CFRC is looking to increase their mandatory $4.93 student fee in an attempt to steer the station away from potential bankruptcy once they have split from the AMS in 2014.
According to Kristiana Clemens, Operations Officer at CFRC, many campus radio stations get around 75 per cent of their funding from student fees, whereas CFRC only receives half of their funding in this way.
The five staff that are currently employed are the single biggest expense of the station, she said.
The AMS previously covered the station’s annual deficit, which for several years was between $15,000 and $20,000, but without AMS funding, the station is at risk.
“That deficit, because we don’t have income coming in to pay it off, will quickly run the station into bankruptcy and it will be off the air within a few years,” she said.
CFRC needs to find $30,000 a year to continue offering their current services.
The station is the longest running campus broadcaster in the world and has never been run independently, she said.
The separation from the AMS was due in part to a change in regulations of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, which said that operations of a radio station must be run through an independent body.
After leaving the AMS, the threat of tri-annual review could mean that the mandatory fee for CFRC would be at risk of elimination.
Ultimately, Clemens said that if the raised student fee were approved, it would set up CFRC well for the future because other revenue through advertising, donations and grants can fluctuate.
“We know that stations like ours cost generally between $200,000 and $225,000 to manage. Our budget for this year is $172,000 to $173,000, and that includes a significant structural deficit,” Clemens said.
AMS Media Services Director, Terra Arnone, said that working with CFRC on the separation has been smooth.
“I think if they continue to draw on the resources they have and our alumni network as they have for 90 years this year, then I think that the outlook is positive,” Arnone, ArtSci ’13.
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