They did it. KSUT Public Radio and its supporters raised $1.5 million to match a $1 million challenge grant from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to build a modern media center that will allow the station to expand local news and public affairs programming about and for the Four Corners.
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Public radio fans will soon
be hearing more local news
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and public affairs programming
in the Four Corners,
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now that KSUT is broadcasting
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from its new state-of-the-art
media center.
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You're watching the Local News Network
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brought to you by Serious
Texas Bar-B-Q and Fastsigns.
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I'm Wendy Graham Settle.
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For years, KSUT Public
Radio produced programming
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out of a crammed, outdated building
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that once served as a medical clinic
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for the former Indian
Boarding School in Ignacio.
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But cramped quarters and
antiquated equipment,
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limited what kind of programming
the station could offer.
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Now listeners can expect more local news
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and public affairs programming
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as well as an expanded
platform for native voices,
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with KSUT's move into a new
$2.5 million media center.
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Named for local public radio pioneer
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and Southern Ute Tribal
member, Eddie Box Jr.,
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the new center includes two
on-air production studios,
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one for Southern Ute Tribal Radio
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and another for KSUT Public Radio.
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A studio for live performances,
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smaller production studios a
conference and meeting rooms,
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modern offices, and a multimedia center
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that will be used as a training facility
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for Native Americans
interested in media careers.
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Once we moved into the building,
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we knew our next phase of our plan
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was to increase our regional
public affairs, regional news.
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In the old building, we really
had very little capacity,
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very little space, we were
working on top of each other,
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had one little, tiny closet
for a production room.
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We now have three full production rooms,
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where we can produce content,
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meaning, again, local news, regional news,
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public affairs, you know,
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the kind of content that we had
been wanting to do all along
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but just didn't have the
actual physical space
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to pull it off.
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KSUT first broadcast news
and information in 1976
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as an information service for
Southern Ute Tribal members.
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It expanded its reach in 1984,
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when it became a National
Public Radio affiliate
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and organized as an independent nonprofit.
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14 years later, its split its signal
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to offer Native American programming
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as Southern Ute Tribal Radio
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and to offer public radio programming
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as Four Corners Public Radio.
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Plans for new a station have
been in the works for years,
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but it wasn't until the
Southern Ute Indian Tribe
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offered the nonprofit a $1 million
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all-or-nothing challenge grant,
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that fundraising took off.
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Members, listeners,
businesses and foundations,
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contributed the remaining 1.5
million to start construction.
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As a result of its new
expanded facilities,
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the station has partnered
with Rocky Mountain PBS
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to produce a series called "Native Lens",
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and another with native youth
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to gather oral histories from elders
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for a show called "Native Braid".
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Graham says she hopes the media center
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will become a catalyst
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for even more media
partnerships in the future.
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We're all about collaboration
and partnerships,
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it only makes sense in a region where
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it's often referred to
as a news desert, right?
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Where we could use a lot
more, just like you are doing,
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people that are creating local content
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that's by, and produced
from, people in our region.
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And so we're excited about partnering,
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as we're doing with Rocky Mountain PBS.
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We're working on a partnership with
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Fort Lewis College and KDUR,
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and Indigenous Native
American students up there,
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providing training and opportunities
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for them to be heard on an NPR affiliate.
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So, some really exciting things starting
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to happen now that we're in this new home.
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Although Graham led the charge
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to build and open the new media center,
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she says public radio fans are
the true heroes in this saga.
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Community members, businesses
and the Southern Ute Tribe
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really came together in
a incredibly unique way
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to make this happen.
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Southern Ute Tribe Radio
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broadcasts at 91.3 FM in Ignacio,
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89.7 in Northwest New
Mexico in the Navajo Nation,
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and 100.9 on the Ute Mountain
Ute Indian Reservation.
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Four Corners Public Radio broadcasts
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at 90.1 in the Durango area,
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88.1 in Farmington in
Northwest New Mexico,
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and 106.3 in Montezuma County.
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To learn more about KSUT
programming and projects,
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visit ksut.org.
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Thanks for watching this edition
of the Local News Network
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serving Durango, Pagosa
Springs, Telluride,
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Cortez and Montezuma County
and Farmington, New Mexico.
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I'm Wendy Graham Settle.
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