Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a state budget that includes $15 million to support KVCR, the Inland region’s public TV and radio station, thanks to leadership from Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gomez Reyes. Today, Reyes visited the KVCR studio to present a ceremonial check of state funds to the San Bernardino Community College District, which owns KVCR’s broadcast license.
SBCCD officials advocated for funding in the state budget to support the station, which operates from the San Bernardino Valley College campus and airs on 91.9 FM, TV Channel 24, and streams online at kvcr.org.
“Maintaining and expanding our inland region’s public radio and programming is essential to delivering non-partisan local news to residents,” said Assembly Majority Leader Reyes. “This funding is important to ensure the public will benefit from KVCR, their programming, and educational training for years to come.”
SBCCD Chancellor Diana Z. Rodriguez said the community owes a debt to local lawmakers, especially Assembly Majority Leader Reyes.
“This $15 million in state funds is historic in the life of KVCR.” said Rodriguez, who is completing her inaugural year as chancellor. “I am grateful to the governor, Assembly Majority Leader Reyes, and her colleagues in the legislature for supporting KVCR. It’s a matter of educational equity for our region’s 4.6 million residents, not only to invest in our excellent community college district but to keep KVCR in the heart of it.”
SBCCD is one of the few community colleges in the nation that operates both an NPR radio and a PBS television affiliate. KVCR is also the headquarters for FNX | First Nations Experience, the first and only TV network in the United States devoted to Native American and World Indigenous content.
Rodriguez says that SBCCD plans to expand KVCR in-studio training for local students headed for journalism and media careers.
“Our vision is for KVCR to help grow our local talent and prepare the next generation of journalists and media professionals to enter California’s billion-dollar media industry,” Rodriguez said. “It means diversifying the pipeline to Hollywood. It means training diverse journalists to cover their communities and teach how public media works.” She said planned partnerships will bring more Inland stories to the public rather than the LA-based stories that dominate the media now.
For a time, the college district was unsure if it could afford both the student training and PBS and NPR programming. With the community’s overwhelming support of KVCR, PBS, and NPR, the college district made funding for KVCR an advocacy priority in Sacramento and Washington D.C.
This one-time $15 million state allocation will allow the college district to implement a long-range plan to strengthen KVCR’s future. The plan for KVCR includes:
- Establishing a student training lab inside KVCR to train the next generation of journalists, radio, TV, and digital media professionals.
- Strengthening partnerships with tribal nations to broadcast FNX | First Nations Experience, the only TV network devoted to Native American and World Indigenous content.
- Growing community-based TV and radio content relevant to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
- Continuing airing PBS and NPR programming.
- Expanding staff capacity to boost community engagement, business partnerships, and donor giving.
Read more about the plan for the future of KVCR: https://sbccd.edu/news/kvcr-plan.php