THE TRUTH ABOUT RADIO FUNDRAISING
posted by James Reel
As I write, we’re in the second day of our blessedly abbreviated autumn membership campaign. We’re supposed to sound happy and excited about it on the air, and we actually are … part of the time. But, in truth, our enthusiasm rises and falls through a predictable cycle.
Describing only my own feelings, I admit that when management reminds us that a pledge drive is coming, my first response is dismay. The schedule gets a lot more hectic than usual, as we work the music around a set of strictly timed fundraising breaks. Besides expecting more hectic shifts, I also anticipate … boredom. These campaigns usually go on for several days (this one lasts only two); I’m sitting here for six hours a day, exposed to the same set of arguments and incentives over and over and over again.
But then the campaign begins, and it’s actually fun. It’s a break from our usual routine, we get to speak to you in a more personal way, and we can interact with our colleagues and visitors (the radio business is usually quite solitary). It feels like we’re doing something that’s both special and necessary, and we really don’t spend that much time out of every year doing it.
And then comes the next phase: fatigue. What is initially fun and fresh gets old within a few days, and we start wondering why each of you listeners can’t just stop what you’re doing, take 90 seconds to call in a pledge, even just a little pledge, and let us get back to the music schedule—now. The dead spots of the day (midmorning, midafternoon) become predictable, and depressing. Several years ago, Mike Serres pretended to sob in despair on air during a particularly dreary Saturday afternoon.
Finally, it’s over. Jubilation! We’ve got some money in the bank, or at least on its way, and work gets back to normal. And, in retrospect, nobody suffered all that much during the campaign. In fact, the change of pace was rather enjoyable. In a bizarre twist of psychology, we anticipate the next drive, some months hence, with something resembling … pleasure. We are sick, sick people.
