WDST raises $30,000 from backers
Radio Woodstock asked and their listeners answered.
In its first-ever on-air fundraiser, radio station WDST 100.1 FM received roughly $30,000 in donations from 300 listeners who joined the station as supporters. Supporters were asked to make a single payment of $100.10 or commit to a monthly contribution of $8.35.
“It’s really heartwarming,” said owner Gary Chetkof of the support received during the fiveday fund-raising campaign. “It makes us think we’re not crazy and it sort of affirms that what we’re doing here is serving a purpose.”
The listener support provides the for-profit, independent station with a revenue stream that makes it less dependent on advertising, he said. “When you reduce commercials, everybody wins.”
“We wanted to create a unique radio station that focuses on great programming,” Chetkof said. “The system has been skewed against independent radio stations in general because it’s hard to compete against corporate radio companies that have multiple stations.
“We just got tired of it,” he said.
Chetkof said WDST already offers its listeners a “locally owned and uniquely programmed radio station.” The hope is to unbolt WDST from the ratings game and attracting advertisers to devote more of its resources to providing the “great programming that people who love music want.”
“The basic tenet of radio is, in order to get ratings, you have to chose a certain format and you can only play music that spans 10 years.
“We don’t believe that,” he said. “We program rock and roll from the late 60s to today.”
“I think people see us as a little ray of sunshine in what has become a really homogenized, big, corporate-owned and -operated radio industry,” he said.
Chetkof said WDST has a target audience that spans a much larger age range than do more traditional corporate stations and offers local musicians the opportunity for significant airplay.
“Our music library is probably one of the biggest music libraries in the country,” said Chetkof. “We literally could play anything we want.”
While that kind of programming appeals to the station’s audience, it makes it difficult to compete in a world of corporate radio stations where ratings rule.
Chetkof said the station decided to launch its fundraising efforts with an on-air appeal because talking to its listeners is a hallmark of the station.
He said the station’s on-air personalities reached out to listeners, explained what the station was trying to do, and the response was overwhelming.
Chetkof said the station expects to run another fund-raising campaign in the fall.