St. Louis Public Radio's Spring Pledge Drive

Post date: Mar 20, 2010 12:07:49 AM

Do you catch up national & international news with Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, or All Things Considered? Ever sit back and enjoy Garrison Keiller's whimsical Minnesota stories and folk music on A Prairie Home Companion? Felt your brain grow on Science Friday? How about the BBC nightly news? Or maybe you listen to Terry Gross's brilliant interviews with directors, authors, politicians, musicians, and other public figures of interest on Fresh Air (my personal favorite)? Just in the last couple weeks, she's interviewed Karl Rove, examined "Jesus and the Hidden Contradictions of the Gospels," and covered the final album by Johnny Cash. If you haven't already, and you're sick of talking heads jabbering on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and our lame local affiliates, and you don't have time each day to pick up a newspaper or browse news sites, maybe you should shut off the TV and turn your radio dial to 90.7 FM. Or you can download one of many podcasts and listen on your mp3 player. If you live in Greater St. Louis and ever find yourself entranced with the content on KWMU, also known as St. Louis Public Radio, now is the time to show your support for their great programming by contributing to their spring pledge drive, which began yesterday.

Why am I making this plug? No, I'm not getting paid a dime for this. And no, I'm not on any kind of street team. I'm writing now because I believe in public radio, and I think you should, too. Let's be frank. Listening to KWMU is a lot more fulfilling than hearing Journey over and over again on KHITS, facepalming at the fact that KSHE plays Nickelback, or wondering when Y98 got to be so boring.

St. Louis Public Radio doesn't make ad revenue, so it takes listener support to keep the station alive and well.

I've already phoned in my $50. If you feel inclined to do the same (at any amount $35 or greater), get out your credit card and visit kwmu.org, or call them up at (314) 516-4000. You may get lucky and call during an hour when they're giving away a free pair of movie passes.