9/1/26
New shared engineering position will help RMCR member stations build stronger, more resilient systems and better prepare for the future.
Rocky Mountain Community Radio (RMCR) has hired Kit Haskins as its new Regional Broadcast Engineer, creating a shared technical resource designed to strengthen the reliability and resiliency of community and public radio stations throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
The position is part of RMCR’s multi-year Shared Engineering Initiative, developed in response to a challenge facing stations across the region and throughout public media: maintaining increasingly complex broadcast and IT systems as access to experienced broadcast engineers becomes increasingly scarce.
RMCR’s member stations serve communities across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, including many rural and geographically isolated areas where reliable local radio remains an essential source of news, emergency information, culture, and community connection.
The engineering initiative grew out of conversations among RMCR member stations regarding shared challenges, along with an extensive assessment of member stations’ technical needs. That process made one thing clear: there was enough work and similar needs for stations to collectively hire a full-time engineer, which would dramatically impact the reliability of these stations’ engineering services.
With support from Press Forward, RMCR turned that idea into a regional shared engineering program.
“What excites me most about this collective effort is what it will mean for the technical resiliency of our member stations,” said Breeze Richardson, Executive Director of Aspen Public Radio and President of Rocky Mountain Community Radio.
She continued, “Small rural stations like ours are providing an incredible public service with very limited technical support. Having this engineer as a shared resource means our stations will have someone they can get to know and trust, who can help them grow, keep their infrastructure strong, and plan ahead––especially for wildfire. Press Forward’s support made it possible for us to take up the challenge and develop the relationships and systems we need to build this solution together.”
Kit Haskins will get right to work, coordinating directly with RMCR member stations on what repair, maintenance, or capital planning they need assistance with to strengthen the systems that keep each of them on the air and connected to their communities. Early work will prioritize station infrastructure and remote transmitter sites that become more difficult to access during the winter months, with a focus on both planned maintenance and the availability to respond to emergencies.
A major focus of the position will be resilience: helping stations prepare before an emergency occurs so they are better able to continue serving their communities with live radio broadcasting capabilities during severe weather, wildfires and mudslides, power or internet outages, equipment failures, and other disruptions.
That preparation is especially important for stations serving rural and mountainous regions, where transmitter sites may be hours away and difficult or impossible to reach during certain seasons of the year.
“When something goes wrong at a station, the impact is not just technical,” said Tami Graham, Executive Director of KSUT Public Radio and Chair of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio Engineering Committee.
She continued, “If we go off the air, it can mean a community loses access to local news, emergency information, music, and voices they depend on every day. What makes this position so meaningful is that we now have someone whose job is not only to help when a problem arises, but also to strengthen our station infrastructure before that problem occurs. That gives all of us a lot more confidence about the future.”
A Shared Approach to a Growing Industry Challenge
Recruiting and retaining broadcast engineers has become increasingly difficult for stations, both large and small. Experienced engineers are retiring, the work increasingly requires knowledge of both traditional broadcast equipment and modern computer and networking systems, and rural stations often compete for a very limited pool of qualified professionals.
This new approach by the member stations of RMCR is designed to make experienced engineering support available to stations that could not independently support a full-time broadcast engineer.
Kit Haskins brings more than four decades of experience with radio, electronics, and communications technology to the role. His path began as a teenager earning an amateur radio license before he had a driver’s license. He went on to serve as a U.S. Navy avionics technician, work in engineering at KOAA-TV and KRDO-AM/FM/TV, earn advanced degrees in computer and electrical engineering, and build a career spanning both large technology companies and broadcast engineering.
For the past decade, Haskins has worked with radio clients across five states, from small LPFM facilities to full-power FM and AM stations. In 2022, he was instrumental in putting KRHJ-FM on the air in Lamar, Colorado, where the station also serves as a local Emergency Alert System primary station.
For Haskins, the public-service role of noncommercial radio is central to what makes the work important.
“There are 100 channels on the FM band. The FCC set aside the first twenty for the best that radio has to offer,” said Haskins.
The RMCR Regional Engineer will work in coordination with RMCR’s Engineering Committee and Project Coordinator to prioritize engineering needs among the member stations, coordinate the response to urgent issues, plan preventive work, and identify opportunities for stations to share knowledge and solutions.
The initiative is also looking beyond the immediate needs of today’s stations.
As the coalition envisioned it, the next step will be for RMCR to launch a broadcast engineering apprenticeship program. Haskins and RMCR’s Project Coordinator will work together to identify and mentor people interested in the field, giving a new generation of broadcast engineers the opportunity to gain hands-on experience alongside the RMCR Regional Engineer and meet knowledgeable staff across the coalition’s member stations.
Haskins’ own career demonstrates the kind of pathway RMCR hopes the apprenticeship can help create. His introduction to electronics and communications began in the amateur radio community, where people with shared interests learned from one another, collaborated on projects, and passed along technical knowledge.
The goal is not only to address the current shortage of broadcast engineering expertise but also to begin developing the next generation of professionals who can support community and public media.
“Our goal is not simply to have someone available when something breaks,” said Bill Sundahl, RMCR Shared Engineering Project Coordinator. “The bigger opportunity is to help stations become stronger and more resilient. As an industry, we need to plan for investment before it becomes an emergency. We need proactive, scalable solutions rather than every station solving the same problems alone.”
He continued, “I’m also excited about the apprenticeship program and this unique opportunity to bring new people into this work, while this generation of experienced engineers is still here to pass on critical knowledge to those who will keep our community radio stations on the air.”
For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, the new position represents both a practical response to an immediate challenge and an investment in the future of community-based public media.
Reliable infrastructure rarely receives attention when it is working properly. But every daily news broadcast, emergency announcement, EAS broadcast, locally-produced public affairs program, musical performance, and community conversation depends on the station’s infrastructure working when it is needed.
By sharing engineering expertise across the region—and beginning to develop the next generation of broadcast engineers—RMCR hopes to help ensure that these local voices remain on the air for years to come.
About Rocky Mountain Community Radio
Rocky Mountain Community Radio is a coalition of community and public radio organizations serving communities throughout Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico. RMCR provides opportunities for member stations to collaborate, share knowledge and resources, strengthen local service, and address common challenges facing public media organizations throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
Kit Haskins
RMCR Regional Broadcast Engineer
719-660-3350 mobile
engineer@rockymountaincommunityradio.org
Media Contact
Bill Sundahl
RMCR Shared Engineering Project Coordinator
pc@rockymountaincommunityradio.org
(816) 365-3128
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Rocky Mountain Community Radio 