With the newness of spring comes a double serving of newness for KBBI-AM 890 Public Radio: new memberships and a new program director.

With the one-day pledge drive on Friday, new members are hopefully right around the corner.

"We know there's a lot of people moving into town, a lot of people that listen to us and take us for granted that never call or send in letters of support, so we're reaching out to people who might be enjoying the station but are yet to become a member," said Dave Anderson, KBBI general manager.

KBBI Development Director Jonathan Coke agreed.

"The big thing we're trying to do is focus on getting new members," said KBBI Development Director Jonathan Coke. "The danger of a one-day drive is that it will come and go and a lot of people who regularly support us will be in the know, but we'll lose the new members."

Two past one-day drives have proven, however, that shorter drives are to the liking of local radio-listeners.

"My goal has been to reduce the amount of time we waste bothering people with fund-raising. It's the shows, the programming people want. They don't want to listen to us turn it into a shopping channel. They tell us that," Coke said. "People say they like when we don't bother them with all sorts of special deals, special offers, but we still have thank-you gifts. This year's goal is to receive 360 pledges between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. tomorrow, an average of 30 calls an hour.

"It would be an incredible pace, compared to longer, slower drives, but when it's done, it's done," Coke said. "That should put us right on track for budget and it's entirely possible we could make it, but we need a quarter of them to come from new members."

For those making pledges, window stickers that go on the inside of windows will be included in thank-you notes. And for people who have made an art of collecting KBBI mugs, Coke has pulled some from previous years that can be used to fill in incomplete sets.

Anderson said that even though the pledge drive lasts 12 hours, the opportunities to become KBBI members don't stop at 6 p.m. Friday.

"There's pre-drive mailings, the Web's available year round and the office is available year round for people to come in and pledge support," Anderson said.

KBBI's new program director, Terry Rensel, recently arrived and is showing signs that life on Kachemak Bay may be to his liking in spite of the wearisome 16 hours he spent on planes to get here from Pennsylvania.

"The weather is nicer here than what I came from," he said of the 30-degree, snow-covered area he left behind.

For years, Rensel has heard friends say Alaska is a place to be experienced.

"I have a couple of former bosses that I've been in touch with over the years and they've talked about how much they've enjoyed Alaska, what a very different way it is for doing public broadcasting," Rensel said. "(Public radio) is much more important in not only the lives of listeners, but the life of the community, and that was the idea that appealed to me very much."

After submitting his name for the KBBI program manager slot, Rensel found even more support for coming to Alaska.

"From the time I decided to pursue this until the time I left, literally everyone I spoke with in Pennsylvania or Ke?tucky or other places have either been here personally or know someone who has come here on vacation, lived here for a little while and raved about how it's the most beautiful place on earth they've ever seen," he said.

Rensel has a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast communication and a BA in history/political science, both from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, Pa. He has worked as the master control operator for WETG-TV Fox 66 in Erie, Pa., and master control operator and radio programming assistant for WQLN FM 91.3 /TV54 in Erie, Penn. He served as the program director for WUCF-FM 98.9 in Orlando, Fla., and for WFPL-FM in Louisville, Ky.

"We're very glad to have Terry here," Anderson said. "Even though, as he puts it, his eyes start to glaze over at the end of the day because the learning curve is pretty steep, we did notice he had a 'Homer' moment Wednesday. We saw him stand at the end of the boardwalk, look at the mountains, the sun, the sky, then turn around and walk up the hill with a big grin on his face. I think he might be around for while."

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.