Listeners deserve to hear more about KUOW during pledge weeks ...

Read our medium brilliant piece in The Stranger about KUOW's ongoing pledge drive, and their finances.

We spent a few days grubbing in the 2006 audits of the popular Seattle public radio station, interviewing its longtime GM Wayne Roth.

The Stranger got the complaint- not an uncommon one during pledge drives- that while the staff is made to beg and poor-mouth, the station is sitting on large reserves which they don't bother to mention to potential pledgers.

Scrutiny of the Seattle sacred cow has been rife in print and on the blogs since August when veteran staffer Ken Vincent loudly quit KUOW declaiming- among other things- low staff wages despite high cash reserves.

But other questions have been raised: Is the sacred cow milking us? Are KUOW's straits so dire that pledge drives need be so long, frequent, and frantic? And if so, why the surpluses and what are the plans for this extra money? Why aren't the surpluses and plans for them more obvious the casual potential donor surfing their Web site?

(Contrary to what Republicans and commercial radio folk say, NPR isn't dependent on tax dollars, getting less than one percent of its budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) the nonprofit Congress created in 1967 to pass federal funds to PBS and NPR. But local stations get an average of 15 percent of their budgets in CPB grants to help support local program production, program acquisition, community outreach and keep the lights on. Government grants account for only 11% of KUOW's budget. Clearly, it needs listener support, underwriting, and other fundraising.).

KUOW is a very successful public radio station. Last year its ratings put it number four among all Seattle radio stations; and, impressive for a medium market station- it's 10th in public stations nationally. It's added KXOT in Tacoma, two HD channels and an Olympia-area AM station (1340) that airs the same programming the FM outlet does.

General Manager Wayne Roth was grumpy. He'd not been amused at the questions raised in the recent disgruntled employee kerfuffle. We could tell he didn't think the time he'd been pressured into spending on the phone with us was worth much either.

"The brouhaha with Ken made it sound like there's somebody over here living off the fat of the land and that listeners are being double-talked," he said.

Roth, who's led KUOW since 1983, went into a litany of why there's excess money, always has been, why it's prudent, and what they're doing with it.

"I don't know how we could be more transparent," he said.

But some can. "We have a reasonable right to know everything but salaries," says Seattle psychiatrist Brian Grant. "On their Web site, they're not saying in plain English what their financial situation is- the annual report does not even have a balance sheet."

Grant's no shit-disturbing blogger. He runs a business and sits on some Seattle arts boards. A medium level giver, does employee matching at KUOW. His level of giving is the bread and butter of non-profits like public radio.

His problem is the digging it took to find the serious financial reporting. KUOW's annual report appears on their site with great graphics, and financials in pie charts which are colorful but vague about income and output. "There's nothing," says Grant, "that says in plain English, 'here's our surplus.'"

Roth told us the 2006 audits were on the KUOW site; but we couldn't find them. They weren't in or near the annual report where intuitively they should be. Roth finally supplied a link: they were on the About page for the Board of Directors- a link in the lower half of the page, unrelated to anything else.

Once in the audits, things became much clearer and we found that KUOW is pretty much what Wayne Roth says it is. They have indeed made a sizable "profit" in the last two years, but they've spent massively on buying KXOT; expanding staff, and facilities for it. In 2006, they spent their surplus and a bit more to acquire the station, and the license.

"We're fortunate to have this amount of working capital- not all public radio stations do," Says Roth. "It means we don't have to go out and get a grant to be able to do new things- we can actually use working capital for improvements or expansion." He says his board also requires him to maintain a 25% rainy day fund.

Grant, who is a solid, longtime fan of the station was happy. "Figuratively, they were able to buy a new house without taking out a mortgage- they did it with cash on hand from a current year surplus. We should all be so lucky!"

The pie charts in the Annual Report use the creative term of "applied revenue" of 6.8 million which exactly matches the costs listed in the audit. But to casual Web readers, the surpluses, which can be seen as at odds with the overwrought pleas of the pledge drives, are never mentioned.

