October 1st of this year marked a significant milestone for WCMU.

We are officially operating in a new era of public broadcasting, one that does not receive any federal funding, not for PBS or NPR.

But our commitment to our listeners and supporters is unwavering.

And as we've experienced the support we're getting back from you is unlike any we've ever seen before.

Back with me now is WCMU General Manager Rick Westover.

- Hi, Stefanie.

- Hi, Rick.

Can you explain to us what these last few weeks and months have been like?

- It's been a whirlwind for sure.

We're figuring it out day by day, but we're encouraging our audience to step forward and support us.

You know, if... As we've said many, many times, they're the most important support that we receive, and it is more true than it ever has been before.

And they're coming through.

Our first million dollars in support came through one week after the end of our first quarter.

We wanna see that continue, but it's a long road here through the fiscal year without federal funding for the first time in like a couple of generations.

Doing what we can to save money, but then encouraging our audience to step forward.

And when folks come up and they say, "What can we do?"

I say, if you've made a donation before, think about increasing it by 50% if that's possible for you.

And we're also trying to grow the membership, finding those new donors to help us bring in more support.

- Absolutely.

Well, the cuts have hits some stations across the country really hard from closures, layoffs, job cuts.

Those are losses that really deeply impact communities.

Where does WCMU stand financially and how have we, in our communities, been impacted so far?

- Sure, sure, so we've been fortunate to be very frugal and very conservative in our savings.

We have a considerable reserve.

We have endowments that actually have been growing for a while, and we've kind of just left to do that, so we have some support to draw from there.

We were able to carry forward almost $2 million from last year's budget.

So, in this situation, we're poised about as well as we can be.

But that said, there's still $1.6 million that we don't have access to.

We can't just burn through all of our reserves this year.

We need to do what we can to offer ourselves more room to kind of work our way into this new normal and encourage people to come forward and offer support to help bridge that gap.

So, while we have a little bit more breathing room than some stations, some are on the bubble, will they stay on, will they not?

We aren't going anywhere, and we need our audience to continue to step forward like they have, and we're so grateful for those that have already done that.

- Yeah, well, WCMU continues to hold fundraiser drives, both on radio and on television.

And so, Rick, can you real quick explain what are the many ways that supporters can continue to help WCMU?

- Sure.

Come in and participate in an event.

When you find a program that you love, tell a friend about it.

I actually had somebody reach out to us when we were in Petoskey recently for the 40th anniversary of The Juke Joint, celebrating that.

And the gentleman said, "You know, I have a friend "that I know listens like I do.

"I donate.

I asked him to donate."

And really, it comes down to that.

If we want to see this continue in our communities, we, all of us, have to work together to make that possible, and that's the kind of action that we're looking for.

If you know somebody that listens and enjoys, has the means to make a gift, encourage 'em to do what you do and offer support too.

- Great, thank you so much, Rick.

- Thank you.

- Again, thank you for being here today.

That wraps up this edition of "Pressing Matters" here on WCMU.

Again, thank you all for watching and for your continued support for WCMU.

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