CKUA's "Bookmark" radio show may get the axe

CKUA's "Bookmark" radio show, a very important literary radio program in Edmonton, AB, is in jeopardy of being cancelled. Like many radio and television shows in Canada, funding has become increasingly difficult, and my friend Ken Davis, the host of "Bookmark", needs your support. Check out what they're willing to offer in return.

A letter from Ken Davis, host of "Bookmark":

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters of the “Bookmark” program on the CKUA Radio Network.

“Bookmark,” the half-hour weekly program dedicated to Alberta’s literary community and book trade, finished its second season on Sunday, June 28th. Whether the program returns for a third season in September depends on the financial support the program receives between now and the end of July. This e-mail is to inform you about the opportunity which currently exists to keep this program on the air.

In these challenging economic times, CKUA Radio management faces some tough decisions in order to ensure the continued health and viability of this listener-supported public broadcaster. Spoken word programs are more time-consuming and therefore more expensive to produce than music programs. The station has decided to cancel the “Bookmark” program unless the community elects to support this show financially. A final decision on this matter is to be made at the end of July, 2009.

CKUA Radio is funded largely through listener donations along with some corporate underwriting of programs. Station management would like to continue to broadcast “Bookmark” and has come up with a plan to possibly save the show. It’s an idea called Co-Operative Program Sponsorship (CPS), something of a hybrid of corporate underwriting and a listener donation.

Under the CPS model, supporters of Bookmark are asked to donate $500.00 to support one broadcast of the program. Two programs could be underwritten at a cost of $900.00. Three programs at a cost of $1300.00. And six programs at a cost of $2500.00.

In return for supporting a specific program, the donor will receive acknowledgement in that broadcast. The donor will in fact receive 3 mentions during the show. While there will be no commercial content within these mentions, a reference to a company’s work can be made; for example, “Bookmark thanks donor sponsor Lotusland Books for supporting this edition of the program. Lotusland Books has been retailing books in Calgary for 40 years. We thank them for their support.”

The 2009-2010 Bookmark season would have 35 new shows and would begin September 13th, 2009. CKUA management has agreed that as long as we have donors for 20 of the 35 shows by the end of July, they will consider funding to be reasonably in place and will allow production of the program to proceed for a third season.

I am asking you to either make a pledge of support to “Bookmark” yourself or pass this request along to others of your acquaintance who may have an interest in this initiative. We have four weeks to raise the necessary money to keep “Bookmark” on the air. Please send your preliminary commitment to pledge for the program to myself as I am tracking the numbers on this campaign. I will be forwarding your contact information to CKUA’s Fund Development Office for follow-up. Therefore I would ask that you provide your preferred e-mail address and telephone number, as well as mailing address, when you make your preliminary pledge.

In addition to the CPS campaign, an alternate form of supporting “Bookmark” is a full corporate underwriting position. Such underwriting results in the sponsoring corporation being acknowledged in every Bookmark program as a major sponsor of the program. I believe there are a number of other acknowledgements, on the CKUA website, on-air mentions throughout the broadcast schedule, etc., that are built into corporate underwriting arrangements. My understanding is that a corporate underwriting contract starts at $5,000.00. More information on this sort of sponsorship can be obtained from CKUA’s sales manager Don Barnes by telephone at 780 428 7595 or by email at don.barnes@ckua.com.

I thank you all sincerely for your time and consideration and for your past support of the “Bookmark” program.

Ken Davis
Host, “Bookmark,” CKUA Radio Network
Director of Marketing, Lone Pine Publishing

Email (work): ktdavis@lonepinepublishing.com
Email (Bookmark): bookdude@live.com

Please consider supporting "Bookmark" and do whatever you can to keep Edmonton's arts community alive and thriving. ~ Cheryl