The drives, or "guilt-a-thons," ongoing this week on KUOW, and rival KPLU are an aggressive way to fundraise. "Anyone can throw out a piece of direct mail," says a former KUOW staffer, "Pledge drives are the active pursuit of money." They actually withhold product until the consumers run for their checkbooks screaming, "Stop, Stop, I'll pay!" We can't think of a non-profit that has such effective fundraising leverage on donors. It's like the fire department letting your house burn until you cough up something for their retirement fund.

(To be fair, KUOW's pledge drives at 18 days a year are the shortest in the area: KPLU and KEXP each do 20 days).

If KUOW has nothing to hide, and it apparently does not, why is it so hard to find the real financials? Why has the information around their growth and the surpluses that enable it been kept so opaque? This vagueness has incubated suspicion and derision by donors like Grant who require accountability of the organizations he supports.

Could it be that it's a harder sell to would-be donors if they knew the station was sitting on a million dollar surplus? 

""We're not stupid," says Grant. "Their hyper-enthusiastic twice-yearly pitches are gung-ho: we need money to buy programming and continue to do good work. But tell me more- entertain me with facts."

Comments

[Andrew]

Duffman is a joke. I asked for the bitch-man to provide some substantial debate and instead he complained about being called a bitch. What a bitch.

[Duffman]

&dru, I don't know why you persist is throwing insults...it seems like you are reduced to that when you feel defeated? I guess you will never be able to get over the humility of being constantly wrong. It must really get to you after a while. Did you ever notice that no one will choose to converse with you for any lengty of time. You probably attribute that to your superiority, when in fact it's because you are inconsistant and just plain boring.

[Duffman]

PUTS: joanie is the last one on this blog I'd ever expect to apologize. She must have been 'damaged' by someone pretty severely in her life and now trusts and/or has faith in no one.
She get's shown to be wrong time after time on this blog, but has blinders on and just persists in her rhetoric, and like you say when the heat is on she skedaddles! Her MO is an open book.

[bcmember]

Most of the discussion here is pretty naive: non-profits like KUOW are businesses and businesses exist to increase their resources, reach and impact...through fat years and lean. Those of us who have listened to, and supported KUOW, want it to succeed.

Transparency is another issue, and if the station is dysfunctional in terms of its management style (as others have suggested) then ultimately these will become limiting factors of its success.

When I tune in, it's the hosts, reporters and announcers I connect with on a personal level--not their bosses. Why have long-time on-air personalities quit over disagreements with Management? C'mon, that's kids' stuff!

Management needs to put things right. They could start by sitting down with all station employees and agreeing to get on the same page of the play book. Business rule #1: treat employees like owners.

I'm thankful the Stranger brought some of these issues to light. My hope is that the station sorts things out, and continues to prosper, despite whatever detractors may wish.

[Persiaa]

Sparky-thank you for the guidestar link. If memory serves correctly-the Spring 07 pledge drive was for about $675,000. The current Fall goal if over $900,000. I'm fine with a surplus and careful fiscal management, but please don't do a hard sell during the pledge drives. Listeners could well get excited and involved with expansion plans and willingly contribute money for that and more locally generated programming. KUOW would do well to be more open.

[Andrew]

bcmember, are you saying that running unethical pledge drives is a requisite of a succesful radio station?

[Duffman]

KUOW is doing NOTHING unethical, get over it!!!

[Andrew]

Leading poor old ladies to believe the lights will go out any minute while sitting on millions in cash and assets? Bitch please.

[Duffman]

Why w/you put it in terms of 'leading poor old ladies'? That's rather sexist. Why would you not look at it as telegenic sales to a vast audience, many of whom are very wealthy and are looking for 'worthy' causes such as this to support. People are FREE to choose, what part of free enterprise don't you get.

[Andrew]

Because there are more old woman than old men it's more likely to be an old woman. That's just common sense.

