How to raise money the hard way
We have all lived through pledge drive week as listeners: tuning in to the favorite station, only to hear talking and not GOOD talking, such as when Dmitri is coming back to town to sing or the list of new releases by Sony Classical.
Nope, you're listening to pledge drive radio. "Your dollars mean so much to us..." "It's only $1 a week - you spend more than that on coffee".
Yep, you've heard it all. And if you were like me a few years ago, you race up and down the dial looking for any station with tolerable music that isn't having their fund drive this week. But then, thats only if you listen to public radio - if you listen to commercial radio, there is no hope for you, and I hope you enjoy the Monster truck rally.
But now, I'm a HOST, which means I actually have to come up with interesting things to say. FOR THREE HOURS. The rules are that you have to pledge plead after every song. You have to list the incentives, you have to read copy that sounds stilted on paper even more than it does coming out of your mouth. And hopefully you have help - people who can take over for you when:
your mouth is dry
you can't think of another thing to say
you've read the copy too many times
Now imagine doing this all alone, and that was my Tuesday. Now I have regular listeners (bless you, each and every one of you) so I had a few calls to break up the three hours. But due to poor planning on the part of our station mgmt., our fund drive ran the exact same week as all of our competitiors, so guaranteed slowdown of donations.
Bummer, bummer bummer. The music side of it was great - I played a lot of fun stuff, and actually got to mix it up quite a bit on air, which I usually don't do. I also found out I got on the listover at Sony Classical, so I will have lots of new music to add to the 80 or so CDs I still haven't finished reviewing yet.
:) You can still pledge here.
Nope, you're listening to pledge drive radio. "Your dollars mean so much to us..." "It's only $1 a week - you spend more than that on coffee".
Yep, you've heard it all. And if you were like me a few years ago, you race up and down the dial looking for any station with tolerable music that isn't having their fund drive this week. But then, thats only if you listen to public radio - if you listen to commercial radio, there is no hope for you, and I hope you enjoy the Monster truck rally.
But now, I'm a HOST, which means I actually have to come up with interesting things to say. FOR THREE HOURS. The rules are that you have to pledge plead after every song. You have to list the incentives, you have to read copy that sounds stilted on paper even more than it does coming out of your mouth. And hopefully you have help - people who can take over for you when:
your mouth is dry
you can't think of another thing to say
you've read the copy too many times
Now imagine doing this all alone, and that was my Tuesday. Now I have regular listeners (bless you, each and every one of you) so I had a few calls to break up the three hours. But due to poor planning on the part of our station mgmt., our fund drive ran the exact same week as all of our competitiors, so guaranteed slowdown of donations.
Bummer, bummer bummer. The music side of it was great - I played a lot of fun stuff, and actually got to mix it up quite a bit on air, which I usually don't do. I also found out I got on the listover at Sony Classical, so I will have lots of new music to add to the 80 or so CDs I still haven't finished reviewing yet.
:) You can still pledge here.
posted by Opera Gal at 6:30 PM
SoundQue.com
1 Comments:
Hey, hon, sounds like you really got stuck. I listen to a few public radio stations and can't imagine any of them having only one person doing three hours!
Two of mine had their drives last week. I kind of thought they did it all at the same time on purpose, what do I know?
Between that and Comcast this week it must have sucked. I won't mention the other names folks had for Comcast on Bucky's blog on your blog here :-)
Can I get your station in Grand Rapids? I grew up with classical music but I'm a newbie to opera. The only ones I've gone to were here in GR and they had the English translation over the stage.
Well, I've rambled enough. I don't even know if you'll see my comment but I felt compelled. :-)
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