The campus and community’s radio station, 88.1FM WESU, hopes to raise $25,000 through its Second Annual Holiday Pledge Drive that began Nov. 27 and will end Dec. 4. As of Thursday evening, the station raised $7,085.

“WESU cannot survive without the support of our listeners,” said WESU Treasurer Thomas Coen ’07. “We operate on roughly a $75,000 annual budget, from which about $25,000 comes from the WSA, another $25,000 we hope to receive from our NPR programming and underwriting contracts, and the last $25,000 we need to raise from our listeners. Last year, the Wesleyan administration had to bail WESU out after we were unable to raise sufficient funds.”

According to WESU Vice President Jeff Wong ’08, if the station cannot raise the $25,000, it will be in the red.

“We’ll have to find some sort of way to pay and one option is that Wesleyan would pay like last year because it owns the license, but we don’t want it to happen again this year,” Wong said. “We do make money through other events, like Struttin’ dance parties and we have a variety show coming up this Friday, and other concerts, but we can’t depend on that money and would rather have pledge money.”

WESU General Manager Ben Michael noted that the station has received a donation of $1000 from one listener. He added that Amy Goodman of DEMOCRACY NOW! has been on air this week to solicit donations.

“In the first 20 minutes on air with Amy we brought in $600 worth of donations,” Michael said. “On her second appearance we were able to raise about $700.”

According to Coen, the money raised from the pledge drive will go to repairing and upgrading equipment, paying for music subscriptions and services, publishing the WESU magazine, and paying the salary of General Manager Ben Michael, the only paid position at the station.

Michael made it clear that the money raised will not be used to detach WESU from NPR programming.

“Please realize that while some people don’t care for the NPR content on WESU, we have many listeners who value and support it,” Michael said. “Last year our partnership with [NPR] raised almost $15,000 for our station, so the NPR content isn’t going anywhere soon. Support for our local and NPR content among our donors is fairly even.”

Michael said that once WESU reaches a point where it is financially viable, the board would be able to determine if it can cut back on some NPR content.

This year’s pledge drive efforts were spearheaded by Sarah Leonard ’09, who holds the newly-created position of Development Director. She has been working with Michael, the station’s board, and volunteers to complete the bulk of the necessary organizational work before the drive even started.

“We have to figure out schedules and such, then work on things like obtaining premiums to give away, sending mailings to last year’s donors, and organizing the volunteers who answer the phones and take pledges,” Leonard said.

Although students might not be likely to donate, WESU President Evan Simko-Bednarski ’07 sees other ways that they can contribute to the station.

“Events like our Struttin’ Dance Parties and our new variety shows at the Buttonwood Tree downtown are opportunities for students to hang out in Middletown, meet new people, and share their creative endeavors,” Simko-Bednarski said. “Additionally, the number of students requesting shows and DJ training has soared in the past two years. If WESU is to continue along these lines, we’re going to need the support of all of our listeners, students included.”

On Tuesday at 1 a.m., the Argus called in to Tom Gatzen’s avant-garde noise stoner rock punk show “Aargh” to make a donation of $10.03 in exchange for his broadcasting of Shaun Cassidy’s popular ’70s hit “Da Doo Run Run.” Gatzen bravely played the hit, explaining that anything goes during pledge week.

Last year, the station’s fundraising drive had a goal of $20,000 and received about $14,000 in pledges and $12,000 in actual money. Donations can be made by calling (860) 685-7700 or by downloading a pledge form on the station’s website at www.wesufm.org.