While public radio station KMST did not reach its $70,000 goal, the station’s Spring Membership Drive, which was held Feb. 25 through March 4, did receive $62,866 in investments and was deemed a success. Pledges are still accepted at 573-341-4386 in Rolla, toll-free at 888-776-5678 or online.
The new Cyber Week component held the week prior to the drive generated investment pledges totaling $3,520 and nine new members. The on-air drive generated $59,346 and 52 new members.
“The entire staff at KMST is elated over the success of our first-ever Cyber Week campaign where online listeners gave us new programming ideas,” says Station Manager Wayne Bledsoe. “Keep an eye out for news regarding new internet programming from KMST.
“The online and on-air totals for our drive came to almost $63,000, a figure that will surely increase in the immediate post-drive days,” continues Bledsoe. “Thanks to the success of Cyber Week and the loyalty of our listeners nationwide, I see a bright future for public radio in south-central Missouri.”
In addition to financial support, KMST gained valuable information from members about programming preferences. This information is reviewed and programming decisions are based on the findings. Program Director John Francis says it is vitally important that the station strive to reach its membership drive goals in order to fund the existing programming. “While we were short of our membership goal this drive, our members showed great support along with good input on programming,” he says.
KMST held four drawings this spring, all based on levels of investment. Shirley Andrews of Rolla won the Cyber Week drawing for a Bose Wave Radio, sponsored by Three Squirrels Winery. Barbara Hale of Rolla won an Asus Transformer tablet with Android operating system, sponsored by Public House Brewing Co. Jeff Cox of Rolla won a one-year membership to Vessell’s Fitness Complex. Martha and Dwayne Edwards of St. James won an Amazon Kindle Fire, sponsored by Huffman Flowers of the Field.
This year’s drive included guest hosts Col. Charles Williams, Chris Heard, Judy Fortner, John Butz, Kate Drowne, Amy Beechner McCarthy, Marty Watts, John Westerman, Loretta Wallis, Dan Oerther, Dennis Wilson, Bob Fossey, Lyle Thomas, Bruce Harrell, Cliff Hammock and Cindy Beger.
In its 39th year of service, KMST is a 100,000-watt non-commercial public radio station licensed to the Curators of the University of Missouri System. The station’s funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Missouri University of Science and Technology, membership investments and underwriting.
KMST offers a mixed format of news from NPR, nationally and locally produced talk shows, and a wide range of music, including classical, jazz, acoustic folk, blues, big band, Celtic, bluegrass and Caribbean. KMST is located at 88.5 FM in and around the Rolla area, 96.3 FM in Lebanon, and is live streamed online at www.kmst.org. Listeners can also follow the station on Facebook.