'Last Day First,' One-Day Pledge Drive for Utah Public Radio

Utah Public Radio is doing something completely different for Spring Pledge Drive 2010. The staff is conducting a one-day fundraiser on April 14 in place of a traditional week-long drive, the station’s General Manager Cathy Ives said. With financial help from listeners, businesses and organizations, UPR and its staff will start and end with the “Last Day First” to meet their spring fundraising goal of $82,000.

 

Past experience shows that public radio listeners tend to wait until the last day of a drive to make financial pledges, hence the theme “Last Day First,” said UPR Development Director Bryan Earl.

 

“Many stations across the country have conducted one-day fundraisers successfully, so we’re giving it a shot, too,” Earl said. “Our financial goal for the drive is $82,000.”

 

UPR’s one-day drive will be free of listener challenges and sweepstakes drawings. The only “thank you” gift offered is a commemorative ceramic mug designed by Cache Valley artist Jerry Fuhriman.

 

“We know listeners would rather not listen to long hours of on-air appeals spread over a period of several days,” Ives said. “They want good programming. Period.”

 

The shortened drive makes it even more important for everyone who listens to become station members through financial gifts, Earl said. While there are suggested levels of support, a financial pledge in any amount will result in membership status.

 

Current Utah Public Radio members are encouraged to renew their support or, if possible, add financial contributions if they pledged last fall.

 

More information about Utah Public Radio and the station’s spring fundraising drive, including how to make a pledge, is available online.

 

In Cache Valley, Utah Public Radio can be heard at 91.5 FM and 89.5 FM. A complete list of statewide frequencies is posted online at the station’s Web site. Listeners can also listen to UPR online and via digital radio.

 

Utah Public Radio is a service of Utah State University and heard by listeners across Utah and in southern Idaho via a network of 32 translators. Approximately 60 percent of Utah’s population resides within the station and translator network coverage area. The station was licensed in 1953 as KVSC, the Voice of State College, and the call letters were changed later to KUSU. It is Utah’s oldest public radio station. As a public radio station, UPR depends on financial support from listeners to help cover the costs associated with programming.

 

Source: Utah Public Radio