Two public radio stations, with very different profiles, face hard hits
WGBH (CAI’s owner/operator) and WOMR: Big vs. small, opaque vs. transparent
WCAI, National Public Radio for the Cape and Islands, owned and operated by WGBH in Boston, launched a three-day on-air fundraiser in September with dramatic appeals to fight back against deep cuts to public broadcasting.
What was their Cape and Islands fundraising goal?
We don’t know.
How much was raised?
We don’t know.
Will money raised on-Cape stay at CAI?
We don’t know.
The reason we don’t know is because WGBH refuses to share this information with the community it entreats.
We do know, thanks to GBH Marketing Director Tina Cassidy, that response to a plea to offset federal cutbacks was strong:
“Although donations have not made up for the loss in federal funding, CAI’s recent pledge drive was more than double what we would typically see,” Cassidy reported. “Notes from our audience during this pledge drive included:
“I’m donating to help freedom of the press.”
“Local news is crucial…”
“Free Press is essential for our Democracy and WCAI is essential for our community…”
This must be most encouraging. Even so, requests to understand CAI’s financial standing were once again ignored.
Rather, Cassidy noted, “funds raised during this and other drives go directly to supporting the programming and journalism our listeners rely on,” making no distinction between local, regional, national, international — or management and overhead. She added that GBH continues to “expand” CAI by adding a call-in gardening show (requiring no investment in hard news gathering) and hiring a replacement for a departed science and environment reporter (without mentioning dismissal of the station’s News Director).
At an historic moment when federal forays seem intended to undermine or even eliminate free speech, GBH’s refusal to be inclusive about CAI’s financial standing creates a fraught situation:
Community support is more essential than ever, but transparency is not forthcoming. Much as local donors want to support the station, a refusal to be candid about where that support is spent imperils relationships.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
There is another public radio station on Cape Cod, funky WOMR/FMR based in Provincetown. Not part of National Public Radio — no “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “This American Life,” “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” — volunteer dj’s stitch an eclectic quilt of local programming.
Another difference:
WOMR’s Executive Director John Braden, in that chair since 2012 (previously operations manager beginning in 2006), answered every question about OMR’s fundraising and financial picture in refreshing detail.
As he reports, OMR also has taken a big federal hit; $140,000 from a budget approaching $700,000, 20 percent gone.
The station’s most recent on-air fundraiser ran 14 days beginning July 25. The goal was $90,000, with an off-air goal of another $15,000. This was set (before the federal cut) by looking at the budget and previous years’ performances.
OMR’s extended family responded with an amazing outpouring, said Braden:
“We had a lot of feedback from people saying, ‘WOMR is way too important to lose, we’ve got to keep you funded.’”
The station raised $219,000, more than double their goal.
“Of that, $40,000 was new money, new supporters,” said Braden, including one $10,000 match for the final day’s push. The station’s board of directors stepped up to match $8000 of first-time donations.
In addition, “many sustainers increased their donation from $15 a month to $20, $25, even $30.”
The fundraiser beat budget by nearly the same amount the Trump administration amputated.
OMR’s three full-time staff support many volunteers, a much smaller paid core than CAI. Donations cover salaries plus utility bills, insurance, equipment maintenance, repairs, and purchases.
The station carries little to no debt, home being an historic building (with first-floor tenants) on Commercial Street in Provincetown, comparable to the captain’s house in Woods Hole that CAI is vacating at GBH’s insistence (despite a community non-profit’s offer of five years free rent). Almost all OMR funds (utilities excepted) spiral back through the Cape economy; local businesses add about $70,000 a year in underwriting.
So the little outermost station (OMR stands for “outermost radio”) is holding its own with no federal support — and no financial secrets — though also without a daily news-reporting team.
The big challenge?
“We have to do this every year,” Braden said. “This is not a one-time thing.”
Next test: Another on-air fundraiser in November. The goal: $100,000 plus $24,000 from end-of-year off-air appeals.
WGBH, and therefore CAI, faces the same challenge: Build on passionate pushback to new federal realities. Keep elevating local support.
Refusing to be transparent with the community they beseech is a posture that makes this heavier lift yet more difficult.
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Well. This is disheartening. I was listening to WCAI in my car a few weeks ago during a fundraising plea. I was so sickened by the Trump cuts that I pulled over my car, turned on the flashers and made a donation on the side of the road. Now to hear that the money I donated to OUR station may not even reach gets me fuming.
I contribute to WOMR, and recently upped my level. I do not give to WCAI. I would suggest WCAI be spun off and reimagined as WHOL. Reaching out to the Upper Cape. I think the problem is that the Cape is a patchwork of communities/regions. There could probably be 4-6 WOMR’s here. We have one already and I agree it should be a model.