“We’re looking at all possibilities regarding the radio station and we’re working together with all the people involved in the station as what should be the best possible outcome,” said NMC’s director for institutional advancement, Mark Mendiola.
In January, NMC President Carmen Fernandez said the radio, after more than 10 years of operations, was still being subsidized by the college.
KRNM was originally established with federal funds with the goal of eventually becoming self-sustaining.
Fernandez set May 31 as the deadline to raise the needed funding of $70,000 for the radio station.
There were no figures available yesterday, this reporter was told.
“The college is reviewing and doing a lot of analysis as to the viability of the radio station and the discussion is ongoing,” Mendiola said.
Asked if the radio station is one of the college’s priorities, Mendiola said: “I cannot comment on that. Everything we’re doing right now is assessing all our programs and services and see where we can best enhance them.”
Fernandez earlier said that the $70,000 would allow the station to maintain its format, which includes programs from NPR, the BBC and Radio Australia, through the rest of the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.
Recently, the station announced that due to technical problems, its operation has been suspended.
“Hopefully,” according to the KRNM Web site, “[fixing the malfunctioning transmitter] won’t result in too much of an additional expense — as we’re still several thousand dollars shy of assuring the college that we’ll be able to cover our operational costs over the next few months. We need to remain on the air through September if the unification with KPRG to form Marianas Public Radio is to come to fruition.”
