watching her eyes
August 10th, 2005» somehow i managed to score a CMJ pass for this year but really, why bother traveling up to new york city when you could see this at the freakin’ kimmel center? things like this make me love philly.
» drexel, please. just how could you have spent all these years without any long term fundraising plans? how fucking stupid are you? clearly having your shit together is so uncool.
i dont like to flaunt my desk job, but i deal with a lot of development related stuff, so when i offer up advice to you, im not talking completely out of my ass. just about every non-commercial station i can think of has, in addition to the money allotted to them, fundraising drives and other money making activities. ill chip in 50$ if you stop playing drum’n'bass at every free moment.
furthermore, if student activities won’t give you more money because they’re shitheads [most student activities boards are, ive found], perhaps its time to rethink your affiliation at the university. you have that amazing music industry program — think of how awesome it would be if you were part of that.






August 11th, 2005 at 8:51 am
ps - that link changed this morning for the new issue- the article is permanently at http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-08-04/music2.shtml
i think you’re being a little rough on wkdu… development and fundraising are a lot different for college stations when you’re begging listeners for $10 or $50 if you’re lucky. they need a new transmitter, which in college radio is like being in the hospital with no insurance.
both wrsu and wprb have much larger budgets- prb has a commercial license and can actually charge people to air their messages. wrsu has an annual budget of something like $100,000+ or more from the student activities board.
i’m also guessing that wkdu is much more student run than say wprb or wxdu, which both have a lot of community djs. students managers are around for a year, two or three if you’re lucky. they just aren’t around long enough to develop a long-term plan for fund-raising that anyone will stick with…
finally, i’m guessing that the university OWNS their license and they can’t just jump ship. i know Duke owns WXDU and Rutgers owns WRSU. WPRB is, again, the exception to the rule.
August 12th, 2005 at 7:17 am
i think you’re being a little rough on wkdu… development and fundraising are a lot different for college stations when you’re begging listeners for $10 or $50 if you’re lucky.
frequent low level donations [0-50$ range] are what keep many organizations alive, including mine. as ive mentioned before, we only get a certain amount of money from the university — the rest we raise ourselves. gifts of 1K or more are certainly useful but they’re not as frequent. those smaller donations help keep our place running.
i empathize with WKDU’s financial situation — my place of employment gets the short end of the stick when it comes to funding for a variety of reasons ["why do writers need a house?" and so on]. and when we’re looking for an extra 1 or 2K, the amount of hoops we jump through is ridiculous.
im not so sympathetic to organizations without any long-term funding plans. its highly irresponsible, endangering their existence. if they saw that they were receiving less and less money from student activities each year but needed a certain amount to properly operate the station, they should have been continuously raising it themselves — even if it was bit by bit.
i’m also guessing that wkdu is much more student run than say wprb or wxdu, which both have a lot of community djs.
there are others who read this blog that have a firm grasp on WPRB’s financial comings and goings but i’m pretty certain that WPRB is just as much student-run as any other station you’ve mentioned. im not sure of how other stations operate but most organizations like this have boards of trustees comprised of alumni. WPRB, because of its status as a commercial station, cannot hold fundraising drives [this is why they sell ad time]. if the students cant handle development on top operating the station, their board should be handling these tasks for them. and if they havent, then we need to be asking them why they’ve failed to procure funding for a new transmitter all these years.
finally, i’m guessing that the university OWNS their license and they can’t just jump ship.
i suggested that WKDU find a department/program on campus that’s more amenable to their needs, not entirely leave the university. drexel’s music industry program has been turning heads, even in its infantile state. in addition to teaching students how to run a label, why not have a radio station? they can cultivate students who are interested in having radio careers on-air as well as those interested in the administrative end of things.
WPRB is, again, the exception to the rule.
then why bother bringing it up? clearly i havent sat here and compared/contrasted the two stations — that wasnt my point. im aware they operate on two entirely different levels.
August 15th, 2005 at 11:00 am
You should have seen James’ face when he saw he’d be dealing with ticket sales for Deerhoof and The Roots. Hahahaha…
Big change over Bobby McFerrin and Cathy Crosby in Peter Pan, eh?
August 15th, 2005 at 11:41 am
seriously! i cant wait.