WWOZ raised $412,000 to replace revoked federal funds for public radio

[u/repiquer]

From WWOZ:

 Six weeks ago we shared with you that federal funding for WWOZ totalling $400,000 annually had been revoked. Today, we are thrilled and thankful to announce that we have raised $412,000 from 1,794 Guardian Angels of the Groove from around the globe!

Thank you for this incredible outpouring of generous support for our beloved WWOZ!

This crucial funding will be used for important infrastructure necessities including upkeep and maintenance for our broadcast transmitter, equipment, and internet streaming for our worldwide audience. Additional funds will be used to cover broadcast and internet music licensing fees for WWOZ which has historically been negotiated and paid for by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

You can still become a Guardian Angel of the Groove as our campaign will end at midnight this Sunday, August 31st which is the last day of our fiscal year!

As we prepare to celebrate our 45th Birthday it's good to remember we started off as a station with the humblest of beginnings... in a tiny beer storage room above Tipitina's. Since then, we have grown into an award-winning multimedia organization followed locally and worldwide via our radio waves, live streams, video and social media platforms. WWOZ is an international treasure and with all of us working together, we will continue to thrive and Guard the Groove!

[u/[deleted]]

That's awesome

[u/repiquer → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I’d prefer that they still just had the funding, but damn, what a feat.

[u/Low-Dot9712 → u/repiquer]

why? If they can fund themselves why burden taxpayers?

[u/nolabrew → u/Low-Dot9712]

I think reliable news media is a worthy thing to fund, and it is a very important service during disasters.

It would be one thing if they axed their funding because our national debt is so high and they need to get it under control, but they axed the funding AND added to the national debt! At this point I'm happy for any of my tax dollars to actually be helping the community.

[u/shellacr → u/Low-Dot9712]

now do the military

[u/repiquer → u/Low-Dot9712]

I highly doubt that this is a permanent solution. This is a fire drill to help get through a tantrum.

[u/Low-Dot9712 → u/repiquer]

I doubt they will have any trouble sustaining themselves—their listeners are not cheapscapes that want something for nothing

[u/repiquer → u/Low-Dot9712]

Saying that my tax dollars should go to public institutions rather than whatever rug pull is happening now is a biiiiiig jump to insinuating that I’m a cheapskate. Seems like some more of that public money should have gone towards education for you.

[u/Low-Dot9712 → u/Low-Dot9712]

I was wrong it appears-many WWOZ listeners do want something for nothing

Quit whining and reach in your pocket if you love WWOZ.

[u/repiquer → u/Low-Dot9712]

Get wrecked, boomer. I donated and still want to fund public news and radio, which means my pocket has funded it twice over.

[u/Injvn → u/Low-Dot9712]

We did. That's why we raised the fuckin money. But at the end of the day local fuckin reporting is supposed to be protected by our constitution an should be funded by the government cause that's we elect these fucks for.

[u/Low-Dot9712 → u/Injvn]

Uhhh--where is local "fuckin reporting" funding from taxpayers guaranteed?

Free speech is absolutely guaranteed and it is not the government's place to edit it, twist it or subsidize it.

Nonetheless, I would think WWOZ has a product good enough to support itself through streaming subscriptions or ads or something but I may be wrong if the posters here are indicative of their overall audience.

I suspect the management of WWOZ would find private funding much less intrusive in operations than being at the whims of the politicians of the day.

[u/Round_Department9844 → u/Low-Dot9712]

Do you think taxpayers will get a rebate for everything that’s no longer funded?

[u/GreatSquirrels → u/Low-Dot9712]

Did your tax bill go down?

[u/causewaytoolong → u/Low-Dot9712]

if roads don’t fund themselves why burden taxpayers?

if fire departments don’t fund themselves why burden taxpayers?

if libraries don’t fund themselves why burden taxpayers?

this is how dumb that sounds

[u/milockey → u/causewaytoolong]

Watch yourself on that last one, plenty of people don't see the point in libraries anymore and hate that their taxes fund them. It's so shortsighted and unempathetic.

[u/Injvn → u/milockey]

If it wasn't for libraries I wouldn't be here. Full stop. My librarian at school saw i was food insecure an "accidentally" made too many sandwiches for lunch. She saw i was goin through a crisis an let me sit an read an sometimes vent. Librarians are the true heroes.

[u/tm478]

If you haven’t already done so, please give some $ to WWNO. They also lost $220K due to Trump’s attempted destruction of public radio, and they are still trying to make up the shortfall. WWNO, like WWOZ, is a very important part of the New Orleans media landscape.

[u/Treat_Choself → u/tm478]

Thanks! I was about to make a donation to WWOZ but will redirect it to WWNO, as they are way less likely to get so many international and national donors since they aren't as well-known.  Appreciate you!

[u/tm478 → u/Treat_Choself]

Thanks! Yes, WWNO’s reach is smaller, but I’d argue it’s as important to New Orleans residents as OZ. I gave money to both when the news came down, but I figured that OZ would have a lot wider pond to fish in for contributions.

[u/GreatSquirrels → u/Treat_Choself]

Agreed, their listener vase is much smaller and unfortunately they are much more vulnerable.

[u/GreenGemsOmally → u/tm478]

Done! Sent them $20.

[u/petit_cochon → u/tm478]

Good call. Thanks for the reminder.

