Celebrating 25 Years of Broadcasting

By Millie Dunning

Gallup Public Radio

KGLP 91.7 FM

In the fall of 2017, Gallup Public Radio, KGLP 97.1 FM, Gallup’s first Public Radio Station, will celebrate 25 years of being on the air in Gallup, NM. This is by no means a small accomplishment. KGLP is a non-profit, non-commercial radio station located in Gurley Hall on the UNM-Gallup Campus through a licensing agreement with the university. KGLP broadcasts at 91.7 FM via a transmitter on Gibson Peak, as well as a satellite dish on top of Gurley Hall.

In 1992, Octavia Fellin and a group of her friends felt that something was missing on the Gallup airwaves. Their vision was to start a public radio station that would present material which would be commercial-free, enhance intellect, expand knowledge, and deepen enjoyment of musical tastes of all cultures. That idea became the KGLP that we listen to today.

Without UNM-Gallup, the station would never have become a reality. Once UNM donated space, the real work of constructing the station began. Frank Sundrum, Jack Crowley, Jack Chapman, Bill Hawkins Smith, to name a few, started getting construction materials, equipment, and everything that a station would need. UNM students made racks and helped with construction. It quickly became a community project. Volunteers stepped in to help, and other broadcasters such as Clear Channel and Millennium Media assisted. Radio station KGAK was especially helpful by allowing KGLP to use their airwaves to raise money for the start-up.

Imagine the excitement when the switch was thrown and KGLP was heard for the first time. When the station went on the air in September 1992 with 100 watts, the first station manager was Frank Sundrum, now GM at WVIK-FM, Rock Island, Illinois; he was followed by Jamie Hoover. Tom Funk was the Music Director. Frank Bosler worked on upgrades, first as a Board member, then as Station Manager in 2003. With his sudden departure in 2006, David Pracy, who was already on staff, agreed to run the station as Production Manager. When David was forced to leave due to illness, there wasn’t anyone to replace him. Patrick Burnham, a producer at the time, stepped in to keep the station running as the Radio Technician. We are very grateful for the huge contribution from each of them.

For the first 13 years, KGLP was broadcasting a repeating signal received from KSUT, an Ignacio, Colorado public radio station owned by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. They held the KGLP license until 2005 when that arrangement was ended and KGLP acquired its own license. That meant many changes in the operations of the station and adhering to the rules of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). With this new era in operations, more locally hosted shows were broadcasted, as well as network and syndicated shows. Public affairs programs and PSAs were aired. In 2006, KGLP applied to the Federal Communications Commission for an increase in signal strength to 880 watts, which was granted and widened the listening audience to include NW New Mexico and

NE Arizona. The bulk of financial support comes from the CPB through grants, however, as a requirement of the grants, listener donations must make up 20% to 30% of total income. Two fundraisers are held each year in the spring and fall, although donations are accepted yearround. Other sources of income include Underwriting and Car donations, as well as in-kind donations from UNM-Gallup and others.

Financial difficulties were experienced in the early years and again in 2006 problems arose both financially and operationally. When financial resources got very tight, the Board of Directors, led by Gerald O’Hara, Ron Donkersloot, Gary Schuster, Mildred Dunning, Carol Sarath and others, were considering all options to survive and even considered, as a last resort, giving up our license and returning to being a repeater station. Fortunately, that was avoided by some careful money management by the Board, the Bookkeeper Anna Bond, and a lot of help from the generous, loyal listeners of KGLP.

In 2010, KGLP was again faced with the problem of needing a professional station manager. A search began and, to our good fortune, Rachel Kaub, formerly Radio Operations Manager of KUNM in Albuquerque, applied for the position. It didn’t take long to realize that she would be a perfect fit for KGLP. Since her arrival in 2011, many changes and improvements have taken place including the remodeling of the station to include a second studio. She has also improved the automation system, installed Audio Vault, restarted online streaming, networking, and teaches and mentors UNM students. It’s impossible to list her entire duties at the station because she does so many things in addition to her required tasks.

While Rachel is the backbone of the station, the producers, volunteers, and staff are also indispensable. Local producers such as Tom Funk, Steve Buggie, Strider Brown, Lester Kien, and Yolanda Travers have been with the station for many years. Their shows have received national recognition and awards and are loved by listeners. The syndicated programming from NPR, Performance Today, and Native America Calling are also very popular. Everyone was very saddened recently when Lester Kien suddenly passed away, plus the 2016 loss of Paul Graves, Board Member, was deeply felt.

A couple of years ago, CPB advised stations that they would be enforcing the requirement to have a Community Advisory Board (CAB) made up of local residents. A new CAB was formed to meet and provide opinions and advice to the station.

The success of KGLP is the result of the efforts of many people, too numerous to name, including the station managers and staff, the Board of Directors, producers, volunteers, loyal donors, bookkeepers, engineers, web master, students, listeners, UNM-Gallup, and others in the community who stepped forward to help whenever

KGLP Radio Board of Directors - 2005

L-R – Paul Graves, Lester Kien, Gerald O’Hara, Joe Hibbard, Yolanda Travers (holding Cal Travers), Millie Dunning, Anna Bond, Frank Bosler, Pamela Stovall

Tom Funk

needed. With the current staff and Board of Directors, headed by Raymond Calderon, the future is bright for KGLP.

Tune in to KGLP at 91.7 FM on your radio dial, or listen on-line at KGLP.org.