What community does public radio serve?

This Salt Lake City station is wondering if they have to abandon some of their special audiences in order to cultivate a bigger, younger audience.

Salt Lake City Weekly - Nudging the Dial: "For 27 years, KRCL 90.9 FM has been a favorite spot for fans of roots, bluegrass, blues and folk. It’s also the only place on the dial to feature programs in Tongan or broadcast information on the state’s Vietnamese community.

Around 32,000 loyal fans tune in each week. But, in an Ogden-to-Provo radio market with a potential 1.7 million listeners, that isn’t many. KRCL’s audience has stagnated to the point the station risks losing one of its main federal grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), about 11 percent of KRCL’s $900,000 budget. Under CPB guidelines, stations must meet baseline measurements either of listeners or local donations, neither of which KRCL hits, said station manager Donna Land Maldonado."

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