Ok.  So you, the reader, would probably more appreciate a play-by-play, up-to-the-minute account of the funddrive.  And if I wasn’t directly involved in helping out with said event, I would probably have time to provide that, but instead, you get brief commentary instead.  Woo!

But yes, the fundraiser is over.  So, without further ado, the totals….

*insert drumroll*

Funds Needed: $180K

Fundraiser Total (approximate): $125K

That’s amazing.  Looking back at the totals from Day 5, listeners managed to call in and flip the amount raised ($50K) and amount needed ($125K) at the time.  In just 2 days!  Thank you so much Columbus!  And thank you especially to all the now-WCBE members out there, new and old.  You made this possible!

If there’s one thing I don’t miss about fundraiser time, it’s working the phone booth to take pledges.  Don’t get me wrong; I love both the volunteers that work the phones and the supporters that call in.  However, answering the phones to take pledges can put you at the mercy of the person calling.  In addition to pledges, we get the occasional caller who wants to express his or her thoughts.  And while constructive comments are always welcome and recorded for consideration, there is the occasional listener who has a very vocal opinion about what he believes WCBE is doing wrong and a lack of responsibility to own up to that opinion. 

Case in point…

Phone Room
Monday, April 7
6:25am

*ring*

Me:  “Hello!  Thanks for calling WCBE.  Would you like to make a one-time donation on a credit card today?”

Irate Caller: “No.”

Me: *confused, since this is a donation phone line* ”…ok, is there something I can-”

IC: *angrily*  “Maybe if you started broadcasting the news with both a conservative and liberal perspective, instead of all this liberal-only crap, you’d actually make more money.” 

 *click*

Me:  “….”

Now, I would like to say this — every listener’s opinion is valued at WCBE.  But calling up and chew out a volunteer for something that she has no control over just so you can vent your frustrations in a rude manner will not get your voice heard.  What amuses me is that the caller in question must have been listening for quite some time to WCBE if he feels it necessary to comment on that, in which case, why is he still doing it?

What amused me more, I think, was the volume of calls we got from WOSU listeners, either asking us if we were the same station, or complaining about how we (WOSU) changed the programming schedule.

Volunteer: “Hello!  Thanks for calling WCBE.  Would you like to make a one-time donation on a credit card today?”  (We have an intro comments script, sorry.)

IC: “Why the hell did you change your programming?  Where’s the classical music?!”

V: ”…I’m sorry sir, you have the wrong station.  That’s WOSU; we’re WCBE.  We don’t play classical music on this station.”

IC:  “Oh.   …I’m sorry.  Thanks.”  *click*

What that means for WOSU I have no idea…sounds like they’re doing ok though.  Their fundraiser took place at the same time as WCBE’s (why?) and is continuing into April 12th, but they do have two radio stations and a tv channel to support.  Guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

As long as WCBE survives, I’m happy. 

 Still to come — more info on the WCBE funddrive experience, plus ‘Music Tech News’ for the week in review.  Perhaps even a production update?  We’ll have to see….