If the old woman, we'll call her Duffman, if Duffman hass very little money and the station is on the brink of turning off the microphone for the last time, Duffman might feel inclined to give money even though she has very little. If the station is doing well, Duffman might choose to reserve her money for medication and what have you. Get it?

[bcmember]

Andrew...

I'm saying, as a long-time KUOW listener/member, that I disagree strongly with your assertion that their member/pledge drives are unethical. They publish their books, as required by law (if you were an active supporter of any non-profit, you'd know about guidestar.org). As others have written, and I've personally observed many times, they set a fundraising target (just twice a year, thankfully!), and stop the drives when those targets are reached.

Your assertion is that they should use up all their reserves before beginning any fund raising--that they should live essentially hand-to-mouth. That's just silly, and if I worked for them, I'd fear for every paycheck. If I sold them goods on credit, I'd have to charge higher interest rates.

They run their business, as I wrote, with the intent of expanding their reach and impact. So do their commercial "competitors" who use the public airways solely to return a profit to their owners. Perhaps you work for one of them?

After carefully reading each of your remarks on this blog, it's clear you may disagree with the mission and methods of public radio, perhaps of all non-profits who seek to serve the public and humanity at large (i.e. the Red Cross, the PTA, Churches...) and rely on fund raising?

OK, if this is the case, say so. At least if you told us what you actually think, you'd be speaking some truth.

[Duffman]

spot on bcmember..&dru is ignorant of the facts and of life in general; he just likes to spout off. You have to understand - he took a severe ass-kin herein at the hands of Pugetsound on a unrelated topic (waitress, et al) and he's never since been able to recover.

[PugetSound]

bcmember
Good luck getting real world thinking out of Andrew. You'll have to forgive him, he is rather naive at times and doesn't understand how the business world works. As you can see, poor Duff has been trying. The only cure for young Andrew is some time out in the real world. It will hopefully cure him of his intolerent worldview and maybe open up his eyes a bit.

[Duffman]

Sorry, that s/have been ass-kin ASS-KICKIN!!!

[PugetSound]

duff
you know andrew hasn't forgiven me yet. :)
everytime you bring it up he just gets a little angrier. oh well.

[Duffman]

Well Puts: the chances of &dru forgiving you are about as great as joanie ever admitting that she's been wrong on anything. That's Okay - it's perfectly obvious to EVERYone on this board when someone not only hands another their ass - but when they do it in a gracious and polite manner...man that's double hurt. Ol &dru has some life to live; may be he can hook up with joanie and form a mutual adoration society of sorts. ;O)

[Andrew]

bcmember says " They publish their books, as required by law (if you were an active supporter of any non-profit, you'd know about guidestar.org)."

That's irrelevant. The people begging for money don't make any mention of it, and obviously most listeners aren't aware of their contents let alone that they exist at any given moment.

"As others have written, and I've personally observed many times, they set a fundraising target (just twice a year, thankfully!), and stop the drives when those targets are reached."

A) how could you possibly "observe" that they either set a target or reached a target goal without inside information? B) if this is true, how did they arrive at extravagant surpluses?

"Your assertion is that they should use up all their reserves before beginning any fund raising--that they should live essentially hand-to-mouth. That's just silly, and if I worked for them, I'd fear for every paycheck. If I sold them goods on credit, I'd have to charge higher interest rates."

I appreciate the concept, but how much reserve is enough? I'm under the impression that their's are well above average.

"They run their business, as I wrote, with the intent of expanding their reach and impact. So do their commercial "competitors" who use the public airways solely to return a profit to their owners. Perhaps you work for one of them?"

During the pledge drives they don't say they wish to expand their operation and take over the world, they imply that they needs money to fund the programs "you love", that these are sustaining funds, not expansion funds.

"After carefully reading each of your remarks on this blog, it's clear you may disagree with the mission and methods of public radio, perhaps of all non-profits who seek to serve the public and humanity at large (i.e. the Red Cross, the PTA, Churches...) and rely on fund raising?"

Don't pull that crap, quote me.