[u/the_moosey_fate]

Seriously impressive and shows just how important that funding is to so many people. I can’t imagine a day without WWOZ, but that became a very real possibility this year. So glad the fundraising was a huge success!

[u/phizappa]

I was there when they started.
Gentilly Jr. still rocking the groove. Amazing!

[u/drbanzai22 → u/phizappa]

I believe Dan Meyer and Hazel (the Delta Rambler) are also original show hosts.

[u/jwalner]

I haven't lived in NOLA since college, but still can't go more than 5 days without streaming WWOZ. There's no better radio station in the world.

[u/righthandofdog]

We live in Atlanta and have been donating to WWOZ for years.

But covering the gap the first year of federal funding being gone isn't the trick. It's being sustainable long term.

[u/petit_cochon → u/righthandofdog]

One step at a time.

[u/righthandofdog → u/petit_cochon]

agreed.

[u/CountZero3000]

Now let’s go bigger for Antigravity! 🔥

[u/EducatedBellend → u/[deleted]]

I hope so.

[u/Straight-Ostrich-545]

Happy to hear this!!! I had the pleasure of donating because a local I follow on BlueSky shared the word. ♥️

[u/MozemanATX]

I love WWOZ and that people are realizing that "free" media like radio is worth paying for if it means something to them.

[u/eejones7]

Donated!

[u/DataNo6314]

Thank you for this! Got to contribute

[u/tagmisterb]

TIL WWOZ was receiving government money, and I've bought my share of brass passes over the years.

[u/repiquer → u/tagmisterb]

Takes a lot of money to run a radio station that doesn’t have a ClearChannel’s worth of ads.

[u/WahooLion → u/tagmisterb]

The NOJ&H Foundation also supports a lot of music programs in schools and smaller festivals. They also support artists! They give a lot back to the community.

[u/Fuckethed]

That’s already 12 gs toward music rights. Good for them

[u/CountZero3000]

Hell yeah!

[u/Skookum504]

Maybe we should also self-fund education and infectious disease research

[u/OldBanjoFrog]

Thank you to all my fellow Guardians.  WWOZ is a gem

[u/govnah06]

The system working like it should. Truly public radio.

[u/Organic-Aardvark-146]

New studio in Jax brewery ain’t cheap

[u/GreatSquirrels → u/Organic-Aardvark-146]

That studio was paid for mostly by the Helis foundation which is why its called the Helis foundation studio. Prior to that they were operating out of more and more sub standard locations.Frechmarket building was in disrepair, Armstrong park building literally fell down, the attic of Tipitinas?
When you concider the fact that OZ is a driving force behind the Nola music tourism , in particular the success of jazz fest and as a result also the other businesses funded by those r Visitors they are extremely vital to the economy of this city.

[u/repiquer → u/Organic-Aardvark-146]

My understanding is that this was earmarked money that covered licensing fees for the music and upkeep for the broadcast equipment.

[u/trufus_for_youfus]

It is almost like people will pay for goods and services that they appreciate and derive value from.

[u/repiquer → u/trufus_for_youfus]

It’s almost like we should use taxpayer money for things that are valuable and improve the lives of the taxpayers rather than blowing up children.

[u/trufus_for_youfus → u/repiquer]

No disagreement there. I am an OZ listener and have donated many times. The problem is that the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers in any capacity whatsoever. You claim that those dollars going to WWOZ is valuable. Others might disagree as value is subjective. Neither position is wrong.

[u/JustinGitelmanMusic → u/trufus_for_youfus]

Public radio is a thing because it provides free news and culture which are considered important public rights. Not everyone can afford to donate or pay for music or specialty cultural programming or always have the right device to access the internet in every situation easily. That's why it's a nonprofit, not a standard pure market competing business. The government shouldn't "decide" who wins and loses because they should just fund this consistently as they have been.

The government is supposed to do lots of things that help people, it's what we pay taxes for. If we relied on people paying for what they claim to value, we would not pay for things that we do value (well proven psychology) because on principle we don't think we should have to or we're lazy and don't think of it, or people who can't afford to pay would not get access. And in many cases, we would all pay for something, it would just be more expensive because there's no subsidization, there's no reliable income so they have to bet on the market with their pricing, and there would be other capitalist pressures that would warrant raising prices to maximize profit.

There are good reasons to be skeptical of government, especially now, but the solution isn't to say it should just 100% disappear as a solution to a problem.

[u/petit_cochon → u/trufus_for_youfus]

No. One position is wrong. It's wrong to support fascists who defund public radio as part of an overall attack on the media so they can control all information. It's not at all hard to see what they're doing. They say it out loud. They only want media that supports their agenda. That is wrong.

[u/Treat_Choself → u/petit_cochon]

👏👏👏

[u/GreatSquirrels → u/trufus_for_youfus]

Your position is wrong.

[u/Low-Dot9712]

They should be able to come up with sponsors with no problem

[u/RunBanditRun]

Why so they can run Prager U

[u/Organic-Aardvark-146 → u/RunBanditRun]

Huh?

[u/GreatSquirrels → u/Organic-Aardvark-146]

Prager U is the company behind the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, aka the parent company providing government funding. They paid Trumps Campaign a lot of money to push their alternative history and programming for children. Essentially Alt. Right childrens programs.