WPRB holds drive to avoid selling station

For the first time in its history, the University's student-run radio station, WPRB, held an on-air membership fund-raising drive last week to cover its operating budget and avoid having to sell or close the station.

The drive raised $37,000 toward a revenue shortfall that put the 67-year-old nonprofit station's future at risk. Though the University provides WPRB its studio space, the station is responsible for funding the rest of its operations.

The membership drive week began Oct. 7 and ended Sunday. The station broadcasted special programming, including an interview with WPRB alumnus and "ABC World News Tonight" anchor Charles Gibson '65, a seven-part radio drama written and directed by WPRB's production manager Adam Flynn '08 and artists performing "covers for cash" live.

The station's revenue is heavily dependant on advertising sales, which have faltered over the past 10 years. For most of its history, WPRB has sold most of its advertising to local independent businesses, but as small local businesses have been increasingly replaced with chain stores, the station has lost an integral source of revenue.

"Most of the businesses don't buy on local, independent media," said William Rosenblatt '83, president of the WPRB board of trustees. "They buy nationally, so we don't appear on their radar. Our ability to sell ads has [been] curtailed in recent years."

In a meeting last February, student officers and trustees decided they had to take considerable measures to spur revenue or face the possibility of selling the station's broadcasting license or transferring its broadcast to the Web.

Another problem in attracting advertising is that the station is located an hour away from its large audience in Philadelphia. Rosenblatt said that while it's significant that the college station is a powerful force in the nation's seventh largest market, selling ads to Philadelphia businesses from Princeton is not an easy or realistic task for the full-time students who staff the station.

Due to the difficulties in expanding the station's advertising base, "We decided to go with a membership drive to fund our revenue," Rosenblatt said.

Throughout the week, WPRB staff took phone pledges from listeners during broadcasting hours. Specialty items and merchandise were given away to encourage listeners to contribute donations.

Michael van Landingham '08, the station's director of development, said the station received 300 CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and posters from local concert venues, record labels and distribution companies. He said some items were worth as much as $200.

"It's great we were sent so many gifts," he said. "The funny thing is most of our listeners don't even want to take anything from us. They just want to support our programming."

Van Landingham added that the station did not know what kind of results to expect from the drive and tried to prepare itself for the worst.

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The station set a fundraising goal of $25,000, which Rosenblatt said "was a stab in the dark" estimate of what they could raise. By the end of the week, the station had vastly exceeded its target.

"We have raised more than we could have hoped, thanks to the wonderful response from our listeners," Rosenblatt said.

The station passed the $25,000 goal Thursday night or Friday morning, van Landingham said.

To further boost revenues, the station's trustees made an agreement with University athletics to have a professional broadcasting company transmit football, lacrosse and basketball games on the FM 103.3 frequency.

The station is not planning to provide any other services to the University. Van Landingham said that it would be "short-sighting" their listening community because the station has a more significant impact off campus than on it.

Ever since the station's founding, it has been dedicated to discovering new genres not heard on mainstream radio, van Landingham said.

"We provide independent programming that you cannot get anymore," he said. "The success of the drive is a testimony to what we mean to our listeners."

Due to the success of the membership drive, WPRB will be able to meet its operating budget, Rosenblatt said. They hope to make the drive an annual event.

"The trustees are thrilled," Rosenblatt said, adding that the student board "worked hard and put in long hours to make this happen."

With the fundraising drive complete, the student officers have vowed to continue its mission of finding new, unknown music.

"The best word to describe us is 'independent,' " van Landingham said. "This is what FM radio used to be like — tune in to hear your favorite DJ, and the rest of the day was really good music. The drive has helped us realize just how important what we do is to our listeners and that our station is about our community."