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House urges NMC not to transfer KRNM license to off-island station
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Posted on Oct 14 2008
The House of Representatives has called on Northern Marianas College not to transfer KRNM’s public broadcasting license to any off island radio station.
In a recently adopted resolution, the House members say NMC, instead of selling the radio station, should consider shutting it down until the college finds the money to run it.
The lawmakers also say they are “eager” to talk with NMC about the future of KRNM, including possibly identifying funds necessary to operate the radio station.
The NMC board of regents recently voted to assign KRNM’s non-commercial broadcast licenses to Marianas Educational Media Services, a non-profit and educational organization in Guam. The license transfer is now awaiting approval by the Federal Communications Commission.
For 10 years, NMC has provided space for the radio station, paid the cost of utilities and staff, and provided other related services. But because of funding problems, NMC stopped hosting KRNM. The station initiated numerous fundraising efforts to keep KRNM on the air, but it did not get enough support from the government and the community.
Lawmakers, in their resolution, underscored the importance of keeping KRNM as a locally operated public radio station. According to the resolution, KRNM provides the community with programming that cannot be heard through any other media outlet in the CNMI. The public radio station also serves as a training facility for students and residents who volunteer to locally produce and host programs. Further, it offers informative and emergency announcements that benefit the community.
The resolution also notes that the CNMI has invested over $5 million in KRNM over the past 10 years, and that investment would be “lost forever” if NMC transfers the broadcasting license outside the Commonwealth.
“If the Northern Marianas College transfers the radio station license outside the CNMI, people of the CNMI will be left without a public radio station to broadcast community information, programs, features and specials,” the resolution states.
