our control. Not this.

Please join me in writing a letter, asap, to the board of directors of KUSP http://www.kusp.org/boards.shtml and urge them NOT to sell the license.

Or: even better, come to the meeting Monday at 6pm in Aptos and express yourself. Better to have said we tried to stop this and succeeded, than that we did nothing and felt sad about its outcome. I hope to see you there.

Yours truly,

Rachel Anne Goodman
Coastridge Productions