By Jenni Todd
Murray, KY – Murray State's listener supported public radio service, 91.3 FM, WKMS successfully concluded its spring fundraiser with the final day of its on-air campaign on April 4. Listeners and underwriters providing matching grants met the $130,000 goal, and these funds sustain award winning WKMS News rounding out a full schedule of in-depth international, national and state news, a variety of music and a second channel of all classical music. You can also see pictures from this and previous fundraisers on the station's Flickr page.
A total of 1077 pledges came from listeners in fifteen states, including the WKMS coverage area in the Four Rivers Region. Listeners in Murray and Paducah combined contributed about 50 percent of the total. Residents in Madisonville, Hopkinsville, and Benton, in that order, served as the next largest contributing cities- together providing 10 percent of the total. The station exceeded its 150 new member goal of this first campaign of 2011 and is working on building its membership to 2000 listeners by the end of December. Over 50 volunteers helped by taking pledges from listeners by phone or by joining the WKMS staff on-air. Over 20 local restaurants supplied food for the staff and volunteers.
In addition to the fundraiser replenishing the station's operating budget, it also benefited the local non-profit Project Aids Orphan, at no cost to the station or listeners. The Cappock family of Paducah contributed $1.50 to PAO for each gift to WKMS, inspiring over $1,600 to PAO. Project Aids Orphan is the third local non-profit with whom WKMS has worked during a fundraiser: previous campaigns resulted in gifts for the Murray Calloway County Hospice House and Habitat for Humanity.
Upon reaching fundraiser goal, WKMS held drawings for thank you gifts. Cliff and Bonnie Higginson of Murray receive the grand prize Big Green Egg package from Akridge Farm Supply of Eddyville and Fredonia. Monica and Joseph Bogle of Murray receive the $300 gift certificate for Wayne Bates' Gallery 121 of Murray. Austin and Angela Carroll of Hopkinsville receive the $300 gift certificate for Craig Rhodes' Mount Pleasant Studios of Brookport, IL. Richard Nelson of Trigg County receives the guitar contributed by Leach's Music in Paris. Mike and Jennifer Young of Murray receive the Kindle Reader.
WKMS reaches listeners in far western Kentucky, southernmost Illinois and northwestern Tennessee with two channels of public radio programming. One is news, analysis, discussion and a variety of music. The other is all classical. WKMS operates with funding from individuals, underwriters, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Murray State University.