When UA students overwhelmingly approved a $1 KAMP Student Radio fee at the student government election in March, KAMP then-General Manager Karl Goranowski leapt into the air in excitement, proclaiming the radio station’s future had been secured.

As it turns out, KAMP’s future may be in more jeopardy that originally thought.

“”It seems as though the KAMP $1 fee is an ever-increasingly complicated situation every day,”” said Neema Eshrati, KAMP’s general manager.

Rather than a last word in the future of KAMP funding, the optional $1 referendum, which passed with two-thirds of the student vote, was merely a step in the right direction for student radio. The Arizona Board of Regents must pass a motion during their August meeting for KAMP to secure funding for the next five years, he said.

The vote is a standard procedure, as all such university dealing must be voted on by the regents before they become official, said Mike Camarillo, KAMP broadcast advisor.

Although the vote is a regular part of the process, its implications are leaving some KAMP employees nervous about its possible outcomes, Eshrati said.

“”There are still lots of possibilities as to what can happen at this point,”” he said. “”God forbid if a bad outcome comes from this vote.””

To avoid any confusion and to put student faces with the process, Eshrati and Tommy Bruce, president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, will appear as KAMP representatives at the board’s meeting tomorrow in Flagstaff.

Part of KAMP’s anxiety with the current funding situation comes from the recent dialogue between KAMP and the regents, Eshrati said.

“”They have asked us for everything from our budget expenses, long-term goals, what our function has been on campus and for the students-those types of things,”” he said.

Such requests are new to the relationship between KAMP and the board of regents, as the vote typically just goes up for a quick approval almost without question, Eshrati said.

Such differences in procedure are nothing to draw negative conclusions from, Camarillo said.

The current board is comprised of different regents than the last KAMP funding process in 2003. The newer personnel may simply have different ways of dealing with board issues, he said.

“”Different boards operate differently,”” Camarillo said.

If the regents do not approve the radio station’s funding request, it is difficult is conclude how exactly KAMP will be affected, he said.

Such negative effects could range from KAMP moving its location and equipment to a new site to the total disintegration of the student radio station, Eshrati said.

“”The future could be bleak if that fee does not pass,”” Camarillo said. “”I don’t know if there would be a KAMP radio.””

All of the worrying may be unnecessary, as Bruce expects the fee to pass easily, he said.

“”It’s likely (the fee) will be renewed,”” he said. “”It’s only a dollar a semester.””

“”I’m very confident it will pass,”” Camarillo said. “”We’re all hoping it does.””

No matter what the board decides in August, they will cast their votes having heard the collective voice of hundreds of KAMP employees over the 20 years of the station’s existence, he said.

“”We still have stickers on the desks that things around from people who were here years ago,”” Camarillo said. “”Neema is speaking on behalf of decades worth of people.””