WJIB in WSJ
Everybody’s favorite Cambridge radio station, WJIB 740-AM, is mentioned and its owner Bob Bittner quoted in an article in today’s Wall Street Journal on commercial radio stations asking listeners for contributions (subscription may be req.). The article points to the dramatic decline in radio advertising revenue (-9% in 2008) as reason, but WJIB launched its first fund raising drive in 2007 to enable the station to play what it calls the “beautiful music” despite the format’s limited appeal to advertisers. From the article:
Mr. Bittner says his on-air donation requests have brought in some serious cash over the years. He just wrapped up his spring fund-raiser for the station, which brought in $100,000. At sister oldies station WJTO in Bath, Maine, which he also owns, he snagged $28,000 in last year’s summer campaign. He runs the fund-raising campaigns over a period of several weeks, once per year. “I do it all for the love of adult-standards music, which is greatly ignored by the advertising community, despite having a lot of listeners,” he says. The funds help cover expenses like rent and music licensing fees, which now total some $40,000 at WJIB alone, he says.
