We have completed our Fall Membership drive, "Growing KVMR One Seedling at a Time." Together we raised over $100,000, gained over 200 new members and will plant 5,400 seedlings in the American River Complex fire zone of the Tahoe National Forest.

To our new members, Welcome! Thanks for becoming part of this awesome family. To renewing members, thanks for your continuing support.To the staff, broadcasters and volunteers who work so hard to make each membership drive happen, Thanks, we cannot do this without you.

KVMR has always been a "people powered" community radio station. KVMR signed on the air in 1978 with a handful of volunteers. Throughout the years, KVMR's volunteer group has grown to 150+ qualified broadcasters and over 750 non-broadcast, community-based volunteers.

What a great time to be involved in Community Radio!Your Board has finalized KVMR's Strategic Plan. Our last Strategic Plan was updated in 2004 and while historically, Strategic Plans were made for 5-10 year periods, the world around us changes so quickly strategic plans are now good for a 3-5 year period. KVMR's Strategic Plan is designed to not only to provide direction for growth and move us to a new home, but to be a living document; one that can be readily changed to meet future challenges.

KVMR recognizes that the community it serves is not defined by geography alone, but by shared values. Throughout its life, KVMR has not sought to serve a specific geographic area (i.e., the "local" community), but to serve the audience which shares its values. KVMR recognizes that its community resides in a broad geographic area, as defined by the reach of its terrestrial and internet signal.

KVMR understands the similarity between its audience and the public radio audience, and the values that bring them to community radio. KVMR is distinguished from public radio in that its broadcasters are volunteers, and their programs reflect their interests and talents. In that way the broadcasters also reflect the KVMR audience.

KVMR continuously strives to attract listeners and citizen-broadcasters who are mature enough to reason independently, view the world broadly, and accept new information openly-and whose interests and values are consistent with KVMR's established audience, and who will carry on the station's legacy.

KVMR's programs have been designed to stimulate, challenge and inspire our audience. From its inception, and in the plainest sense of the word, KVMR has reliably and creatively been the community- based "alternative" to mainstream media. As "Music of the World, Voice of the Community," it has brought the spirit and joy of the world's diverse cultures to your homes, and served as a means for the local community to find and to express its own spirit and views.

Born of the artistic vitality, social conscience and community spirit of volunteers in Nevada City and its surrounding communities, KVMR's signal now reaches Truckee and Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, and Sierra foothill and valley communities. Its internet stream reaches around the globe, and KVMR's listener and membership base reflects this new presence and opportunity.

Community involvement is at the heart of building a permanent home for KVMR, and for growing its programming and listener base to include the richness and diversity of the station's expanding family. The key challenge, as KVMR grows, is understanding what its community is and is becoming, and how best the station can engage and serve that community's interests.

Voice of the Community means just that. We take very seriously our commitment to providing a forum for those in our community who may have little or no voice. Women's issues, homelessness, mental health issues among others are found on KVMR. Divergent views and competing ideas are necessary to the development of a rich and vibrant community in which each of us can make informed decisions.

KVMR's new Strategic Plan reflects these values and sets forth our commitment to accomplish our goals. The plan reflects input from the community, listeners, members, Arbitron surveys, Listener Surveys, staff, volunteers and the Board.

KVMR's Strategic Plan is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. Our thanks to former board member James Lewis and Mikail Graham for hosting public and on-air Town Hall meetings for public input, GM David Levin and staff for their work and input, Richard Gorman for Arbitron and Listener Survey information, Station Development Committee members Laurie Rivlin-Heller, Larry Hillberg and Vonnie Stefflre, KVMR Board Members and everyone else who contributed to this plan. We could not have done this without you.

I can be contacted at board @ kvmr.org or by calling KVMR and leaving me a message. As we say in radioland; stay tuned, there's much more to come...

By Lee Osborne, KVMR's Board Vice President