Pacifica Radio Posts Third Straight
Record Fund-Raising Drive
Listeners Respond to Independent Coverage on War,
Civil Liberties
November 22, 2002
Pacifica Radio Release
Contact: Dan
Coughlin
WASHINGTON, DC (Nov. 22) – The five-station Pacifica
Radio Network recorded its third consecutive record fundraising
drive this fall, posting large gains at its California and
Texas stations, Pacifica announced today.
Led by the network’s flagship station 94.1FM in Berkeley,
California, [KPFA]
which raised more than one million dollars in on-air pledges
for the first time in its 53-year history, Pacifica raised
a total of $3.6 million in on-air pledges nationwide this
fall.
“Listeners are responding to Pacifica’s independent
and critical coverage of the drive toward war against Iraq,
the restriction on civil liberties, and the economic crisis,”
said Pacifica Executive Director Dan Coughlin.
Listeners at Pacifica station KPFK
90.7 FM in Los Angeles pledged a record $820,000, up from
$534,000 last October. WBAI
99.5 FM in New York posted its second one million dollar fundraiser
this year and Pacifica station WPFW
89.3FM in Washington, DC, raised some $385,000 during its
fall drive. Pacifica station KPFT
90.1FM in Houston blew by its fund-drive goal of $300,000,
posting $354,000 in on-air pledges.
The record fall fund-drive concludes the largest and most
sustained year of fundraising in the network’s history.
Total on-air pledges reached $10.2 million in 2002.
The pledges come at a critical time in the Pacifica’s
history. The network is still reeling from a spending spree
by a previous national board and executive leadership that
left the network on the verge of bankruptcy. Following legal
action, and nationwide
street protests, a settlement
in December 2001 ushered in a new interim
board of directors committed to restoring fiscal accountability,
deepening the network's peace and social justice mission,
and initiating a process of listener elections for democratic
governance.
But the reform leadership inherited a staggering deficit
of $4.8 million and faced a projected budget gap of $1.5 million.
The network initiated a series of sharp cuts, mostly at the
national level, and then launched a sustained nationwide campaign
of fundraising. Those actions and others reduced Pacifica’s
debt to some $1.5 million, all of it due to claims from law,
PR and security firms hired by the previous board.
The network’s annual operating budget for the fiscal
year ending Sept. 31, 2003, is $12.6 million.
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