Station Management / Diversity / Local Content and Services
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KKJZ Station Senior/Executive Management
| Saul Levine General Manager |
stephanie@kkjz.org | (310) 478-5540 |
| Stephanie Levine Station Manager/General Counsel |
stephanie@kkjz.org | (310) 478-5540 ext. 233 |
| Mike Johnson Operations Manager |
mjohnson@kkjz.org | (310) 478-5540 ext. 229 |
| Michael Levine Director of Underwriting |
mlevine@mountwilsoninc.com | (310) 478-5540 ext. 246 |
http://www.foundation.csulb.edu/contacts/kkjzmngnt.htm
Diversity Statement: CPB Policy
The following are the Diversity Policy Guidelines for KKJZ and its licensee, California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation ("CSULB Research Foundation").
KKJZ is located in the City of Long Beach; its broadcast reach includes greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the station reaches into San Diego.
As a full-time jazz station, KKJZ strives to achieve diversity through its music and its free community concerts. The free community concerts were intended to, and do, reach minority and diverse audiences. Our goal is to continue and expand on these concerts every year. KKJZ also regularly airs public service announcements, arts reports, specialty programs, and public affairs programs for community groups. Our emphasis with public service announcements is supporting diverse, as well as minority, groups and audiences. KKJZ also has provided and supported free jazz programs at local high schools to help teach kids about jazz, including about the importance of minorities and women in the development of jazz and how jazz has impacted popular music today.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
KKJZ’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. KKJZ does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race (including hair texture and natural hair styles), religion or religious creed (including religious dress or religious grooming practices), color, sex (including pregnancy, perceived pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions, breastfeeding and medical conditions related to breastfeeding, transgender status), gender, gender identity (including transgender identity and transitioning), gender expression and sex stereotyping, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical disability, mental disability, legally protected medical condition or other information (including, genetic information), family care or medical leave status, military caregiver status, military or veteran status, marital status, registered domestic partnership status, sexual orientation, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, enrollment in a public assistance program, engaging in protected communications regarding employee wages, requesting a reasonable accommodation on the basis of disability or bona fide religious belief or practice, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies whether the individual has or is perceived to have any of the characteristics protected by law or is associated with a person who has or is perceived to have any of the characteristics protected by law. KKJZ’s policy prohibits harassment of applicants or employees related to these bases.
Review of Station Practices
Consistent with past practice, and as further suggested by the CPB Policy Guidelines, KKJZ ensures that the diversity goals as outlined above are adhered to in all hiring matters. Additionally, station management reviews internal practices to ensure continuing compliance with applicable FCC guidelines on an annual basis.
Diversity Statement
The CPB Policy Guidelines include a request that each community service grant recipient prepare a brief statement that covers (a) the elements of diversity that KKJZ finds important to its public media work, (b) the extent to which its staff and governance reflect such diversity, (c) the progress the station has made to increase diversity in the last two to three years, and (d) its diversity plan for the future.
This document as a whole is submitted as constituting such a statement.
Initiatives
The CPB Policy Guidelines asks that the station undertake on an annual basis at least one of five enumerated initiatives. In this regard:
• KKJZ works closely with its licensee to offer paid student internships in all aspects of running a radio station;
• KKJZ participates in diversity job fairs; and
• KKJZ provides diversity training for management and appropriate staff
http://www.foundation.csulb.edu/departments/documents/Div_Statemnt_KKJZ.pdf
Local Content and Services Report from 2024 CPB Survey for KKJZ
1. Describe your overall goals and approach to address identified community issues, needs, and interests through your station’s vital local services, such as multiplatform long and short-form content, digital and in-person engagement, education services, community information, partnership support, and other activities, and audiences you reached or new audiences you engaged.
Our overall goal is to promote and preserve the American art form of jazz. We work to meet this goal by regularly reviewing and improving our on-air programming, as well as investing more in our specialty programs that have included community members. We also expanded our educational arts reports interviews and programs over this past year.
We continue to expand on our efforts to provide support to local organizations, including the Los Angeles Jazz Society, The World Stage, the California Jazz and Blues Museum, Friends of Jazz at UCLA, LACMA, the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, the Pacific Jazz Orchestra, and more.
KKJZ continued to provide four scholarships for jazz studies students at CSULB and supported graduates of the jazz studies program by incorporating jazz music from several graduates in our regular programming. KKJZ also continues to invest in its paid student internship program. Interns learn about multiple aspects of running a non-commercial jazz radio station. We also give them special projects to work on that involve specific areas of operating the radio station with which they have expressed interest.
We also continue to sponsor free live concerts into the community and we underwrote a jazz in schools program with the Los Angeles Jazz Society in an elementary school.
2. Describe key initiatives and the variety of partners with whom you collaborated, including other public media outlets, community nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, the business community, teachers and parents, etc. This will illustrate the many ways you’re connected across the community and engaged with other important organizations in the area.
KKJZ continues to work with community music, art, and education groups, local charities, and other public media outlets. We work with PBS SoCal, LACMA, the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, Friends of Jazz at UCLA, The World Stage, the Los Angeles Jazz Society, the California Jazz Foundation, and more groups.
3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served.
From staying in close contact with our community partners, we have received direct feedback that we have increased awareness for our partners and attendance at their events. We meet regularly with our student interns to discuss their assignments, experience and get their feedback. This allows us to make adjustments to their work. We also communicate with the Jazz Studies Program at CSULB about the impact of our four scholarships.
Our regular listeners and community members who may not already interact with KKJZ have been very grateful to have the opportunity to attend free live jazz concerts. Moreover, we helped educate elementary school students about jazz and important jazz musicians. With the concerts that we helped sponsor over the last year, we also reached new listeners in the community.
4. Please describe any efforts (e.g. programming, production, engagement activities) you have made to investigate and/or meet the needs of minority and other diverse audiences (including, but not limited to, new immigrants, people for whom English is a second language and illiterate adults) during Fiscal Year 2023, and any plans you have made to meet the needs of these audiences during Fiscal Year 2024. If you regularly broadcast in a language other than English, please note the language broadcast.
We have expanded our educational arts reports interviews to further highlight and meet the needs of minority and diverse audiences. We also have sought to expand our on-air programming to serve the most diverse audience.
The free jazz and blues concerts we sponsored were reached minority and diverse audiences. Moreover, the jazz in schools program we underwrote for the Los Angeles Jazz Society reached a diverse group of elementary school children.
In addition, KKJZ regularly airs public service announcements, arts reports, specialty programs, and public affairs programs for community groups. Our emphasis with public service announcements is supporting diverse, as well as minority, groups and audiences.
5. Please assess the impact that your CPB funding had on your ability to serve your community. What were you able to do with your grant that you wouldn't be able to do if you didn't receive it?
The CPB grant has played a critical role in assisting us to serve the public. The CPB grant helps enable KKJZ to produce almost all of our own local radio programming, support local arts organizations and community groups, and to produce free concerts in the community.
