General Manager Report, February 2012
Financial reports are provided separately. We continue to see much better than
expected results, with revenue exceeding projections while expenses are under
budget. We had anticipated a 4-month loss at this point in the fiscal year of
$23,696 and instead are showing a profit of $7,031 – a turnaround of more than
$30,000 in four months.
I completed our annual Arizona Corporation Commission filings on time in
January. Also in January I completed our functional expenses allocation
worksheets for the audit, which is generally the last step to receiving a
completed audit report (see next item).
On February 14th, I received the completed audit for Fiscal Year 2011 from our
auditors, which will be briefly reviewed under our Finance Committee area of the
board meeting. With receipt of this information I was able to complete the filing
of our CPB grant, a full 15 days ahead of deadline. That grant is already in the
initial review phases with the CPB, and they have already released our 2nd
payment of last year’s grant ($46,050) which should be received in 3-4 weeks.
Dates have been set for the spring drive. Our Power Hour is February 17th from
8am to 9am, followed by an official start to the drive on February 24th. We
anticipate reaching our $110,000 goal in mid-March. Sustaining pledges and
early renewals are tracking ahead of schedule, as noted in Michelle’s
membership report.
KXCI has been recognized as a finalist for the Arizona Governor’s Arts Awards in
the Community category, one of only two Tucson arts organizations in the
running for the final award (along with the UA Poetry Center). Among our
partners in other categories who are up for honors are the Sonoran Glass Art
Academy, UA Presents, Arizona Theatre Company and Fletcher McCusker of
Providence Service Corporation.
The CAB Development open house on February 9th was a great success, and the
CAB Development committee should be recommending the appointment of 10
individuals at our board meeting, along with the reappointment of our two
veteran members. There may be additional appointments at April’s board
meeting (the next CAB meeting is in May) as some people at the open house
took their applications and promised to send them in; some people who had
expressed interest but couldn’t join us on February 9th should also be returning
formal applications soon.
I met with representatives at Tucci Creative to spur more underwriting and
sponsorship leads. Overall we are showing slight growth in this area and are in fact about 8% above budget through our first 4 months. I also met with Susan
Holden, widow of Jonathan Holden, regarding underwriting and the continuation
of the Rhythm & Roots concert series; I have or will be MCing two of their events
as they regroup following Jonathan’s death in January. I also arranged for KXCI
to donate a few small items to the auction being held as a fundraiser for his
memorial fund.
Amanda and I met with the Smith & Dale fundraising consulting firm regarding
the capital campaign feasibility study; a full proposal will be presented in April
but I’m encouraged. They have a long and strong track record in this area in our
community and throughout the Southwest and they “get” KXCI already.
There has been no meaningful progress on the website redevelopment beyond
plans to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the developers; in all honesty we
don’t want to mess with “going live” during the membership drive so a relaunch
in April seems most prudent.
I processed slightly more than 5,000 names of current and past donors (as well
as auction supporters) for processing by the Wealth Screening coop through DEI.
Those materials were sent in mid-January and we just received the results today
(February 15th), so I have not yet been able to do more than peek at the results.
A complete analysis will be sent to the entire board before the end of the month;
I’m very happy that this important step has been completed and in a relatively
cost-effective manner.
As acting program director, I completed 15 deejay airchecks in January, with
each of our Music Mixers (5-7am, 10am-noon, 1-3pm). I have four more
scheduled on February 18th with our Saturday morning deejays, and will in late
March complete Saturday afternoon and evening along with weeknight 6-8pm
deejays. Airchecks involve listening to a recorded hour from the deejay and
reviewing their strengths and opportunities for improvement, while also
reviewing station policies. I tend to put a lot of emphasis in to airchecks but it is
not something the station has regularly done – or approached with the detailed
plan we now have in place.
Jennie Grabel (“Jennie G”) started as host of The Home Stretch on January 30th
and is already off to a great start. The staff is too be commended for filling in on
the show for eleven weeks after Ruby’s 11 week shift following Jason’s departure
in late August.
Also in my role as acting PD, I team taught the deejay class with Amanda on
Saturday mornings (January 21 and 28). Between the two sets of classes we’ve
taught, we’ve generated a number of new deejays who are currently “boot camping,” subbing for other shows and developing their own show proposals.
We’ll likely resume the next adult classes in May.
On February 10th I represented KXCI as a guest book reader for the children at
La Paloma Academy (I read a Dr. Seuss story about a moose) and along with
several of our deejays, I provided MCing duties for the 2nd Saturdays Downtown
celebration of the Arizona Centennial on December 10th and 11th
.
On February 15th I am attending the Festival & Events Association of Tucson and
Southern Arizona (FEATSAZ) mixer to speak about the Calexico and Friends
Barrio Festival event on April 7th and also to generate underwriting leads from
other organization’s events. On February 23rd, Mary Beth, Amanda and I are
attending a free board training workshop in Phoenix.