Doesn't like WMUB's pledge drive

A listener sent us this reaction to the member drive which concluded October 10th. The name is being withheld for reasons indicated below. To respond and to hear more on this topic, listen to our "Ask the General Manager" special on WMUB Forum, Friday 10/19 at 9 am ET, repeated at 7 pm.

“I truly do appreciate your station 50 weeks out of the year. Though I realize that it is vital for you to conduct your twice yearly pledge drive, I must tell you that you lose my patronage during that time. I find the personalities that you use for the event very annoying and unprofessional. The on air banter is trite and annoying. I also do not appreciate the interruption it causes to programming. I find it interesting that public television stations for example can re-work their programming so that programs are not interrupted, yet you cannot. Your cut ins disrupt the flow of information within the programs and diminish your value to me. For example, I attempted to listen to the Diane Rehm show with former president Carter. I feel that I lost a lot of valuable information in that hour, as the programming was cut short by your pledge drive activities. I feel I missed a very informative program at your hands. Thank you for your time.

--"A loyal listener 50 weeks out of the year" [name withheld]

General Manager Cleve Callison replies:

Usually we prefer to use forums such as this for listener comments rather than our own. But this letter politely raises issues which go right to the heart of some of our key activities, and I feel it deserves a response.

First of all, I recognize the validity of the concern. We do try to be careful about how all our programming (including pledge drives) strike listeners. I know that this listener is not the only one to have a similar reaction. And I'm not about to defend every single thing we do or say on the air during a live program. Since I am one of the frequent voices on in the morning, I am very aware of how often I fail to hit the standard I should meet.

Like other public stations we always try to find the most effective ways of raising funds while keeping valuable programming coming to listeners. But as we say during the drive, we are a non-commercial station and we must receive contributions. While we can alway do better with any aspect of the drive, off-air strategies (for example, direct mail and telemarketing) generate only a fraction of the revenue of an effective on-air drive.

Of course, these other strategies have their critics too. And for the most part they can only reach our existing listener base. Try as we might, no public station has ever devised a way to recruit NEW members that's more effective than an on-air drive.

Given that, how to proceed? The writer objects in part to the frenetic sound of our morning "pitches". If we characterize our fundraising messages along a continuum of 'quiet' to 'exuberant', there is absolutely no question that by and large the exuberant hours are far more successful at bringing in pledges. We have years' worth of data to support this assertion. Of course, sometimes we make mistakes and exuberant slides over into frantic, which can backfire. But a first scan of data from this drive supports the contention above.

So then the question becomes, when we are being asked by Miami to raise more and more funds from listeners -- how much are we willing to forego in order to have a drive that will not offend some in our audience; or more starkly, should we plan to have a successful drive or an unsuccessful one?

Given that reality, what can a listener do who doesn't like the tone of the drive, or parts of it? My answer would be that if you listen to the station a lot (in the case of the listener above, 50 weeks seems like a lot to me), then you should support it during times when we are NOT being exuberant -- in the pre-funder mailing, or in overnight hours, or (most effective of all) during a time when we are pitching in a quieter way. I read these charts carefully, and if I can begin to see that the quiet hours can be anywhere near as effective as the exuberant hours, you'll see a shift in emphasis.

Which leads me to the reason I'm withholding this listener's name even though he OKed our using it. Despite his avowed fondness for the station (50 weeks a least), our loyal listener who "gives us his patronage" 50 weeks a year has never made a pledge to WMUB. I say this not to embarrass him, but to indicate the uphill fight that public stations have to raise money from people who can receive all of our services for free.

Which brings me to public television. The writer says that we interrupt our programming while public television "re-works" their programming. If we were to follow the public television model, we would not just cut into Morning Edition and Diane Rehm two weeks a year, we would take them off the air for a month at a time 3 or 4 times a year. I just can't imagine that.

When speaking privately, most of my public television colleagues will acknowledge that their way of fundraising is counter-productive and probably ruinous to sustained audience growth. But they see no way out because their core programs do not raise money for them and the infomercial-type specials do. For all its faults, the public radio method at least acknowledges that these are the programs listeners want, and our method challenges listeners to pay for them. That's the way it should be, and I for one am glad that so many of our listeners accept this challenge.

--Cleve Callison, WMUB General Manager

A gem of a station

I often think of writing to WMUB--in the car, while I am driving. My husband and I are devoted fans of WMUB. We have steered many others in your direction. The news, the stories, the comentaries-- all are insightful and valuable.

I have worked with scientists who are trying to learn to speak English better and to learn American culture. I always tell them to listen to WMUB. The English of the speakers on WMUB is pretty much flawless, the diction is clear and the message is usually easy to understand. It is a gem of a station and I hope MU continues to recognize WMUB's contribution to the Miami Valley. We will be renewing at the fall drive.

You may use our full names with our permission. We are proud to be associated with your station.

