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The Control Room Challenge

At the beginning of October comes the next fund drive. Before you groan, please try to remember how much these drives mean to the continuation of the station that you listen to and depend on.  Sooner or later, someone has to pay the piper. The only way that we can be sure that WAMC remains in its present form – with the freedom to say what we want, preserve balance, and operate as we have been doing -  is for each person to do what they can. When that happens, when everyone pitches in, the station flourishes. I was recently at Tanglewood and several folks came up to say hello. They proudly announced that they loved the station and were members. Obviously, I thanked them with everything I had in me. That’s because when someone tells me that they understand, I am incredibly, personally and humbly grateful. I know that every day people tune in and often stay tuned in. They often tell me of things that I haven’t heard and I am grateful for that, too.

We try to make the drives as happy and inspiring as can be. There is evidence that more people listen to the fund drives than to any other programming. That’s because we are a community and the smart ones, the compassionate ones, the understanding ones, know what we have built and know that we have to keep it going. The latest piece of evidence that people get it is the huge number of contributors to the WAMC Locked Box that precedes every drive. It sure is a relief to go into the drive with several hundred thousand dollars. It cuts days off the drive and allows the staff to concentrate on the work they all do so well. On the other hand, there is still plenty of fund drive left to cement our community in the way that only fund drives can.

People often ask what we have planned. The fact is, these drives are serendipitous and things just happen. Once a guy called in and said that he would give us twenty-five cents because that’s all the station was worth. Well, he helped us more than you could imagine. Everyone added an extra twenty-five cents to their pledge.  What’s more, faced with that kind of negativity, our community pulled together even harder.

I cannot tell you how many times some hero has stepped up to help us in meeting our fund drive goals. Perhaps that’s why we have always met them. A wonderful man named “Mr. Big” from northwest Connecticut has come up with some behemoth challenges. So has Eliot Spitzer, who does not believe in government support for public broadcasting because he knows that politicians will think that if they give public money to broadcasters, they have the right to call the shots. That certainly has been my experience

Our present dilemma is that we desperately need a new control room to bring us into the twenty-first century. I invite you to come by and see for yourself what I mean. Every day, the technology increases exponentially and we must catch up. On the rare occasion when you hear a glitch in the station, it’s because time is running out. The Lennox Foundation and our board member Bob Norris will put up $25,000 if we can raise the $200,000 that we need to get this job done.  All the money will count toward the one million dollar Fund drive goal. We simply can’t limp along with antiquated technology and pulling together as we have always done, we can save our radio station one more time. I thank you for understanding, as you always do. That’s what this is all about. 

Dr. Alan Chartock is professor emeritus at the University at Albany. He hosts the weekly Capitol Connection series, heard on public radio stations around New York. The program, for almost 12 years, highlighted interviews with Governor Mario Cuomo and now continues with conversations with state political leaders. Dr. Chartock also appears each week on The Media Project and The Roundtable and offers commentary on Morning Edition, weekdays at 7:40 a.m.