FILLING THE YEAR END BUDGET GAP
posted by Laura McKee
In many ways, it has been an outstanding year for Arizona Public Media - but your support is needed to wrap up our fiscal year and secure our financial future.
We successfully concluded the celebration of 50 years of service to the community on KUAT-TV Channel 6 with many community events and even a "Stay Home Un-Gala" that generated much needed funding for our core broadcast activities. AZPM brought Ray Suarez, Garrison Keillor and Neal Conan to Tucson, enjoyed a day learning about Arizona National Parks in conjunction with Ken Burns's television series, hosted a local debate with two sitting United States Supreme Court justices, informed our audiences on several key voter propositions, and many other program services that upheld our mission of informing, inspiring and connecting our community by bringing people and ideas together.
On the radio side, KUAZ-AM/FM our flagship NPR station achieved its highest ever audience share in the Winter 2010 quarter and ranked as the number one news/talk station in Tucson, and the fourth overall in the important morning drive-time. The Diane Rehm Show helped boost morning listenership, and investments in our transmission technologies ensured that audiences would enjoy a crisp, clear signal.
Classical KUAT-FM celebrated its 35th anniversary on the air, and many supporters from the UA School of Music came to give their accolades to the quality of music and depth of announcer knowledge that the station provides. Two of AZPM's original productions were broadcast nationally on PBS (our second in two years in the PBS national program schedule), and we were recognized with 13 Emmy-Award nominations while bringing home eight awards. Our website was redesigned to foster ease-of-use and viewer feedback, and upgraded with PlayPBS - a service that allows audiences to view full-length PBS and AZPM programs wherever and whenever through their computers.
Yes, it's a lot to complete in one year - and one final step is to make sure that we reach our needed financial goal before June 30th to ensure that we have the resources to cover our projected costs. I encourage you to make YOUR contribution today.
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
Jack Gibson