--Mark and Joy Karl, Dayton

Benefit to the community

I quote you a lot and appreciate your rectifying any statements later found to be in error.
  
Your broadcasting NPR staples (Morning and Weekend Editions) is a benefit to our entire community.  And, for delight, you give us Car Talk and MPR's A Prairie Home Companion.Thank you, thank you, thank you!

--Shirley Marion, Dayton

WMUB is essential

I am a new faculty member at MiamiU, and to my delight I have found WMUB an excellent service.  I am dismayed that the powers that be are considering funding cuts to WMUB.  In an era of media consolidation, lack of media representation for non-corporate entities, and extremely poor coverage of locale events and community concerns, WMUB is essential for the Miami Community, Oxford and the intellectual health of the greater university environment.  Please continue to fund WMUB at or above it current levels.
 
--Andor J Kiss, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology

The almost subliminal issues around WMUB and Miami

I have to share with you one of my early impressions of Miami University.  When I first visited the campus, as a client of the DARS software system, licensed by Miami to SUNY College at Brockport, I was very taken by the atmosphere of the Oxford campus.  My first recollection is of walking over the stone bridges on Western campus in early October, 1992, and  thinking, “Wow!  If I could only work here some day.” That image was a drastic jump in quality and impression (an intangible that cannot be bought) from SUNY College at Brockport.
 
Well, August 1, 1999 found me as a new Miami employee. When I moved to Oxford, I was already in love with Miami, and everything I encountered had that sparkle to it that many new relationships are infused with.  But one of the stronger “over the top” items was when I discovered that Miami had a PBS station – not just a link – but its own station!  WMUB was one item that I used to tell friends and collogues in other places what was so marvelous about Miami – “…and Miami even has its own PBS station!”  As a newcomer I was continually inspired by the obvious “Town and Gown” relationships built and supported through WMUB through how it interacts with the communities of Oxford, Butler County and other areas around Miami.
 
I think it would be a tangible tragedy if another icon of “The Miami Experience” was to go away.  While I cannot put a dollar value, for me, on WMUB, and I can only rhapsodize about the mental stimulation that NPR and Public Radio in general provides, I can strongly argue that the presence of WMUB contributes in a large, subliminal way to what we all are proud of, and is just another item making our Alumni proud to contribute to the University in many other ways.  
 
Thank you and I hope WMUB is on the air for many years to come.
 
--Carlton Ellis, Miami DARS

WMUB is a special place

As a graduate of Miami's communications department, I have been made aware of the possibility of the station losing it's funding in order to promote other endeavors.

During a recent visit to the station with over 30 friends that were made in that building 36 years ago, I was reminded how things were in the early 1970's, and of all the wonderful careers that started there. I remembered all of the contributions made by the graduates of the program.

WMUB is a special place where, if given the funding and the chance, students could learn about broadcasting and join the hundreds of alumni that have contributed in monumental ways to the entertainment field. Just in the class from which I graduated, there is a radio station owner, executives of various advertising agencies, technical people, an extremely successful advertising agency owner, world class sports announcers and newsmen and women, and business executives, all of whom have contributed on a national level, and have won national awards for excellence and creativity in their fields.

Miami University did a disservice to the students and to the community by letting WMUB-TV go. On the air experience, both radio and television, is what made the graduates of this program great. Students were given the opportunity, with the guidance of brilliant professors, to make decisions, create programs, expand their own horizons by actually going on the air, and thus were able to make mistakes, learn from them, and triumph at the end of the day. No other department on campus has afforded students this unique experience. No other university, including UCLA or USC, allowed students this experience. Per capita, no other department has garnered the loyalty or generated the successes of the WMUB/WMUB-TV experience.

Your suggestion to somehow cut back or terminate this program is short sighted, destructive to the university mission, and just plain wrong. WMUB taught me confidence, loyalty, business,broadcasting skills, and all of the best about how to succeed in life. While breaking into the business in Hollywood, my Miami education was widely known, highly regarded, and unmatched by any program in the country. This program is the epitome of what a university should teach. It should be expanded, duplicated, and nurtured. it shouldn't be smothered.

Please don't blow it now.

--Joseph F. Rosenfield '71, Los Angeles

Enjoys station and streaming

I'm a new listener to WMUB.  I travel a lot by car, and heard Mama Jazz at night, but I couldn't get the show from my home here in Northern Kentucky.  Just wanted to let you know, that using streaming over internet, I listen to WMUB frequently.  I enjoy Mama Jazz very much as I am a long, long time jazz lover.  Then I found your 24 hour jazz stream, and I've got to tell you it is fantastic.  Whoever is putting together the play lists must be reading my mind.  Absolutely marvelous.  

So, I enjoy the station, and I enjoy streaming both channels.  And I will be financially supporting WMUB.

--Barrett Morris, Jr., Union, Kentucky