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KWBU heads into pledge home stretch
Today’s the last day for Waco public radio station KWBU-FM in its shorter, but hopefully-equally-profitable spring pledge drive. Station officials opted to cut the length of last year’s 16-day pledge drive in half, but not the amount raised. It’s quite a challenge, but doable - early this morning they were about $11,000 shy of their $42,000 goal.
What many broadcast listeners may not realize is that there’s no such thing as free radio or free television. You may not pay a subscription, but when you realize a percentage of nearly every product you buy goes to pay for radio/TV advertising, you’ll see you’re paying for it just the same. With public radio and TV, at least they’re up front about it. There’s also something to be said about committing yourself to the community of listeners that a station’s programming creates. Wacoans love to complain how we’re stereotyped by outsiders, yet when it comes to financial support of something whose listeners tend to be more educated, cultured and curious than that stereotype, we sit on our wallets.
Sorry for the non-profit commercial, but I love words and radio ranks right behind newspapering in my favorite media. Even my dog Hank likes NPR. I usually listen to a small radio with earbuds when I walk him in the mornings. He’s now so conditioned to connecting that with a walk that his ears perk up whenever I listen to my iPod or anything else with earbuds …
Here’s a link to KWBU’s pledge drive. I almost said, “do your part,” but that’s their line, isn’t it? Hank’s not the only one conditioned …
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By Joe
April 11, 2008 4:51 PM | Link to this
I used to listen to KWBU when they actually played college radio type music. I called in to request songs all the time and used to attend listener appreciation parties. It was a double stab in the heart for me when it became a NPR station and took over 103.3 fm on the dial. 103.3 fm used to air TCU football games and I miss not being able to hear the games I can’t see in person.