Ampers secures $4.3 million in state funding for community radio stations in Minnesota

The Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations (Ampers) secured a record amount of state funding for its member stations for the FY14 – FY15 biennium.  The Minnesota State Legislature awarded Ampers and its member stations $234,000 in equipment grants, $784,000 in community service grants, and $3.3 million for arts and cultural heritage programming.

Ampers Executive Director Joel Glaser says, “We truly appreciate the bi-partisan support we received from the Legislature.”  Glaser goes on to say, “We are very lucky to live in a state that has such strong support for the arts.  We are even luckier that our state lawmakers understand and appreciate the important role our local radio stations play in their respective communities.  Programmed by and for the local communities they serve, the stations not only provide entertainment, education, and information about community events, they are critical to the community’s safety.  They don’t just broadcast the emergency alerts, they are able to put local officials on the air for in-depth information.  We will be using a portion of the community service funding to try and develop an infrastructure to start broadcasting emergency messages in foreign languages.”

Fourteen of the Ampers fifteen stations qualify for state funding.  Each of the fourteen stations will be receiving $56,000 in community service grants, more than $16,000 to purchase or repair equipment, and $217,800 to produce programming about local arts, culture and history.  In addition, the state awarded Ampers itself $217,800 for programming.  Ampers will be using the funds to produce Minnesota Native News, a five-minute weekly newscast about what’s happening in the state’s native communities; MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds; a series of vignettes about Minnesota’s World War II veterans, and a series about how the state’s “Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment” funds are being spent.

About Ampers 

Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, is a network of 15 independent community radio stations in Minnesota. Each station is locally managed and programmed by and for the local communities they serve. The stations are all licensed to a college, school, university, or directly to the community.  The stations include:  WTIP (Grand Marais/Grand Portage/Gunflint Trail), KAXE (Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Brainerd), KSRQ (Thief River Falls), KUMD (Duluth/Superior), KVSC (St. Cloud),  KUMM (Morris), KFAI (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KMOJ (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KUOM “Radio K” (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KBEM “Jazz88” (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KMSU (Mankato/Austin), KQAL (Winona),  KOJB (Cass Lake/Bena) and KBFT (Nett Lake), and KKWE (White Earth/Callaway).   Ampers has no affiliation with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and receives no financial support from MPR.

Contact:  Joel Glaser 651-686-5367
E-mail:  jglaser@ampers.org