Thanks to many generous individuals and foundations, on the third day of its four-day pledge drive, KSQD reached its capital campaign goal of raising $400,000 to purchase 89.7 FM and 89.5 FM. Once the switch-over is made this summer, K-Squid’s programming will reach a potential audience of 645,000 listeners, up from 175,000.
In 2022 KSQD embarked on a fundraising campaign to buy the licenses and equipment for 89.7 FM, a full-power FM station licensed to Prunedale, and 89.5 FM, a translator licensed to Monterey from Educational Media Foundation.
The completion of fundraising means the station will be cleared to purchase the frequencies and begin construction of the studio/transmitter links to get the signal from KSQD to the other two channels.
The funds were provided by major donors Pat and Rowland Rebele, The Rex Foundation, an anonymous major donor, and countless individuals who gave at every level between $10 and $10,000. In one three-day period during its mini pledge drive in early February, listeners showered the station with over $18,000, closing out the capital campaign.
KSQD (K-Squid), which is run by Natural Bridges Media, was founded in 2019 to serve the local community with news, interviews, and music programming relevant to the region. Since the original signal at 90.7 FM does not reach the entire county, such as parts of Watsonville and Aptos, the board of directors has been in search of ways to expand its signal since its inception.
The mission of Natural Bridges Media/KSQD is to build community through quality broadcasts, podcasts, training programs, and community events. We celebrate the uniqueness of our region through news, arts, and culturally diverse programming.
The station plans to include programs and hosts from the newly reached communities of Salinas, Monterey, Carmel, Prunedale, Seaside and Watsonville. The main studio for KSQD is in the County Office of Education building on Encincal Street. The new station 89.7 FM will have its antenna on Fremont Peak and the translator will be on Mt. Toro. K-Squid turns 4 years old on February 15th, just in time to celebrate its future expansion.
