“What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories” — George Eliot
The beginning of this new week enables me to be grateful that I have the opportunity to tithe my time, talents and abilities.  Last [this past] Friday was day two of my participation as a volunteer for the radio pledge drive.  The personalities/hosts of each show pitched their hearts out for donations to keep the operations of the station alive.

Before the hour, each host came into the phone room to inform us of what premiums they included and that they were anticipating a flood of calls.  The hosts even stayed after their respective shows to help answer phones, which was great to witness.  They do care.  So When Michael Moore called during one of the programs the steam of calls went from trickle, to flurry, to flooded to BOOM in a matter of moments. The excitement was palpable without feeling panicked. The phones were already trickling due to the fantastic premiums that were attached to certain donation levels when suddenly the writer/director of one of the gifts calls the station and is put on air to speak with the host of the show – BOOM – pandemonium!!  That was a fantastically crazy 40 minutes of calls.  We didn’t have enough volunteers to answer the phones during the rush.  Reception ran into the phone room saying that the lines were flooding at the front desk so we all became individual machines.  Show hosts, volunteers, staff, and visitors were all answering phones.  Many people were calling from the freeway, grabbing their credit cards while navigating their cars.  I encouraged every caller who told me they were driving to pull over, stop and then continue the call.  Now whether or not they complied was their decision.  However the monetary target goal gap decreased tremendously during that time span.

I-had-no-idea that radio programming was so expensive.  This commercial free station must host a pledge drive three times per year in order to stay afloat. And they have existed for sixty-one years. Now I’ll do my part.

Today, Sunday February 28th is the last day of the fund drive for KPFK which means when you tune in the hosts will not ask for financial support until the next drive.  However they appreciate our donations at any point during the year.

KPFK/Pacifica radio is a commercial free*, progressive and independent news, talk and music station that grew in the 1940’s from the peace movement surrounding WWII.  Can you imagine if blogging was restricted?  I’d be frustrated if I could not write about the things that mattered to me.  I gather that you would too.  What if you couldn’t share your arts and crafts, family photos, religious beliefs, recipes, books or promote other blogs on your site?  That would be a drag and ultimately everyone of our blogs would morph into one format… Bor-ing.  Yeah I want to read two or three hundred of the same blogs day in and day out. Vive la difference!

To read more about the mission and history of KPFK click here.
If you’d like to familiarize yourself with the station, listen to a live broadcast click here.
If you have a heart for independent thought and would like to pledge a donation [while receiving some interesting, informative and fun gift premiums] please click here.
They also have a program where anyone can donate their vehicle to the station as well the profits from those donations are just like giving cash.  To find out more about that program click here for details.

Am I the primo pitch woman or what?


*Free from corporate sponsorship.  This enables independent, progressive thoughts to be shared.