[PugetSound]

duff
yeah, occasionally joanie will throw andrew a scrap of praise and he is all over it like white on rice.
poor fellow, if he is a extra good boy maybe she'll let him stay after school and clap the erasers.
yikes!!!

[Duffman]

So, &dru if you believe that KUOW is so unethical, have you filed your complaint with the FCC...or is it all just motor-mouth with you.

[Andrew]

I realy to get to you guys don't I? Here I am having a worthwhile discourse with a friendly visitor while you two losers write volumes all about me. Join my fan club. I've never responded to any of Joanie's remarks, it's hilarious that you imagined that I had.

[Andrew]

*Joanie's praise* rather, what little there has ever been.

[Duffman]

...waiting for my answer

[Andrew]

Yeah, I had my personal retained dream team of hotshot lawyers send a five thousand page complaint to the FCC.

[Duffman]

The FCC is open to complaints from any and every one...ergo I again ask: have you filed your complaint and/or concern about KUOW using unethical practices on the public air ways????
I didn't think so!

[Andrew]

I just told you I had. Nothing is ever good enough for you.

[Duffman]

Yeah, there's one thing that's always good enough for me and it's called the TRUTH. I feel that's a concept you don't grasp.
You're so full of crap, it's pathetic.

[PugetSound]

andrew sez:
"I've never responded to any of Joanie's remarks, it's hilarious that you imagined that I had."

really? so you also think she is full of crap then.
hey, now that's interesting.

[Andrew]

Why are you so obsessed with Joanie? She had nothing to do with the discussion until you brought her up for the millionth time.

[PugetSound]

actually it was Duff that brought her up.

[Duffman]

...and the only reason I brought her up is that some times she's a dullard like you.

[PugetSound]

the argumentation style is similar. narrow viewpoint, refusal to accept that people can disagree in good faith without namecalling, and pulling the old skedaddle when cornered.

although i do think she will be the ultimate nominee, duff and i disagree on hillary clinton.
but that doesn't mean i don't respect him and his abillity to make an argument.
after all, he comes in here -often outnumbered- and takes on all comers. he'll also admit when he is mistaken. or agree to disagree.

[Andrew]

Wow, so this AndrewWatch now. I truely hope you jackasses haven't scared away bcmember. You always scare aware the new people.

[Duffman]

"..often outnumbered.."

Boy, ain't that the truth...ha; thanks Puts...well see you later, think I'll retire now that the 'Hawks game is over (oooh what a mess that was). See ya later...we'd better prepare for the 'joanie' onslaught when she gets back from her BB cave...ha

[PugetSound]

andrew
nice try.
BC's quote at the end is directed at you:
"OK, if this is the case, say so. At least if you told us what you actually think, you'd be speaking some truth."

[joanie]

KUOW is doing NOTHING unethical, get over it!!!

Well, that's consistent with Republican thinking. You the expert on ethics now? Honesty would dictate that it is your opinion . . .

She get's shown to be wrong time after time on this blog,

Examples please.

And you make a stupid remark about "condescending manner" instead of responding to points I made.

Instead of responding to Andrew's points (which, btw, bcmember tried to do), you do a putsie and start in on the platitudes and "truths" according to you. You went from trying to be amenable with your business philosophy to accusatory and derisive remarks to throwing out red herrings about poor old ladies.

No, there isn't one truth about a lot of things.

For the record, I thought Lowell did a pretty good job speaking for me. But, of course, you have trouble responding to legitimate points so default to your's and putsie's usual attack mode when out-argued.

And, Duff, you don't need putsie nearly as much as he needs you . . .and me. Without us, he really doesn't have a single thing to say anymore.

Also, your little treatise on business sounds just like Ken Lay talking about Enron 2001. Yep, gotta trust 'em for they know what they're doin' - you betcha. No transparency needed. Just trust these smart daddies in charge of commerce.

BTW, I always worked under the belief that the P in PBS stands for "public." I always thought that was me. Could be wrong of course.

