PORT TOWNSEND — The fourth annual KPTZ-91.9 FM spring fund drive started Sunday and continues through Saturday.
The nonprofit station, which airs from the Mountain View Commons at 1919 Blaine St., is seeking to raise $25,000 to subsidize operations, according to station manager Nora Petrich.
This differs from previous fund drives, which have had designated projects such as an air conditioner or broadcast equipment.
Petrich said the station, which began broadcasting in 2011 after four years of preparation, has a symbiotic relationship with the community.
“The community is small and tight, and we involve a lot of people in the station,” she said.
“This brings the listeners in.”
Petrich is one of four station workers who are paid. More than 60 volunteers work as disc jockeys, news broadcasters and technical advisors.
“Most of the people who have volunteered have been incredible,” she said.
“Many of them are retired and have a work ethic, and they want something to do.
“It is very competitive to get an [on air] slot.”
At the same time, the station could use more technically-oriented people who could manage the automation process and make the canned programming a bit more interesting, Petrich said.
The station runs around the clock, but it is pre-programmed to air automatically overnight.
“There are times when there is nobody here, but there is a process when something goes wrong,” she said.
“Someone comes in here right away to fix it,” Petrich said.
Like Port Townsend, the audience skews older but young people are getting involved, she said.
“We mostly speak to a retired crowd,” she said.
“But we have a lot of real creative young musicians who are coming in and doing some great stuff.”
The incentives for contributions range from a mug with custom artwork for a $30 donation to a dinner with Colin Foden, KPTZ board president, for a $1,000 donation.
In between, donors can land T-shirts, gift certificates and theater tickets.
The $25,000 goal is about one sixth of the station’s annual budget of $145,000.
Moll Klupfell, the station’s development director, said if the goal was not met, the expenses would be folded into other parts of the station’s existing operations funding system, which includes direct donor campaigns, fund drives and special events.
“We will make that goal,” Klupfell said.
“Before it even started, we had gotten $7,000 pledged, about 28 percent of the goal.”
The station is planning to install an emergency broadcast studio adjacent to its broadcast tower on North Jacob Miller Road, to be activated in times of a disaster.
While this is a workable plan, Petrich said she’d prefer moving the entire studio, which is in a modular building, to a more stable location that can be used in both emergency and non-emergency times.
If there was a disaster, the temporary building that hosts the studio might be damaged or destroyed, she said.
To this end, the station plans to make a request for facilities inside the main building, which is better able to withstand a disaster.
Alex Wisniewski, city parks and recreation director, said there are plans to hire a consultant to examine the building and determine space allocations.
No decisions will be made until the report is completed, he said.
Currently the building holds the Port Townsend Police Department, the Food Bank, Sharper Image and the Red Cross, as well as Wisniewski’s office.
Only one 1,100-square-foot room is unoccupied, he said.
For more information, phone 360-379-6886 or visit www.kptz.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
