Homer, Alaska - News - Public radio set for personnel changes, pledge drive 10/01/08

Story last updated at 9:29 PM on Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Public radio set for personnel changes, pledge drive

By McKibben Jackinsky
Staff writer

As if things weren't busy enough at KBBI-AM 890 public radio station, what with Friday's one-day pledge drive, there are people leaving and new employees in the station's future.

Mike Mason, the station's award-winning news director, will put in his last day at KBBI Friday. Casey Kelly of KMXT in Kodiak has been hired to take Mason's place and will arrive Nov. 3. In the interim, former morning host Kathleen Gustafson will take over Mason's duties.

Emily Schwing, KBBI's morning host since May, will leave KBBI later this month. The station's music director, Paulette Wellington, will briefly fill Schwing's seat. Once Kelly arrives, Gustafson will switch hats and slide into the morning host spot until Kelly gets his feet on the ground and can participate in recruiting a full-time morning host for KBBI.

Coming to Homer from Missouri, Mason began work as KBBI's morning host in September 2001, before becoming news director four years ago. One of the first stories to reach his desk as morning host was the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I remember when the initial reports came in, I didn't believe that such a thing could happen," he said. "We didn't have a TV so it was all coming through people's descriptions. The first few, very tense minutes of what happened, no one believed that it was real, but it turned into a life-changing event, one of those days I'll never forget."

Later that day, however, Mason recalls hearing people describe it as "the biggest event of our lifetimes."

"I said, 'Yeah, perhaps, but a week from now it won't be the lead story on the news.' Sure enough, a week later, it wasn't. Everything keeps changing, day after day," he said.

Mason leaves at a time when other headlines are grabbing Alaskans' attention.

"The Palin thing has kind of polarized the population. There's the ballot measure to eliminate sales tax on food. There are several key state house and state senate races," he said. "It'll be an interesting next few months for the Kenai Peninsula to see how everything shakes out and what the impact will be."

For his part, Mason is looking forward to putting aside 65-hour work weeks, at least for the time being, and taking some time off. After relocating to Anchorage, he plans to travel to Missouri to visit family.

"This is one of those jobs that does not really tolerate days off or vacation days," he said.

"It'll be nice to not have to get up in the morning and not stress about not being able to cover everything."

Schwing's arrival in Homer earlier this year followed reporting and producing for Alaska Public Radio Network and KUAC public radio in Fairbanks, where she also was working on graduate studies at the University of Alaska. Originally from Colorado, Schwing began working in radio at KUER FM 90 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"She got a fellowship with Deutsche Welle, which is quite an achievement," KBBI General Manager Dave Anderson said of Schwing's decision to move on. "This is really an opportunity you can't pass up."

Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, provides online, on-screen and over-the-air news. Its mission is to "promote understanding of Germany as an independent nation with its roots in European culture and as a liberal, democratic, constitutional state based on the rule of law."

According to information provided on Deutsche Welle's Web site, www.dw-world.de, the broadcaster reaches more than 100 million listeners and viewers worldwide each week and receives more than a half million responses each year.

"While we regret her leaving us so soon, we fully understand and support her taking advantage of that opportunity," Anderson said.

Other news at KBBI involves the selection of KDLL 91.9 FM radio station in Kenai, a public radio station for which KBBI provides administrative and programming services, to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting program.

"The grant that they'll be able to get will help fund a news reporter position which we hope to advertise and hire along with the morning edition host," Anderson said.

The grant is anticipated to be about $60,000.

KBBI's one-day fund-drive kicks off Friday, with hosts Derotha Ferraro and Gary Thomas taking the first shift of the 6 a.m.-6 p.m. focus, followed by the team of Ryjil Christianson and David Schneider, Amy Alderfer and Darryl Oliver and wrapping up the day with Mike Hawfield and Janet Bowen.

Thirteen volunteers form a relay team that keeps phone lines answered and inching toward the 500-pledge goal.

"Those people do the hard work. They help people answer the question, 'How much should I give?'" said Jonathan Coke, KBBI development director.

The amount boils down to two things, Coke said: What can the giver afford and how much does the giver value what's being supported?

"In the end, that means anybody can make a pledge," Coke said.

To make it easy, pledges can be made in a variety of ways: over the phone, over KBBI's Web site, www.kbbi.org, or by stopping at the station, 3913 Kachemak Way.

A visit to the Web site offers a peek at the new design, done by Conrad Field, on mugs given by the station to contributing members.

Other than that, what's happening at KBBI?

"We finally got our front yard mowed after weeks of trying to find enough dry weather to do it," Anderson said, laughing.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.

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