As you know, 2020 has been a difficult year as our community, like the nation, has faced Covid-19, rising unemployment, and widespread civil unrest rooted in longstanding social inequality. For small, volunteer-driven community radio stations these are hard times, but with the help of people like you, KMUZ has risen to the challenge. Our volunteers continue to provide residents of the mid-Willamette Valley with timely information about local issues and a wide range of cultural and musical programming. In a time of great division, we remain a hub that draws the community together.

KMUZ is optimistic about the future. We believe that our current challenges contain within them great opportunities to build a better society, and our goal is to continue to be a place where the voices of local residents can be heard, and our local culture can be shared. Your financial support remains crucial to maintaining KMUZ as a key component of the mid-valley cultural scene. With your help, our volunteers will continue to provide the blend of news, music, and talk shows that make KMUZ unique.

Our fall pledge drive is scheduled from September 26 through October 2, and I am writing to ask for your assistance with a particularly exciting project. Last year KMUZ raised $60,000 to increase the power of our signal from 32 to 225 watts and to expand our potential audience from 50,000 to 300,000 listeners. This year, we aim to build on that success by raising $13,500 to pay off a loan that allowed us to purchase our license to transmit at 100.7 FM. The achievement of this goal would enable us to use our resources for other important needs, such as upgrading our studio equipment and the infrastructure for uninterrupted signal transmission.

In normal times KMUZ raises about $4,500 per month to cover operating expenses. In 2020 we’ve had additional costs due to Covid-19. Your support has helped us to meet these challenges and to build for the future. We hope that this fall you will again help KMUZ to achieve its goals.

Instead of a large one-time donation, perhaps you would prefer to make a series of smaller donations by becoming a sustaining donor. By going to our website, www.kmuz.org, and selecting Help KMUZ, you can arrange for a small donation charged to your credit card every month. A small action on your part and it would mean so much to those of us at KMUZ.