Yesterday, we covered the fifty year history of Knoxville Community Media’s work to capture local voices and stories. Today, we will look at reasons the next 50 years may not happen. Due to shifts in consumer behavior and the advancement of technology without accompanying changes in legislation, KCM has lost significant funding, and as Executive and Creative Director of Knoxville Community Media Amos Oaks stated, may be at their swan song.
Oaks tracked the funding, “ten years ago, I think we were…on about a $1.4 million budget. When I came on about three years ago, we were operating on a $785,000 budget. We lost over $112,000 in this last fiscal year. So we’re about down to $645,000 a year. And it is very, very hard to operate this place.” KCM currently has two production staff but needs four to get the job done. Oaks added, “It’s gonna drop again; we know that.”
Why Has Funding Shifted?
Oaks met with city officials on May 13 about funding. He said that city government is aware of the funding cuts and are “considering an adjustment in our new contract to help.”
Canada recently passed an act to preserve public access through franchise fees on streaming services. Most PEG (Public, Educational and Government) groups believe streaming services should pay franchise fees as they build out the same infrastructure on taxpayer-funded land. Otherwise, funding will continue to drop, and public access will begin to disappear…