KCET Pledge Drive a Small Bright Spot in a ‘Tough Year’

The March pledge drive for KCET-TV Channel 28 did slightly better than expected, helping the public-TV station stay true to a budget that was revised following a downfall in December contributions that led to a series of cutbacks and layoffs.

“This has been a very tough year,” KCET President Bill Kobin said Thursday, referring to the fiscal year that ends June 30. “We’re almost exactly where we are supposed to be on our revised budget. It’s very important--critical, as a matter of fact--that this level of support continues through the end of the fiscal year. We’re watching our budget on a day-by-day basis.”

The 21-day fund-raising drive concluded Monday, drawing 25,168 pledges totaling $1.6 million, the station said. That dollar figure was roughly $18,000 better than executives had projected.

“We had 3,000 more pledges at this time last year,” Kobin said. “So we have considerably fewer people giving us a little more per pledge.”

That contrasts to the December pledge drive, when KCET received more pledges but fewer total dollars during a national recession, forcing cost-cutting measures that included the elimination of 16 staff positions. In addition, KCET scaled down its $40.5-million operating budget by $2 million.

For the March pledge drive, KCET received big boosts from children’s programming, including “Sesame Street” and “Barney & Friends,” and from the “Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too” concert--especially when Peter Yarrow visited the station and took up the cause last Saturday night.

Kobin expects no programming or staff cutbacks between now and the end of the fiscal year, provided the projected level of support continues. If KCET remains on track with its revised budget, the station will finish in the black, he said. He added that next year’s budget will probably be the same as this year’s revised budget.

KOCE-TV Channel 50 in Huntington Beach, meanwhile, posted its best membership fund drive, raising $232,803 during the 17-day campaign that ended Monday, station spokeswoman Judith Schaefer said. The previous record was set last spring, when KOCE brought in $182,157 over 17 days.

Schaefer attributed the record-breaking success to special programming that included an Elton John show and a marathon of episodes of the British sitcom “Are You Being Served?”