KOCE GRANT SEEN AS SPARK FOR BIGGER FUND DRIVE

In seeking a $25,000 challenge grant from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, KOCE-TV officials see the proposed allocation as the catalyst for a far larger fund drive by the Huntington Beach public station.

If county supervisors Tuesday approve offering the grant, the station will have to raise another $25,000 in order to receive the county allocation. Station officials said they are confident of meeting that goal.

But whether KOCE backers can meet the larger goal of its latest overall drive--$250,000 in private donations by the end of 1987--is another matter. This sum, station President William Furniss said Thursday, would be used for operations and regular programming.

Furniss says the station is counting on the proposed new county grant to give the drive a fresh impetus. “It would be the kind of boost we really need at this time,” he said.

To date, however, the station’s fund-raising record hasn’t been too impressive. KOCE backers have yet to mount a successful campaign for major contributors, despite the drastic cuts in support from the Coast Community College District, the station’s owner.

This isn’t the first time that KOCE has gone to the county for help. In 1976, the supervisors approved $20,000 in federal Housing and Community Development money to help underwrite a KOCE special on the rising cost of Orange County housing.

The plea to the county this time is for $25,000 in federal revenue sharing funds disbursed by the county. The grant is backed by Supervisor Harriett Wieder, who says it is intended to help ease the station’s “serious financial difficulties.”

Wieder urged that the funds be used in large part for the station’s “Jim Cooper’s Orange County” public affairs program. According to Cooper, a KOCE vice president, his weekly program has been cut from 48 episodes last season to 36 this season due to lack of sufficient financing.

Furniss and Cooper, however, said Thursday that most of the proposed county grant would probably be used for other public affairs programs, such as specials on issues like immigration and transportation.

KOCE’s fiscal plight is not unusual for public broadcasting stations. According to Michelle Tessier, an administrator with the Washington-based National Assn. of Public Television Stations, all PBS affiliate stations face an “uphill battle” in an era of federal and other grant cutbacks and soaring production costs. Like KOCE, many smaller stations “are finding themselves living on the financial edge,” she said.

KOCE’s operating budget this year is projected at $4.5 million, the lowest since the college district began cutbacks after the 1978 passage of the Proposition 13 tax-cutting initiative. This year’s district allocation, wholly for district-related instructional projects, is $950,000, Furniss said.

The station has also faced decreases in federal Corp. for Public Broadcasting grants--down to about $890,000 this year. And KOCE’s failure to find major new corporate underwriters is typified by its year-old drive to broadcast performances from the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The production costs for taping three specials for nationwide airing by Public Broadcasting Service affiliates have been estimated at $1.4 million.

KCET-Channel 28 in Los Angeles reports a far more stable fiscal condition. The station’s current $25.5-million budget is the largest yet. And officials say that viewer and other contributions have been rising, while public affairs and other new programming has been expanded.