Morehead State Public Radio holding fall membership drive

Morehead State Public Radio’s (MSPR) 2021 Fall Membership Drive is currently underway.

“This is our first membership drive since the spring of 2020,” said Paul Hitchcock, MSPR general manager. “We took time away from fundraising to concentrate on serving our listeners and to be cognizant of economic hardships in the region.”

MSPR’s goal is to increase membership numbers to help meet guidelines from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Membership totals and local fundraising are two important factors CPB considers when awarding grants to public radio and television stations.

“The number of members who support MSPR help maintain our grant funding,” added Hitchcock. “Our ability to raise funds and increase our membership are important to meet criteria in receiving grants to purchase national programming that include All Things Considered, Morning Edition, The World and World Café.

Each year, the CPB offers Community Service Grants to non-commercial radio stations that provide significant public service programming to their communities. The grants help stations expand their work in educational, news, public affairs or other programming. Qualified stations must meet legal, managerial, staffing and operational criteria for funding, including local fundraising and memberships.

An emphasis on local and regional news continues to be an important function of MSPR. Equally important is MSPR’s commitment to provide hands-on training and learning opportunities to more than a dozen Morehead State University work-study students year-round. A variety of locally-hosted music programs are also unique to MSPR listeners.

“An important part of our mission is to provide hands-on student learning opportunities, award-winning local news, and to preserve this region’s cultural heritage with programming that is educational, informative and entertaining,” said Hitchcock.

Financial gifts to Morehead State Public Radio (WMKY) may be made online at: www.wmky.org. Gift and pledge forms are available with payroll deduction as an option for Morehead State University employees. Listeners will also be prompted to provide comments.

WMKY serves more than twenty counties throughout eastern Kentucky with regional news and cultural programming from the campus of Morehead State University. Listeners can enjoy WMKY at 90.3FM, online (www.wmky.org), by phone app or smart speaker (“Play WMKY”).

Additional information on Morehead State Public Radio (WMKY) is available online at www.wmky.org or by emailing Hitchcock at p.hitchc@moreheadstate.edu or by calling 606-783-2334.