[bcmember]

Andrew--

(not scared away, I just went back to my book)

If you (ever) listen to KUOW to be informed, or just entertained, but are not a member, get on it -- the membership drive is ending soon!

[joanie]

Hey, duff, where's my response to the Ken Lay comment. Or are you taking your's and putsie's quaint vocabulary to heart and (god forgive me!) "skedaddling?"

I promise to never use that ridiculous word again, guys. :)

[Duffman]

To equate the Ken Lay/Enron situation with KUOW is the apples & oranges thing, joanie.
KUOW presents their financials to the public and as far as I can discern there are no 'risky' investments therein housing their assets. They, unlike ENRON are FCC regulated and with all the public scrutiny they face (i.e. ANY one can file a complaint with the FCC for ANY thing at ANY time) they are undoubtedly checked and cross-checked many times over.
If they were performing in an UNethical fashion that would have come to light. I'm all for the employees therein 'organizing' and fighting for what they think they deserve; but they must be prepared to put their credentials on the line for it. If they are THAT good they will be retained and promoted; if not they may be terminated - simple as that. In my view KUOW is being wise and frugal with their assets and their marketing scheme - as I said more radio stations should follow their fiscal plan and not operate on such skinny budgets with no real reserves. If more stations did that, then may be there wouldn't be such turn-over and panic when the bills come due. If I thought KUOW was anything but fair and business-like I wouldn't be contributing to them so generously. They provide a great service to this community. Let the employees bargain for themselves and may they get what they deserve.
Quit the whining; go to work and sell yourself - THAT's what it's all about! I would ask that you (and all) consider increasing the contribution to KUOW.

[Tommy008]

New York Times Automotive section calls Dori's Jaguar X-Type the "Dud of the Decade" ! from today's N.Y. tIMES... "The worst auto of the decade? We still have three years to go in the 00's, but it seems highly unlikely any other offering in today's automotive market could stink so badly for so many years as the Jag X-Type......."Who would have thought any other 00-era vehicle could out-stink the ugly Pontiac Aztec?".... The article goes on to blame the X-type for the demise of the Jaguar name, and states that Jaguar plans to put it out of it's misery next year, when it eliminates the model . BWAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHHHAAHAHHHHHOOOOOOOHOHAAAAHHAHHHOOOOHOO

[dr_meatbox]

If you want to see the financial information on most non-profits, just look on Guidestar. Here is the link for KUOW, but I would suggest looking at *any* non-profit's returns before you donate to them.

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=guidestar&npoId=100060524

[Duffman]

...but we need KUOW to loan us the $ to subscribe as a 'premium' and/or 'select member' as that appears to be where the 'meat' is.
...or if you are one, may we use your ID

[Lowell]

This may have run its course but I will add a comment on the matter of ethics. I don't think that KUOW is unethical, but they are being unwise, and are not doing the right thing. The right thing is to affirmatively disclose their finances in the same way that they are raising money - on the air. And are they being truly honest. I listened to the pitches from various on air staff. They spoke of their programming and implied a need for that. Not one mention did I hear about endowments, reserves, or the cost of their Tacoma ventures. It just ain't right folks to imply something that ain't true - that the money is going for programming and daily operations. The fact is that the money is to large degree going toward expansion, buying a new station, and putting a lot of money away. When they ask you and I for money, we deserve to be told truthfully and affirmatively what the money is for. Have they done so? If it smells like a rat, it likely is. And don't we expect more than 'you look great in that dress' from our public radio station's sales people. Remember, non-profit means we are the owners.

[joanie]

I really like the way you said it, Lowell.

They shouldn't come "begging" but appeal forthrightly to our role as shareholders/investors/customers to pony up to improve the product. The begging gets old.

A similar problem came up at my school. We have so many fundraisers to support kids that it began to feel like begging. Finally, we decided to simply ask for a check. It is a "direct appeal."

I think people appreciated that change. We still have fundraisers but not quite so many and we can be more selective in what we do.