PSU radio station left with one more week to raise funds

With less than a week left and $2,500 raised in this year’s annual KPSU pledge drive, the student-run radio station hopes to equal last year’s $5,000 in donations.

The annual pledge drive allows listeners to pay the student-run radio station back for its service by giving donations to help supplement costs of equipment, new projects around the studio and general upkeep of the station.

“It gives our listeners a chance to give back,” said Hezekiah Bolton, development director at KPSU.

With the money raised this year, KPSU hopes to purchase a new soundboard and finish building a new sound and recording room.

Aside from getting money to help pay for projects, the pledge drive gives people an opportunity to hear about the programs. There is more advertising this time of year and the DJs make an extra effort to get the word out about the radio station.

“It helps raise awareness,” Bolton said.

KPSU offers a wide array of programming, from music to talk radio, and the airtime is not limited to those in a communications field. According to Bolton, any student or non-student is free to come in and request a slot to work as a DJ.

“My mom can come down here and have a radio show if she wants to,” Bolton said.

Bolton said he and the rest of the KPSU staff went out into the business community to ask for contributions to be given away as prizes to individuals who donate during the pledge drive. Concert tickets, T-shirts, tickets to Harvey’s Comedy Club and gift certificates to Music Millennium or the PSU Bookstore will be raffled to those who make donations.

Bolton said that the approach to the pledge drive is somewhat different from other publicly funded radio stations. He said that KPSU prefers to keep the pledge drive fun rather than continually give the message of “pledge, pledge, pledge.”

An on-air karaoke night event will take place Wednesday at 7 p.m. Listeners can call-request DJs to sing songs for donations or listeners can come to the station and sing a song themselves.

Along with programming running on campus all day, KPSU is also broadcast citywide after 5 p.m., and can be heard all day online.

Saturday is the last night of the pledge drive. The station can be reached at 503-725-5945 for potential pledges.