Remember when we mentioned WMNF's Winter Fund Drive?
Well, the community radio station (88.5 FM) crushed their fundraising goal of $245,000 by about $30,000.
"Nearly every show made goal except for some overnights and a few outliers here and there," WMNF general manager told CL in an email. "News and Public Affairs was strong but so were all the daytime music shows. We anticipated a bump because of the unstable feeling out there, but this was beyond our wildest imaginations."
Kopp says that the successful drive gives the listener supported community radio station a huge sense of validation about what they do at a time when the Trump administration wants to cut funds from, or privatize, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The private non-profit was created by Congress in 1967 and is in charge of being the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.
The CPB gives about $140,000 a year to WMNF, according to Kopp.
"In this multiplatform media world some were wondering where radio – especially community radio like WMNF – fits in," Kopp said. "We tell more people we are here and what we are about and I was convinced we could hold our own. Turns out we were just preparing ourselves for this rush of listener love in a time of uncertainty."
"It is a vote of confidence in what WMNF does and in return we gotta keep doin’ it," Kopp said, adding that they also get about $100,000 worth of support from the state of Florida, who are also in a budget cutting mood.
The good news comes at a time when publications like the New York Times are seeing massive spikes in their subscription rate thanks to their coverage of a White House that seems to view transparency as a non-priority. Still, Kopp admits that the community cannot rest on its laurels when it comes to the station's finances.
"We cannot rest and neither can our supporters," he said, "but we sure thank them for this show of support — can't thank them enough."
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2017.