Toward the end of every year, we all seem to receive a slew of solicitation letters. Let’s not kid ourselves. People wait until the last minute to decide where to send their tax-deductible contributions. They have a great many choices. There are genuine charities that really deserve their money. There are churches and synagogues, temples and mosques. There are environmental organizations and educational institutions, hospitals and more. And then, dear friends, there are the WAMC stations. If you don’t use the radio station, perhaps this is a time to tune out. But if you do, let’s deal with the reality of what, as a communal group, we are up against.
It costs a fortune to do what you want us to. For years, people in the North Country were begging us for a Saratoga Bureau. Now, thanks to Skidmore College and your contributions, we have one. Our signal in Amherst and Northampton has always been good but, in some spots, not good enough. We are now in the process of fixing that so our 90.3 signal will reach even more of you. Pete Seeger once commented that this station, WAMC, is in fact a local station. We do a better job of covering North Country news, Western New England news, and Hudson Valley news than anyone else in the radio business. We raise a million dollars in each fund drive but that only helps us to keep even. We gave a two per cent pay raise to our employees the last couple of years and every morning when I get the “numbers” from our business manager I shudder because on some days, we are losing ground. A few years back we faced layoffs and people had to give back a few days salary.
The point is that you are smart. You know what it takes to run this station. You know how you have come to depend on what I have always truthfully told you is a very fragile undertaking. It will never be easy. This year we received two bequests. One was for $85,000, the other was for $15,000. Interestingly, both were from people who had not been regular donors but who obviously loved and used the radio station. Among their last wishes were bequests to pass it on, to help keep it going for their children and their grandchildren and for all the kids who will be called upon to make a difference in this world.
I would never counsel you to give all your end of the year charitable contributions to WAMC. That just wouldn't be right or ethical. But I do wonder if everyone realizes just how important this period is for us. I have always been extraordinarily grateful to the folks who, of their own volition, just sit down and write that check at the end of the year. Perhaps they are recalling just one Tanglewood broadcast from the likes of Joshua Bell that reduced them to tears. Perhaps they are thinking about the fact that WAMC covers government and politics like no others have been able to do. Perhaps they are thinking of just one Story Corps segment that made them cry or of one Academic Minute that contributed to their understanding.
When you think about it, we have done well -- you and I and the whole gang -- Ray and Joe and Rosemary and Libby and Sarah and Jessica and all the engineers and Ian and all the reporters and all the producers. From all the times that you have written to the Roundtable panel to all the times that you've learned something from Medical Monday, we realize that we have all really made something here. So I ask that you do what you can to keep it going. I hope that you put us on your most important list. I thank you for doing that. It’s all about what this station means to you.
