LITTLE ROCK — For a public radio station that has long walked a shaky financial tightrope, these are indeed dire times for KABF 88.3 FM, according to board of directors member Jay Jansen.
"It's really probably the worst-case scenario," he said. "We lost our community service grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was a major source of funding.
"We anticipate, with no additional sources of revenue, that we'll run out of funds in January. We hope to develop new revenue streams between now and then."
The station, formed in 1984 through the now-disbanded community activist group ACORN is known for its mixture of sports, news, talk and music, including an eclectic collection of Latin, jazz, blues and alternative to the alternative.
In August, Jansen first alerted the public to KABF’s financial difficulties, stating the station could be broke in a matter of weeks. A resulting audit by the CPB’s Office of the Inspector General resulted in the loss of the station's funding from the CPB, while the audit also found other areas of concern, including the failure to hold open meetings and several places where the station failed to comply with CPB requirements, especially in certain financial areas.
Jansen said the station had an opportunity to make the necessary changes, but indecision by a certain faction of the board with ties still to ACORN resulted in inaction.
"There was a period in between, when the CPB suggested corrective measures and the time when we received notification of the drop in funding, that we could have made the corrections," he said. "In order to gain the support of the community, I really believe we need to own up to our mistakes. We need to take ownership of our mistakes, address our interdivisions and become financially transparent. Only then will the public and the volunteers have confidence and faith in us. We're making an effort to address those things right now."
In the meantime, Jansen said the station is enacting several steps to shore up its finances, beyond holding benefits to raise money.
"We're trying to cut expenses," he said. "We've reduced payroll by half. That's going to force us to distribute the responsibilities that paid staff took care of and find people in the community to help run the station whether it is volunteers, the board of directors or people we haven't met.
"We're open to suggestions. We're still in the process of forming a plan. We're prepared to do whatever it takes to survive and stay on the air by whatever means necessary."
Eight board members voted in November to start a Community Advisory Board, a board consisting of KABF listeners and not staff members, board members or individuals affiliated with ACORN. A community advisory panel was one of the suggestions of the CPB. The board is charged with working with the board of directors to provide oversight, and assure compliance with open meetings, and ensuring comprehensive and open financial records. The board has additional duties such as monitoring operations and reviewing expenditures, working with the CPB on the required annual certification, and reviewing and suggesting changes in programming.
"KABF is ... actively seeking candidates for the newly formed Community Advisory Board, which will provide an extra layer of oversight and accountability, and work closely with the board of directors toward re-building KABF from the ground up into a station that is better than it has ever been," Jansen said.
The board of directors also recently added three new members, bringing the current board up to 11 members. There are 15 spots on KABF’s board of directors.
According to Jansen, each of the three new board members will be able to assist KABF. Sharon Martin has a background in public radio and nonprofits and has also been involved with the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival while Judith Faust is a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Both Martin and Faust were board members who voted to form the Community Advisory Board. At the November meeting when the Community Advisory Board was approved, the board also approved Enrique Castro, a volunteer broadcaster and a grant writer, as its newest member.
Four seats remain open though, although the board has qualified individuals interested in the positions, Jansen said.
"I feel as though the additional intellect and resources of these prospective board members could be a tremendous help, especially in this critical time," he said. "We want the community to know what changes are taking place. We hope through these difficulties we have an opportunity to be reborn from the ground up and be a better station than ever before.
"We consider ourselves to be a service to the people of Arkansas. It's something we don't take lightly. We feel strongly that we should continue to serve the people of Arkansas."
The board of directors of KABF will meet again at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the KABF building at 2101 S. Main St. in Little Rock. The meeting is open to the public.