Last December, KCCC 930 AM owner Johnny Chandler sat down with news director Hattie Quinn to talk through something the station had been quietly building toward — a mobile studio that could go where the news actually happens. The recording got mislabeled on an SD card and disappeared for months. When it turned up, the holiday and matching campaign references had to be edited out before the conversation could stand on its own. It airs today, and the timing could not be better.
The conversation was recorded at the tail end of a transformative year. In the spring of 2025, KCCC 930 AM was selected as one of 14 New Mexico newsrooms to participate in the LMA Lab for Journalism Funding — a six-month program run in partnership with the New Mexico Local News Fund and supported by the Google News Initiative. The training that followed shaped something much larger than a fundraiser. It deepened the station’s vision for what community journalism in Southeast New Mexico could look like — certified correspondents serving every corner of Eddy County, educational pathways through Southeast New Mexico College, and an information infrastructure that connects people to resources, services, and each other. The mobile studio is one tool inside that larger vision, and the capital campaign is how it gets on the road.
In December 2025, the station launched its capital campaign and raised $5,000 from the community. The New Mexico Local News Fund matched it. Yesterday, KCCC 930 AM was awarded a $25,000 grant by the New Mexico Creative Industries Division — one of ten creative businesses selected statewide. The grant covers the van and a year of Starlink connectivity. The campaign now stands at $35,000 of the $93,000 needed for the full mobile studio setup and fulfillment of participant rewards. The station is also now participating in the 2026 News Sustainability Accelerator, run jointly by the Google News Initiative, the New Mexico Local News Fund, and Blue Engine Collaborative — continuing the work the LMA cohort started.
None of this would be possible without Southeast New Mexico College, whose partnership has been essential from the beginning, or the community sponsors who believed in the vision before there was anything to show for it. Soon, the community that has made this possible will be able to see the dream in action — at the fair, at the grand opening, at the event down the road they almost did not know was happening.
But today’s episode is not really about any of that. It is about the why — why a small station asks who is not being heard, why a grandmother in Loving should not have to navigate digital chaos to find a senior van twenty miles away, and why rural communities do not just deserve sustainable journalism but can build it themselves. That conversation happened last December. It is more relevant today than it was then.
Event organizers across Eddy County are welcome to invite the team for remotes — or may simply find them showing up.
Related Topics
Learn more about the organizations and programs making this work possible:
The New Mexico Local News Fund:
https://www.nmlocalnews.org
2026 News Sustainability Accelerator (GNI, NMLNF, and Blue Engine Collaborative): https://www.nmlocalnews.org/accelerator
KCCC 930 AM named to 2025 LMA Lab for Journalism Funding New Mexico cohort: https://localmedia.org/2025/03/meet-the-14-newsrooms-selected-for-the-2025-lma-lab-for-journalism-funding-new-mexico-cohort/
2025 New Mexico LMA Lab for Journalism Funding — Pitch Day winners: https://localmedia.org/2025/10/announcing-pitch-day-winners-from-the-new-mexico-cohort-of-the-lma-lab-for-journalism-funding/
Mid-Week Matters — KCCC 930 AM initiatives spotlight: https://open.substack.com/pub/kccc930am/p/mid-week-matters-february-4-february?r=6xidwr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
New Mexico Creative Industries Division grant announcement: https://www.edd.newmexico.gov/press-releases/245000-awarded-to-fuel-new-mexicos-creative-business-economy/
Support the capital campaign: https://chandler-broadcasting-llc.fundjournalism.org/kccc930am/
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