“Navigate This”

Tuesday October 18th, 2022
From the messy desk of Amanda Eichstaedt…

Onward!

 After the initial warm glow of the pledge drive success it becomes atlarmly clear that there is no time to rest on one’s laurels. Nope, the day to day tasks of running the radio station must be handled.  And there is never a lack of interesting things to do. The job of Executive Director/Station Manager is one job that crosses over into all of our functional areas: program, management, and fundraising. Because we are audited every year and it’s important to keep track of where I spend my time, I keep a running time study on my work responsibilities.

Sometimes I work a lot more in program, and I did a great deal of that during the pandemic. Now with people back on the airwaves and working in the office, I spend more time back in management and fundraising. Where I spend my time varies based on what is going on. Lots of management around the audit time period, more fundraising around pledge drives, and if we are making changes to the broadcast schedule I may spend more time on program.

There is payroll to process, preparing all of the materials at the end of the month for the bookkeeper, writing this newsletter weekly, and gathering and disseminating all of the information for our board meetings. Sometimes I even clean my messy desk!

Nope, didn’t clean it today. But if you look closely you can see my missing calculator has been found!

One thing I am working on that I have not done in a long time is planning for Sweethearts of the Radio. It will be happening at the Dance Palace on Saturday, February 11 and Laurie Lewis is confirmed! Save the date!

This job is not boring. I work with engaged, enthusiastic people that like to get things done. Our programmers are all interesting people who bring their passion to the airwaves. Our board cares about what we do and provide support and oversight. And the listeners and supporters (many one in the same) provide such nice comments and the funds it takes to keep the station operational.

Sunday I was away camping, but had a cell signal, and my phone blew up! Well, not literally, but I had several inquiries about the fact that our Sunday programming was not as expected. And listeners were correct! Due to some unforeseen factors we had some major holes in our usual programming, including Sunday Baroque, Sunday Celebration: Second Breakfast, and Foraging with Betsy Nichols. But never fear! KWMR is on the case and will get this cleared up. 

KWMR Broadcast Board.   photo: Alyssa Tanner

This Friday we have a special Turning Pages. In July we received this message from Muriel Murch, “Apart from working on my book ‘Farming the Flats and Harvesting History’ I am also reading a lot and have just become excited but this young writer, Ben Aitken. His 4th book ’The Marmalade Diaries’ is both light and deep. I am very impressed with his writing. The book is about to be released in the US this month I think (out of Berkeley) having just come out in England.” Muriel did interview Ben Aitken and the program will be featured this Friday at 10 AM.

Back to the tasks. And I’m happy to be them here in the Creamery Building at KWMR.

Have a wonderful week!

Amanda Eichstaedt
KWMR Station Manager and Executive Director