KMHD 89.1
KMHD billboard above OPB's
Macadam headquarters
Two dozen billboards have popped up around town. Banners hang along NW Lovejoy. And your next cup of coffee could wear call letters on its sleeve.
Oregon Public Broadcasting is providing KMHD (89.1) with a bigger promotional budget than the jazz station has ever received, now that it's housed in OPB's Portland headquarters. The station's ratings have also been on an upward trend lately.
KMHD, whose operations were transferred to OPB in August, is still licensed to Mt. Hood Community College, for which it was named. The new media campaign was created by Leopold & Ketel. Advertisments will also appear in print.
Communications Director John Bell tells OMC, "We hope folks love [the campaign] as much as we and tune in to KMHD."
OPB and KMHD owners Mt Hood Commuity College are discussing the takeover of KMHD:
Facing a significant budget shortfall due to state funding reductions, the Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) District Board of Education will consider a proposal to transfer the operation of Portland's only all-jazz station, KMHD (89.1 FM), to Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) effective July 1. Under the proposal, MHCC would continue to own the station, while OPB would take over programming, operational and fundraising responsibilities.
MHCC President John J. "Ski" Sygielski said the board of education will give serious consideration at its April 8 meeting to this proposed partnership with OPB. A decision is expected at the May 13 board meeting.
"This partnership would give KMHD the best opportunity to thrive in the future," Sygielski said.
"OPB's intention is to continue to operate KMHD as a jazz station. With a current audience of about 100,000 listeners, we believe that the station can attract an even wider audience through increased promotion and higher visibility to OPB's 1.5 million viewers and listeners," said OPB's president and CEO, Steve Bass. No changes in programming or on-air hosts are planned before July 1.
Sounds like a done deal to me.
- Curtis Salgado & Alan Hagar at Holman's during a live broadcast of River City Juke Joint
It's a sad story, like something out of a blues song. When public radio station KMHD (89.1) was taken over by new management, popular local blues program River City Juke Joint was cut from the schedule. Juke Joint was broadcast live every Friday from Holman's Bar and Grill, and became a local institution of local blues music. Musicians and listeners alike were regularly invited to stop by Holman's to be part of the broadcast, and the show reportedly was a big money-raiser for the public radio station....
Jazz station KMHD, 89.1 on your FM dial, becomes part of Oregon Public Broadcasting beginning July 1.
OPB takes over KMHD's operating costs and both stations will jointly develop student internship programs in radio and television production, multimedia and journalism. Also, the OPB connection is expected to heighten public awareness of the college through OPB's wide audience reach.
...A source at KMHD told me that none of the current DJ's or paid KMHD staff will be retained, although that is unconfirmed from OPB.
This has been in the works for quite a while. We KMHD DJ's figured something was up when an email came down a few weeks ago from JoAnn Zahn, who has been caretaker GM since Doug Sweet resigned last year. It said that the search for a new GM had been halted.
What will be retained is jazz programming. What Portland might lose is the variety of music and personalities found on the station right now. That is unconfirmed by OPB, however.
Stay tuned. This has just been announced this morning and things are still developing. I will have more about it as things develop.
Here is the release and the Q&A which came along with it.:
Mt. Hood Community College Proposes Partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting to Operate Jazz Station KMHD
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