KDNK faces budget shortfall despite surge in community support
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CARBONDALE, Colo. — The front door at KDNK Community Radio stays open. Anyone is welcome to swing by the station’s Carbondale office and say hello.
This open-door policy extends to the station’s airwaves. The station provides a platform to more than 100 local volunteer DJs and public affairs show hosts, broadcasting from Rifle to Leadville and throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
“We are a true community access radio station and anyone can come and share their creativity and their voice on KDNK,” station director Megan Passmore said.
Last year, KDNK received $174,000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an independent organization that distributed federal funding to public media stations across the country. CPB was a reliable source of funding for the station, supplying almost one-third of its annual budget. But this year, Passmore and her small staff must find a way forward without it.
CPB shut down September 30 in the wake of President Donald Trump’s rescission bill that cut $1.1 billion previously promised to the organization.
KDNK’s fall membership drive raised more than $135,000, exceeding the station’s donation goal. Typically, the station aims to raise $88,1000 — in honor of its local frequency, 88.1. KDNK increased its goal to $120,000 this year to account for the loss of CPB funding.
Passmore said the station will likely be able to cover its expenses through the end of 2025, but she’s still uncertain about the rest of the fiscal year. Unless KDNK can come up with the money through local sources, like donations or grants, she’ll have to look at cutting staff or programming.
Video: Carly Rose, Rocky Mountain PBS
The station has seen an outpouring of community support since Trump signed the rescission bill in July.
CP and Stephen Kanipe have been members of KDNK so long they can’t quite remember when they joined. The Kanipes don’t listen to any other radio station, except when they’re traveling.
“As long as they've been around, we've been around,” Stephen Kanipe said. “It's absolutely worth supporting.”
The couple came into the station to donate several boxes of records for KDNK’s annual Potato Day record sale.
“I think everybody's looking for community, and I think that having a radio station like KDNK gives people a place to gather,” CP Kanipe said.
Despite the spike in donations, Passmore is concerned about the sustainability of donations.
“Yes, [the funding cuts are] in the news and people are thinking about it now, but this is not a one-time problem. I don't know if the philanthropic moment of now is going to continue into next year,” Passmore said.
KDNK went live on the airwaves in 1983. Carbondale local Chris Hassig grew up listening to the station with his parents.
When Hassig was old enough to decide what to listen to himself, he still kept the dial tuned to KDNK 88.1. He liked the diversity of music played on the station.
“Being in a small town like Carbondale, KDNK certainly had a lot of influence on the sense of community and the sense of possibilities of culture that we have here,” Hassig said. “I think it's the cultural heartbeat of the region.”
Hassig eventually got involved as a volunteer DJ and, less than a year ago, became the station’s membership coordinator, joining a staff of three full-time and four part-time employees.
KDNK’s small staff includes a team of local news reporters. There is also a music director, who co-hosts a Friday radio show with Hassig, and an underwriting director.
Even if Passmore cut all of the station’s programming — including syndicated shows like Radiolab and Moth Radio Hour — she wouldn’t make up the $174,000-sized hole in the budget. If she can’t find another way to fill the gap, she’ll have to cut staff.
Across Colorado, public media stations are tightening their belts in response to the federal funding cuts. For example, KUNC, an NPR station serving Northern Colorado, laid off a quarter of its staff in September.
In his role, Hassig helps run the membership drives and plan events. He also helps mentor volunteer DJs to get them comfortable in the studio, just as KDNK staff did for him when he was starting out.
To Hassig, providing a platform for community connection and expression on the air is one of the station’s most valuable services.
“Because we have such a diversity of people coming in and making themselves known on the air, I think that allows them really to often identify what they think the community needs,” Hassig said.
“There's a lot of people that gain a lot of meaning in their life from either participating in making what’s happening on the air or just being able to be anywhere within our listening area and tap into really an authentic voice in the community.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.