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Successful Grand County fund drive brings return of KUNC signal

To the Editor:

The successful conclusion of the fundraising effort to bring KUNC, National Public Radio, back to Grand County means the return of award winning local, regional, national and international news coverage, diverse music and NPR’s great programming including A Prairie Home Companion, Fresh Air, The Car Guys and much, much more.

The first hint that we might get NPR back came in a November 2007 Sky-Hi Daily News story indicating that a translator license in Grand County had become available. Our campaign to raise nearly $43,000 began with a kick-off meeting in Granby in mid-March when we learned how much we would need to raise to purchase the license from the FCC and buy the equipment to broadcast the signal.



The contributions pump was primed by an anonymous donor from Steamboat Springs who started the campaign with a $10,000 donation. A second anonymous donation of $10,000 in early June helped push us over the half way mark.

In any successful endeavor there are always a number of people and organizations that need to be recognized for their help and support in getting the necessary funding together to make this a reality. First, I want to say thanks to my employer, Grand Mountain Bank, for allowing me the opportunity to spend time working on this campaign and for their financial support. I want to recognize my co-chair in this effort, Jill Miles of the Grand River Coffee Company for her efforts in keeping this issue in front of her customers and her help in soliciting and collecting donations. A number of folks wrote supportive letters to the editor including Andy Miller and Patricia Berman. A big thank you goes to Katherine Morris, not only for her letter to the editor and many telephone solicitation calls, but also for her $1,300 matching grant that she successfully offered up in the last weeks of our campaign. My phone calling crew of Barbara Nissen, Carolyn Caskey and Mark Daniel called on many current and former KUNC members in Grand County. I also need to thank the Sky-Hi Daily News for their ongoing coverage of this effort. But my biggest thanks of all has to go to our largest local donor, the Grand Foundation, who in their long-standing tradition of supporting what is important in Grand County pledged the final $5,000 necessary to get this project done.



I want to extend an invitation to all of our donors, large and small to join in the celebration of this success on Thursday, Aug. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Grand Mountain Bank in Granby.

Will Arduino

Granby


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