KUNR

"YPTC shone above the rest"

KUNR 88.7 is the National Public Radio (NPR) member station under the aegis of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra of California since 1963, KUNR is a nonprofit, non-commercial, listener-supported public radio station licensed to the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. KUNR launched affiliate stations KNCC in Elko, and KNCJ, Nevada Classical and Jazz, providing 24/7 cultural programming and a dedicated newsroom covering state politics, underserved communities, local weather, the Mountain West, and Spanish-language features not available elsewhere on the Reno area radio dial. KUNR attracts a dedicated fan base of 70,000 listeners per week. As with many public broadcasting stations, it operates as a largely self-sustaining entity within the university, generating revenue from listener contributions, business underwriting, tax-based federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and grants from supporters, strengthening community through trusted journalism, entertainment and human connection.

Erinn Kari, Business & Operations Manager, describes the highly complex accounting requirements for such a station. As a part of the state university, and a Corporation for Public Broadcasting-Community Service grantee, KUNR must adhere to several different government accounting standards as well as being GAAP compliant. “Our accounting system is complex and we have a lot of pass-through accounts to make us compliant across multi-tiered levels,” she says. “There’s a lot going on.”

KUNR discovered YPTC in 2023. The station was in transition with new leadership and recovering from the pandemic. The auditors recommended KUNR get professional financial services help, but the station couldn’t afford to hire a full-time accountant. “We needed an organization that could not only help us with the audit but that could also teach us about the processes so we could do a better job on our audits,” she recalls. “We interviewed eight organizations and YPTC shone above the rest.”

YPTC Associate Andrea Divine, who has audit experience, was brought in, and Kari can’t say enough good things about the relationship. “We needed someone brave who could handle all these different government accounting standards, code everything in multiple ways and map it all out. In our annual independent audit, we have to go through over 100 different items, plus testing, to meet Corporation for Public Broadcasting standards. Andrea was exactly what we needed. She’s a great fit. I’m not sure how we’d be able to do it without her.”

Kari also likes YPTC’s affordability. “YPTC has always come in under budget. As an organization that’s working on a shoestring budget, we really appreciate that,” she adds. “YPTC has been worth every penny.”