As KHOI nears its goal of raising $40,000, the KHOI team will celebrate its progress during two parties in the coming weeks. Both will take place in the former Ames Pantorium building on 410 Douglas from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The first will fall on Friday, Nov. 9. The second will fall on the following Friday, Nov. 16.
During each party, founding members of the KHOI donor base may sign their names on a designated “Founders’ Wall.” These names will remain on the wall in tribute to those who supported the station during its earliest days. Those who have not yet donated to the station can become founding donors during either of the parties to come.
Ursula Ruedenberg, interim station manager, painted the six panels of the wall to resemble greenish-blue marble, etching each one with white paint to evoke the veins that run through real marble. The panels are trimmed in a light shade of yellow, over which Ruedenberg and Jo Myers-Walker painted an arabesque pattern in bluish brown.
Appetizers prepared by KHOI volunteers and beverages donated by local merchants will be available for guests. Kay Puttock will provide spanakopita (a Greek pastry made with filo dough) miniature quiches, snack-sized vegetable and balls of a meat substitute with a sauce.
Mark Harris will provide plates of deviled eggs.
Elliot Thompson, KHOI’s music director, will bring mulled wine donated by Steve and Hollis Nissen of Prairie Moon Winery in Ames.
Cynthia McClure a KHOI producer and internship coordinator, will contribute cookies, as well as plates of fruit and cheese.
According to an invitation sent out last week by KHOI, the station has raised half of the $40,000 it needs to pay for the construction of a fully equipped broadcast studio. The team aims to raise the other half by Jan. 1, 2013.
Today Ursula Ruedenberg accepted the station’s most recent grant—a sum of $6000 from the Story County Community Foundation—during a ceremony at Reiman Gardens in Ames. KHOI Chief Engineer Paul Nelson, KHOI board member Kay Puttock and KHOI Studio Engineer Rick Morrison accompanied her.
Calling the Story County Community Foundation one of the first groups to “take a leap of faith” for KHOI, Ruedenberg expressed her gratitude for its gift.
“We’re so glad that they’re helping us to fulfill this dream of community radio,” she said.
Ruedenberg said the foundation’s money would be used to bear the costs of a “studio-to-tower link” that would connect KHOI’s production server directly to its broadcast tower. She noted that this link would significantly improve the quality of KHOI programming, by freeing staff to make program changes directly from the studio.
Morrison said that installation of the link would spare KHOI volunteers the trouble of downloading programs from its hard drives, transporting them and uploading them at the site of their broadcast tower.
“It’ll save gas money,” he added.
Ruedenberg aired hopes that the spirit of generosity animating the Story County Community Foundation will be shared by attendees of this Friday’s party.
“We want to make a stronger connection with our donors, honor them and have an opportunity to hear their feedback.”