Kachemak Bay Broadcasting Inc

Causes: Arts & Culture, Media & Communications, Radio

Mission: KBBI grew out of the community's desire for a daily local news service. KBBI has been providing the only public radio service to the Lower Cook Inlet area, population 11,000, since 1979. KBBI owns its studios, transmitter and land outright and is free of debt. In 1998, as a requirement of state funding, KBBI began sending a customized public radio program stream to KDLL-FM in Kenai, which serves 25,000 people and is located 90 miles north of Homer. KBBI operates every day, 24 hours a day, with 10,000 watts at 890 kHz. The station enjoys the membership support of approximately 1,000 souls, one of the highest per capita membership levels of any community radio station in the country. KBBI also captures the most listeners in a market of seven other radio stations. Our listeners are loyal: 72% of KBBI's audience listens exclusively to KBBI. Our staff consistently win statewide and national awards for news and public affairs programming. In every measurable instance, KBBI excels in serving its audience, despite an accumulated 50% cutback in staff since 1992. Recently, KBBI entered into a Local Management Agreement with KDLL, the public radio station 90 miles to the north in Kenai, Alaska. KBBI manages all of KDLL's business and regulatory affairs, including bookkeeping, payroll, grant reports and reports to the FCC. KBBI is the hub of what will become a three-station network when Puffin Public Broadcasting - Seward joins us in 2004 or 2005. KBBI seeks the most efficient and cost-effective means to provide quality public radio service to the entire Kenai Peninsula. Together, KBBI and KDLL provide the only public radio service which broadcasts National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN) programs, serving the west side of the Kenai Peninsula and Lower Cook Inlet. The signals stretch from the tip of Kodiak Island to Cooper Landing. Drawing an imaginary line, the distance is 275 miles, encompassing approximately 41,250 square miles.