Classical Station’s Pledge Drive Faces a New Challenge

When radio hosts ask people for money, certain buzzwords and phrases keep repeating like measures from a sonata on a damaged CD. And that certainly was the case last week in the airy downtown offices of KUSC-FM (91.5), where these lines were in full force: “Let us know that we’re important. . . . Please give what you can. . . . We’re there for you because thousands of people are willing to give. . . . We’re the only station where you can get this kind of music, 24 hours a day. . . .”

It was the first day of the classical radio station’s 10-day fall pledge drive. Inside the broadcast booth, host Charles Andrews and Robert Goldfarb, director of broadcasting, had been at it for more than an hour. Already, the inevitable glitches had occurred. Two early morning news feeds were miscued, and Andrews had called Goldfarb by the wrong name. But their efforts were paying off as many of the phone lines were busy with donors’ calls.

KUSC’s on-air push is a crucial part of a multi-pronged effort to raise money from the station’s loyal enthusiasts as well as from new members. Public radio and television stations often live or die on such drives. KCET-TV in Los Angeles laid off 15 staffers and eliminated 11 already vacant positions last spring when its drive did not reach expectations.

USC holds the broadcast license but the university does not provide funding for the namesake station. Three-quarters of KUSC’s $4.7-million annual budget comes from its 30,000 members; half of those donations are raised during pledge drives it conducts three times a year. Corporate giving and other funding make up the rest of the budget.

Running a pledge drive requires equal parts of enthusiasm, marketing savvy and stamina. On-air hosts repeat the station’s phone number almost once every 10 seconds and must find a variety of ways to describe the station’s central message: that classical music matters, that public radio matters, and that listeners must support the station for both to continue.

“KUSC is where you are reminded of great beauty and great art,” explained Brenda Barnes, the station’s general manager, just before the drive began. “It is the place you go, as you always have, for a sanity break.”

Hosts make their pitches while Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Haydn and Brahms play in the background. They occasionally allow the music to run without interruption.

For donating $120 a year, listeners receive a special compilation CD that the station has put together. For $240, they are invited to attend concerts and parties the station organizes.

These incentives have usually worked well. But like most nonprofit institutions, KUSC faces an added challenge this fall: the aftermath of the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11. The fear of an economic recession and the enormous amount of charitable donations going to help the relief efforts threaten to limit the money that goes elsewhere.

The station considered postponing its drive, but Anne Eggleston, director of development, said it decided to go ahead but with modifications recognizing how much the world has changed in the last month. “We realize that our goal may not be possible due to Sept. 11. We are being very careful about the tone we use; in being less up front about asking people to pledge, we may see a loss in revenue,” she said.

Gone are the challenge grants--big single gifts that require many other listeners to ante up a certain total. There are fewer sweepstakes prizes for pledges at certain moments. “It wasn’t the right tone at this particular time,” said Eggleston.

Most KUSC on-air hosts are old pros at the pledge drive game. But when words ran out, or when they started to drift off-message, staff members outside the soundproof broadcast booth fed them lines via computer: “Remember to mention they can pay by VISA, MasterCard or Discover.” “Remind them they can get a gift membership.” As quickly as they were typed, the words seemed to echo back on the radio behind them.

The KUSC studios and offices are off campus on Figueroa Street across from the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. The bustling pledge room is a marked contrast to the relatively calm broadcast booth upstairs. Fueled by bagels, doughnuts and Diet Pepsi, a dozen volunteers at a U-shaped table grab phones. Their voices combine into a steady hum as they answer donors’ calls, fill out a one-page form on each pledge and toss their sheets to another volunteer who inputs the information into a computer and sends a tally upstairs.

Technological advances have aided KUSC in this pledge drive. Sophisticated phone hookups allow callers to choose from several options, including leaving a pledge on a message tape if there are not enough volunteers to answer all the calls. Significant portions of the drive are being prerecorded to avoid tiring out on-air hosts.

“If you have anyone on the air 12 hours a day, he would be exhausted,” said Barnes. It’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the live and prerecorded hours.

Host Jim Svejda did not use any prerecorded pitches during his three hours on the air Thursday. Still, he seemed far from spent. He jumped up and down in his chair, gesticulating wildly as he compared the price of a KUSC membership with a newspaper subscription. Taking a break while music played, swigging from his fourth Diet Coke of the day, he reflected on what it takes to make it through a pledge drive. “Spending hours on-air is an activity that bypasses the brain. The mouth just goes.”

It seemed to be working. By the end of the first day, KUSC had raised more than $71,000 of its $650,000 pledge drive goal. Nine more days to go.