[Imc-radio] request for WEFT funding

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Hi radio folks -

Here is the proposal I submitted to the WEFT PC.  I will be at their 
meeting tonight for further discussion.

The notes from this week's meeting are coming out shortly.

- danielle

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Dear WEFT PC members,

The Radio group of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center has two 
requests for the Programming Committee.

1) Subscription Renewal
2) Rebroadcasting opportunities for IMCRN


1) Subscription Renewal

The UCIMC would like to request that WEFT renew its subscription for IMC 
Radio News for FY 04-05).  The cost is $40/week, for a total of $2080.  
WEFT's subscription would help sustain the production of IMC Radio News, a 
30 minute news and analysis show which folks in our community produce each 
week, and which airs on WEFT at 5:30 pm every Monday.  

Last Spring, WEFT purchased 20 weeks of IMCRN for the same weekly price.  
This allowed the show to continue through the Spring and into the Summer.

Each week, community members are invited to help produce IMCRN.  No 
experience is necessary.  Training, mentoring, equipment, and facilities 
are provided to the public at no cost, with the hope that by making the 
creation of news accessible to everyone we can democratize our media and 
strengthen our community.  There have been over 100 participants in IMCRN 
since it began, ranging in age from 16 to 70.  Often IMCRN reporters have 
never held a microphone, but in the end they produce compelling pieces 
which express their views and help add another color to the WEFT spectrum 
of programming.  

WEFT currently pays for several nationally syndicated programs.  The 
arrangement with IMCRN is similar - a set subscription fee per week of 
programming, along with grants and private donations, sustains the show.  
We believe IMCRN is the perfect local counterpart to national programs 
like Free Speech Radio News, Democracy Now, and Making Contact.  Just like 
those programs, the time and financial commitments to produce these shows 
is immense.  IMCRN production averages 1 - 1.5 hours of input for every 
minute of programming and involves 3-6 people every show.  WEFT does not 
currently have the equipment or structure to produce such a show in-house.  
Community radio stations, such as WORT in Madison and KCSB in Santa 
Barbara to name just a few, have found that some expenditure is required 
to sustain local news programming.

Typical weekly costs for producing IMCRN are:

Show coordination: $145
Flyers: $2 (amortized)
Media supplies: $2
Media equipment (to replace one Minidisc player, one microphone, and 
cables every year): $15 
Phone calls: $2 (That's an hour of long distance)
Computer equipment: $50 (amortized)
TOTAL: $216/week 

This does not figure in utilities and rent, paying for stories, or 
technical production.  WEFT's contribution of $40/week would help to 
sustain part of the cost of IMCRN, with the remaining $176/week coming 
from donations and grants.  


2) Rebroadcasting opportunities for IMCRN

IMCRN is seeking ways to rebroadcast all or portions of the show.  
Typically when a radio station produces local news programming, elements 
of the local news are repeated throughout the day, often at the top of the 
hour.  This provides listeners with the service of keeping them abreast of 
current, local events.  WEFT currently runs national NPR headlines this 
way throughout the day but not local news.
 
An IMCRN show typically consists of the following components:
1) Disclaimer, theme music, and introduction (3 minutes)
2) Headlines (5 minutes)
3) A commentary piece (5 minutes)
4) 1-2 public service announcements (2 minutes)
3) 1-3 feature stories (5-15 minutes each)

We would imagine that at least the headlines and feature stories would be 
likely candidates for rebroadcast.  Perhaps the entire show could be 
rebroadcast as well.

IMCRN is interesting in generating ideas with WEFT of how to rebroadcast 
local news items produced as part of the show.  We would like to then take 
these ideas and formulate a proposal.


Thank you for your consideration.  We hope to be able to continue to 
provide local news programming to WEFT.


Danielle Chynoweth
IMC Radio News member