Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1990

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Herbert H. Howard

Committee Members

Barbara A. Moore, George A. Everett

Abstract

There are more than 1400 noncommercial radio stations in the United States. Many of these stations rely on on-air fund raising to support all or part of their budgets. A questionnaire was sent to 460 of these stations to ascertain which stations conducted regular on-air fund raising campaigns. Responses were received from 232 stations for a 51.6% response rate. The information gathered by the survey showed: 1) most stations conducted on-air fund raisers twice each year; 2) more than half of the stations reported listener contributions averaging $41 or more; 3) the stations conducting on-air fund raisers received support from less than 9% of their listeners; 4) most of the stations offered one or more premium gifts as well as program guides; 5) one hundred thirty stations sought financial support from corporations and foundations, but only forty-four indicated that they received money from these sources; 6) for the 134 stations responding with usable data, the average audience size was about 64,000 people; 7) the average paid staff for the 227 stations that answered this question was 17.7 persons, while the average volunteer staff was 58.5 persons for the 185 stations giving this data; 8) annual budgets ranged from less than $50,000 to over $2 million. Some of the conclusions that can be drawn from the survey are that: 1) stations with larger annual budgets conduct on-air fund raisers more frequently than smaller stations; 2) the stations conducting on-air fund raisers usually met their fund goals; 3) most of the stations received money from three to six different funding sources, with a few receiving funds from as many as ten; 4) stations need to work at attracting funds from foundations and corporations; 5) stations need to have better research information about their listeners; 6) more research needs to be done to determine if the availability of premium gifts affects listener contributions. Individual stations are receiving less support from the federal government. By cultivating a variety of sources of income, stations will be better able to withstand the loss of funds from any one source.

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