Going into reading week last year, it seemed like 88.1 FM WESU might be nothing but static when we returned from winter break. What a difference a year makes as WESU’s current on-air pledge drive shows. The drive aims to make the station self-sustaining, and is both a commendable achievement for the organization’s restructuring and an admirable goal for the future of WESU.
When the station reorganized last spring, leadership promised that the controversial addition of some NPR programming was only a temporary measure to get the station back on its feet financially. With this week’s pledge drive, the station is already well on its way to reverting at least some of that time to students.
In addition to trimming the airtime available for students, the reorganization of the station also cut the timeslots available for local residents. Voting positions for community members were eliminated as well. If the pledge drive is successful, the station will have more independence to make its own decisions free of outside influence. WESU must not lose sight of their commitment to continue and expand involvement from the greater Middletown community.
The station’s enthusiasm and clear plan is venerable, but the money raising ability of a group of people proud of their unconventionality and broadcasting from a 1500-watt transmitter located atop the Exley Science Tower is irrefutably untested. Here’s hoping that the community WESU hopes to serve will respond to the station’s call.
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