WSIE contemplates on-air fund drive

According to an article in the Post-Dispatch, jazz radio station WSIE (89.9 FM) soon may have to do its first on-air fund drive in 10 years to raise money for operations. Although WSIE is affiliated with and receives some support from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, the article says the station "faces a money crunch as grants are cut and expenses rise."

The piece also takes a look at the on-air fund raising practices of other area public broadcasting entities, including radio stations KDHX (88.1 FM) and KWMU (90.1 FM) and local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9). If WSIE does have to fundraise on-air, here's hoping that the implementation is more like the twice-yearly drive on KDHX, which ;eaves the regular schedule relatively intact, rather than KETC's practice of pre-empting regular programming for weeks at a time to run the same handful of "specials" over and over and over again. Read the whole thing here.