emerald
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Friday, June 5, 1981
Vol 82, No 170
KWAX receives reprieve from Legislature
Mew transmitter
pulls in funds
By PAUL TELLES
Of tw Emerald
KWAX may have been granted a stay
of execution in the Legislature Thursday,
but its future is far from certain
Right now we re feeling okay, but the
next month and a half will tell the story,”
says KWAX station manager Janet Ken
ney
On Thursday the education subcom
mittee of the Joint Ways and Mean Com
mittee recommended a 25-percent cut in
the station's $117 000 operating budget
The recommendation was taken as good
news at the station because the sub
committee had earlier recommended
that is entire budget be eliminated
"You never thought you would have
said something like a $30,000 cut and
smile, ' Kenney says
However even if the recommendation
“You never thought you
would have said something
like a $30,000 cut and smile. ”
is approved by the Legislature, the
station still faces possible cuts in
University funding
We re just thrown back in the mix with
a little less money, Kenney says
The cut m state funding also could
make the station ineligible for federal
grants and National Public Radio affilia
tion To qualify for the grants and NPR
programming a public station must have
an operating budget of at least $105.000
The subcommittee s recommendation
would reduce KWAX's budget to about
$85 000
Kenney says the station will try to make
up the difference with fundraisers
A fundraiser completed Tuesday
brought the station 718 new and re
newed subscriptions worth $15,500
Called a Friendraiser," the five-day
event far exceeded the station's goal of
making 500 new friends
KWAX's new Blanton Heights
transmitting facility was partly responsi
ble for the success of the fundraiser,
Kenney says The facility expanded the
station's listening area to Salem and
Roseburg The station even received one
pledge from Portland, as well as many
from its cable listeners on the coast
Kenney says this new capacity makes
it possible for the station to raise the
additional $30,000 The expanded ser
vice gives the station a potential
audience of 700,000, she estimates
In fact, it was the response from KWAX
listeners who helped pay for the new
service but were afraid they wouldn’t
benefit from it that prompted the sub
committee s change of mind, Kenney
says
Although KWAX’s legislative progno
sis has improved, staff morale at the
station still is rather low, Kenney says
Staffers are worried about the one or two
layoffs that could result from the budget
cut
Let down from the euphoria that
accompanied the station's 30th
anniversary in April and the acquisition
of the new transmitting facilities last
month, the staff is worn out from anxiety
over the station s future, she says
“Everybody would like a month off But
not because we re going off the air '
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
KWAX station manager Janet Kenney says staff morale is low because one or two
positions at the station may be terminated through budget cuts.
Agribusiness blamed
for high electricity costs
Agribusiness in Oregon had its nose
rubbed in the dirt Thursday evening
during a talk on Northwest natural re
sources
Speaking at the final “Peace and
Justice Forum" at the Emerald Baptist
Church, Idaho environmentalist Diane
Jones accused the Boeing Corpora
tion, Prudential Life Insurance and the
Simtag Corporation of running small
farmers out of business
Jones says these corporations
acquired large tracts of desert in
Oregon and Idaho at dirt-cheap prices
by taking advantage of federal desert
land acts Then through irrigation they
turned the once-barren land into large
farming operations
"People all over the Northwest will be
subsidizing this irrigation development
with higher electric bills," Jones says
Over-irrigation depletes Oregon rivers
of water necessary for producing elec
tricty, she says
The utility companies in turn must
charge higher rates in order to make a
profit or build nuclear and coal fired
plants to make up the for lost electricity,
Jones says
After an investigation by the Idaho
Citizens Coalition into irrigation
developments in Eastern Oregon and
Southern Idaho, Jones says she
became convinced the public and
small-scale farmers were being ex
ploited
Graphs presented during a slide pre
sentation showed that while the
number of acres of developed farm
land has increased dramatically over
the last 10 years, the actual number of
farms has plunged
“Obviously the farms are getting a lot
bigger," she says. “In Washington the
saying was only Boeing has a farm ’ "
Jones also criticized large-scale
farmers for exporting much of their
yield and spending the profits outside
the state
Jones' talk was sponsored by a
local chapter of the Clergy and Laity
Concerned.”
Committee restores
partial station cut
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM — KWAX got a break from the
Legislature Thursday, but its struggle
isn't over. The focus merely shifts from
the Legislature to the State Board of
Higher Education and the University
administration.
The education subcommittee of the
joint Ways and Means Committee agreed
to reduce the itemized funding cuts for
the radio stations at the University,
Southern Oregon State College and the
Oregon Institute of Technology from
$200,000 to $50,000
The panel shifted the remaining
$150,000 to a discretionary fund already
totaling almost $2.5 million. Once the
dollar figure is finalized, the state board
will be given the task of reducing the
budget by that specified amount as it
“Curricular matters ought to
be left to the discretion of the
board."
sees fit.
The shift came in part because of a
request from Chancellor Roy Lieuallen
that the Legislature not involve itself in
such institutional-specific cuts.
“The guiding principle of the whole
message was that those matters which
are more curricular than simply bud
getary ought to be left to the discretion of
the board." explained Lieuallen after the
hearing
A letter to the subcommittee signed by
11 lawmakers, including the co-chair of
the full committee, Sen. Ed Fadeley,
D-Eugene, made the same point
“As legislators we should address
ourselves to broad policy questions,” the
letter said “If each institution decides to
cut its radio program as a means of
meeting its overall budget, than that is
each institution’s responsibility ”
However, that argument failed to carry
the day with physical education service
courses and state support of intercol
legiate athletics at state colleges The
panel balked at suggestions that those
decisons should be left to the state
board
"The elimination of the general fund
money to the colleges may very well have
the effect of terminating those
programs,” Lieuallen said. "The board
wants to take a careful look, if possible,
before drawing the conclusion that we re
going to have to terminate those
programs at the colleges ”
It appears unlikely, however, the board
will get that chance
In its original recommendations for
budget cuts to the subcommittee, the
board did not suggest sacrificing athle
tics. When the panel learned that it would
take more than $500,000 to support
athletic programs over the next two
years, some committee members were
incredulous
“If we re talking about cutting back
academic services, keeping students out
of the system, what possible justification
is there for not putting this on the block
early on?” Sen Jim Gardner, D-Portland
- However, the necessity for some or all
of the cuts may be alleviated if Gov
Atiyeh’s proposed tax increases are
approved