KALAMAZOO, MI – The media industry's well-documented struggles in recent years have spread to the Western Michigan University campus.

If a new source of funding isn't found, both the Western Herald and WIDR-FM (89.1) could disappear from campus, said student heads of both organizations.

The organizations' shaky future is due to a combination of loss in advertising revenue and the impending loss of university funding at the end of this fiscal year in June.

"WIDR and the Western Herald have really rich histories, which have dissipated over the last few years," said Ambrosia Neldon, news editor of the Western Herald, which has a staff of 40 students. "If we lose WIDR and the Western Herald, those are some big experiences lost."

The Western Herald dates back to 1916 on campus, as The Western Normal Herald, while WIDR originally launched as an AM station out of a Kalamazoo trailer in 1952.

"We provide a resource to the community," said Grace Roeder, program director of WIDR. The radio station's equipment needs are so acute, she said, the staff has to share the three working keyboards.

"Everything's so commercial now," Roeder said. "We're two pretty objective voices that can provide something to the community solely for their benefit."

Facing a loss of university funding as of June, the two student-run operations have launched a Save Student Media campaign in conjunction with two other media organizations, the Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow and Her Campus magazine.

The groups are seeking a $5 per-semester student-assessment fee that would provide a stable source of funding of roughly $125,000 per semester for the four groups. They also plan to unite under an umbrella organization to pool resources, equipment and, in some cases, staff to better streamline operations, Neldon said.

WMU students will vote whether to approve the measure as part of the student association presidential ballot March 25 to 29. If students vote in favor of the fee, it then will go to the WMU Board of Trustees for approval.

"If it passes, we're OK. If not, we have to start looking at Plan B," Neldon said.

This year, the Western Herald received $65,000, or roughly 60 percent of its budget, from the university, according to Diane Anderson, vice president of student affairs and dean of students. Typically, WIDR received between $40,000 and $50,000 a year from the university until four years ago, when the amount began to be cut by $10,000 a year, Anderson said. This year, WIDR received $22,895 from the university.

"Cutting the student voice would cut the primary voice of the students, not to mention the only news source on campus," the Western Herald wrote in an editorial about the Save Student Media campaign in its February issue. "Without WIDR-FM, there would be no alternative radio station in the Kalamazoo area."

The decision to cut the funding comes amid difficult financial times for universities in Michigan. In 2011, the state cut higher education appropriations by 15 percent — the largest amount in state history. During the current fiscal year, WMU received $95.5 million from Michigan, down from $125.6 million in 2002.

Like other college newspapers such as The Emerald at the University of Oregon and the University of Georgia's Red and Black, the Western Herald also has switched to a digital-first model, maintaining a daily website but coming out with a print edition once a month.

Other universities, such as Michigan State University, already have a similar fee in place to fund campus newspapers. The Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, however, operates independently from the university.

"We certainly want to support student-run media," Anderson said. "This (fee) would be more consistent with what we see at other institutions."

Up until four years ago, the Western Herald was generating enough advertising to be self-sustaining, said Anderson. At its height, the paper had a budget of $300,000.

In addition to the $65,000 given this year, the university stepped in with supplemental funding totaling a cumulative $250,000 for the three years prior, she said.

"They have got to come up with a different funding model," said Anderson. "Advertising dollars are not what they once were."

In addition to providing a student voice, the media groups also offer valuable training for the university's 1,600 or so communications students, as well as other majors, including English and political science, Neldon said.

"I want the students at Western to have cutting-edge experiences that will prepare them for the world they're going to face. Media is changing and we've got to change with it or we're going to be left behind," agreed Anderson. "Communications is one of, if not our largest, academic departments. They're great internship opportunities and learning labs."

While WIDR has underwriting and also does fundraising events, it has not been self-supporting for at least two decades, Anderson said.

"They've been running on a shoestring and a prayer for a while. They could definitely use some help," said Anderson.

"One of the things I've said to them is, 'I don't provide direct tuition dollars to any group other than WIDR,' " said Anderson. "They need to be treated as other student-run organizations."

When the student-assessment fee, which is now $21 a semester, first passed in 1973, the plan was for it to include some dollars for student media, said Anderson.

At the time, she said, the Western Herald, concerned that the money might affect its independence, decided against accepting it.

"I don't think people at the Western Herald in those days ever thought we would reach the situation that we're in," said Richard Junger, faculty adviser of the Western Herald and professor of multimedia journalism at WMU.

He said that the local economy, which has yet to fully snap back from the Great Recession, coupled with advertisers who have not followed the Western Herald online, play a role, along with newspapers' dwindling audience.

By switching to a fee paid by the students, rather than coming to the administration for help, the media groups would have a greater sense of journalistic independence, Anderson said.

Roeder and Neldon said they are hopeful that enough students value the two institutions to vote yes, but are aware that fee increases are not popular with cash-strapped students.

"How many other fees are they going to add?" Roeder said some students have asked her.

They're hoping they have "enough loyal readers and listeners" to get the referendum passed.

"People will go out of their way to vote if they know they won't have WIDR and Western Herald," said Roeder.

Yvonne Zipp is an education reporter for MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach her at yzipp@mlive.com or 269-365-8639.