Record Fund Drives Continue at Pacifica Radio
Listeners Rally at Non-Profit Broadcaster’s
Stations
WASHINGTON, DC (Jun. 12) – Continuing the strong show
of support for the nation’s oldest listener-sponsored
broadcaster, Pacifica Radio stations across the country again
posted record on-air fundraising drives this past spring,
the network announced today.
At Pacifica station WBAI
99.5 FM in New York, listeners pledged some $900,000, an all-time
spring fund-drive record and up 55 percent from the $580,000
pledged during last year’s spring drive. Listeners at
Pacifica station KPFK 90.7
FM in Los Angeles pledged a record $618,000, up 45 percent
from the previous year’s spring fund drive total of
$425,000.
At Pacifica’s flagship station, KPFA
94.1 FM in Berkeley, California, listeners pledged a spring
fund raising drive record of $621,000. The drive was capped
by the largest single day of fundraising in the station's
53-year history, with some $104,000 pledged on the drive’s
last day.
“In times of crisis, especially in wartime, communities
across the country have traditionally turned to Pacifica.
And once again, listeners are relying on Pacifica’s
unique perspectives on war and peace,” said Dan Coughlin,
Pacifica’s interim Executive Director. “With its
independent funding base free from corporate influence, Pacifica
is the only national network providing the kind of hard-hitting
alternative news and views that educate, inspire and inform.”
This spring’s fund-raising record follows Pacifica’s
highest ever winter on-air drive this past January and February,
generating nearly $3.5 million in on air pledges at Pacifica’s
five stations.
The record winter and spring drives come in the wake of last
December’s settlement of lawsuits brought by reform
directors, local station advisory board members, and, on behalf
of listeners, the attorney general of California where Pacifica
is chartered.
As part of the settlement, a 15-month interim board of directors
was created. The board is committed to deepening Pacifica's
mission and the network's progressive politics, as well
as to a process of listener elections for democratic governance
at the non-profit broadcaster. The network is also revising
its bylaws through a process that includes a series of grassroots
meetings of listeners, staff, and community activists nationwide.
An independent
review of the network's finances released earlier this
year revealed that the previous regime virtually bankrupted
the network. Pacifica's new leadership inherited a working
capital deficit of $4.8 million and a projected budget gap
of $1.5 million for a 2002 calendar year budget of some $11
million.
But as a result of cost-saving measures and the success of
on-air fundraising, Pacifica’s finances have stabilized.
The network will release up-to-date
financial information prior to the Pacifica Board meeting
later this month.
Pacifica’s two other stations, WPFW
89.3 FM in Washington, D.C., and KPFT
90.1 FM in Houston, have yet to complete their spring fund
drives. |
