We at KRBD are thrilled to announce that we are the grateful recipients of a grant from Ketchikan Community Foundation, allowing us to update four ancient computers. Having functional, reliable equipment will allow us to continue our mission of providing essential communication services to our listening area, now and into the future.

We started having trouble with the two production room computers a year or two ago. They slowed down significantly, which of course affected our productivity. Our amazing IT guy was able to do some magic and squeeze some more life out of them. But there’s only so much squeezing you can do, right?

It will be wonderful to have new computers in the production rooms. Those computers are used by staff to produce news stories, by volunteers to record music programs, and by other nonprofit organizations to record public service announcements.

The other two computers to be replaced are used by our development director and general manager. They both are about the same age as the production room computers and, again, are slow, tired and clunky. The GM computer has this bad habit of blanking out in the middle of a task. I have to wait a few seconds and then jiggle the mouse for it to come back. One day, I know, it will not come back.

I looked to see how long computers should last, and according to google, they average five years, and eight is pretty much the max. The current computers are 11 years old. We definitely get all the use we possibly can out of our equipment!

A lot has changed in the world of technology in the past 11 years, and there’s a whole bunch that we do here at KRBD that we didn’t do 11 years ago. We rely more and more on new and emerging technology. Having the right equipment makes all the difference in how well we can respond to a changing world.

This investment in KRBD’s technology is an investment in the community’s access to information. And we’ll do our best to get at least 11 years out of the new computers.

Thanks again to Ketchikan Community Foundation for this grant! We will make the most of this generous investment in the community’s radio station.