Talk:KSQM

Mission statement deletion
Wikipedia is not a place for advertisement nor pov content hence I reverted the edits. --milonica (talk) 17:55, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi -

I'm one of the 90 volunteers at the non-profit community radio station KSQM. I noticed that the recent update that was added to the KSQM 91.5 FM Wiki page was deleted. I saw your reference that the station's Mission Statement was deleted because it could be considered to be advertising.

Maybe you can help us, help you. Since KSQM is a non-profit community radio station that is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation that has no employees, the station is not in the same league as our commercial brothers. Maybe you can help us to review the following update so that it conforms to Wiki guidelines, but provides a more in-depth picture of the station.

Below is the updated copy that we posted on Wikipedia, which was removed. Since our added descriptive information followed the same layout and content as that for KBOO-FM another non-profit community radio station in Portland, OR; or KAOS-FM in Olympia, WA; or KBCS-FM which is the college station at Bellevue College, we were surprised. Other community non-profit stations listed on Wikipedia include KCWU-FM a college station, has a sizable amount of space devoted to that station's history; KEXP-FM the radio station for the University of Washington has significant space devoted to describing that station in great detail and in the case of college FM stations, even though they are educational and technically non-profit operations, they have significant paid full time staffs, something that KSQM does not.

Even in the case of commercial radio stations, Wikipedia has allowed significant narratives to be posted for such stations as KOMO a 50,000 watt commercial station in nearby Seattle; other examples include the Wikipedia pages for KIRO, KING, KPTK, or KJR.

So how can we provide better factual information about KSQM and still meet any Wikipedia guidelines? Maybe you could review our narrative below and provide some specific feedback and ideas that we might be able to act on. I'd look forward to collaborating or working with your advice - Bob Spinks  robertbythebay@aol.com

Updated KSQM narrative which was deleted:

KSQM (91.5 FM) is a non-commercial, educational radio station broadcasting music largely from the 1940s through the 1960s and local news and weather reports. Licensed to Sequim, Washington, USA, the station serves the Northwest Washington area. The station is currently owned by Sequim Community Broadcasting.[1][2] KSQM's signal can be heard as far east as Anacortes, Washington and west to Port Angeles.[3]

Nearly 90 community volunteers make up the staff of the all volunteer run KSQM 91.5 FM, which began broadcasting on December 7, 2008. The station boasts unique stable of local-live radio announcers for the station which broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The station live streams on the Internet at www.ksqmfm.com and has listeners in 118 foreign countries and in every state in America. In 2010, the station was approved by the Chinese government to be allowed in China on the Internet. Currently, China ranks as having the 3rd highest listener ship on KSQM behind the United States and Canada.

KSQM is the city’s first licensed Sequim (WA) - only radio station.

One of the original visions for the station was to provide updated information to the community in times of emergency, disaster and during severe weather. KSQM is part of the Nation's Emergency Alert System (EAS) and provides radio coverage in part of

Developing the station took more than three years and he was unsure what the response would be, with media outlets across the nation struggling.

Volunteer numbers continue to grow at the station which currently has 15 trained DJs, 20 receptionists, eight newsroom writers and a number of others who handle production and a variety of other tasks. Those without a background in radio receive intense training before they go before the microphone.

KSQM reaches out to service agencies and other nonprofit organizations as often as possible. KSQM has routinely provided event announcements and community service announcements on-air for more than 100 nonprofit groups in the Sequim area. KSQM announcers also update listeners with time of day, weather and road condition, bridge and ferry delay or closure, school and other community reports.

Despite being a nonprofit with no staff salaries, there are business expenses that must be met, which grants, underwriting and donations cover.

Programming is ever evolving at KSQM, which currently has a song library of over 8,000 musical tracks. That collection is constantly expanding. The station also has a program to solicit original recordings that are donated from listeners from the turn of the 20th Century forward, then these recordings are digitalized and maintained in the station's computer system.

DJs research artists, songs and their history to add extra bits of information to the station's broadcasts.

Volunteers are developing new programs for 2011 on animal care, traditional jazz, doo-wop, pop and both historical radio dramas and new original radio dramas that are set in Sequim.

KSQM Mission Statement

As a non-commercial radio stations, the FCC defines our operation to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Mission Statement of Sequim Community Broadcasting:

“Sequim Community Broadcasting is committed to creating an educational and cultural hub using all available forms of media and venues for the benefit of the local region and populations well beyond KSQM’s terrestrial radio signal boundaries.”

Mission Statement of KSQM Radio:

"It is the mission of Radio Station KSQM 91.5 FM is to broadcast quality radio programming that Informs, Educates, Entertains, Involves and Inspires the people living in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley . . . and beyond."

This mission statement means that KSQM’s programming informs its listeners about conditions in Sequim and the surrounding region, so that those listeners may become more knowledgeable about, and more engaged with activities that benefit them personally, and that enhance life for all in the community.

The phrase “. . . and beyond! “ means that KSQM’s signal currently reaches portions of the neighboring communities of Port Angeles, Port Townsend, as well as listeners in Clallam, Island, Mason, Kitsap, Whatcom and Skagit counties.

KSQM serves the community by providing news, information, community information, music and emergency alerts. KSQM will strive to be known as a station that exhibits outstanding performance in every facet of its activities, is dedicated to community service and the restoration, conservation and restoration of music and radio dramas.

KSQM will provide a conduit between the various communities of service to inform citizens on the significant issues facing society with an emphasis on local issues.

VISION - In essence, KSQM has a vision of being the best community radio station in the Country. Through the creation and acquisition of programs, the leveraging of our multiple media assets, and strategic partnerships, Sequim Community Broadcasting, a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation, which owns and operates KSQM 91.5 FM, is committed to delivering outstanding radio and internet information, education, emergency and alert information as well as music to the Sequim-Dungeness Valley of Washington and around the world. The broadcast content is designed to make people think, feel and explore new ideas.

Our programming and services reflect the value we place on human dignity, lifelong learning and the power of ideas, and on the importance of community service and civic participation.

robertbythebay —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robertbythebay (talk • contribs) 08:35, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Why is the mission statement deleted?
Isn't the mission statement of a 501(C)3 non profit public benefit corporation the kind of information one should find on a Wiki page? When I visit a Wiki page, I expect to be informed. I do not consider accurate information about a corporation's mission statement "advertising" especially if my tax dollars are indirectly assisting in their operation.

--Os Wilkes (talk) 19:25, 12 October 2010 (UTC)


 * The way I see it, from working in the business myself, every radio station, regardless of for or non profit has a mission statement. The inclusion of such on this article would mean every other station that is non-profit listed on wikipedia should have the same? I am not completely familiar with the ethics of adding such material to Wikipedia. If in doubt, you may want to seek advice from an admin should you want to re-include the above information. I'd rather see a link to the mission statement on the article as opposed to the full thing. The rules say that Wikipedia is not a directory (see WP:NOTDIR). See the 7th sentence on that page for why I deleted the text. That whole section does a pretty good job explaining what can and can not go on Wikipedia. It was not done out of spite, it just doesn't need to be on the article. I believe if added, it would make the article weigh more than it has to. As per NOTDIR, wikipedia is not a place for all the information in the world about a particular subject. I do not say this in spite, again, I have nothing against the station or wikipedia in general, I am just following rules. As I mentioned, if you could link to it, that would work better. --milonica (talk) 20:11, 12 October 2010 (UTC)