[EclecticSeizure] Newspoetry Radio: Pitch for Danielle

[William Gillespie]

[feel free to revise]

Danielle: When deciding how much money to pledge to WEFT, keep in mind
that pledging money to WEFT is not like buying something, and you should
not use the same criteria you would use when deciding whether to buy
something.WEFT is not part of the market but is subject to market
forces. Oh sure, the station takes money in and sends it out, but it is
not the purpose of WEFT to make money. No, to make money is not our
purpose, only our method. Our purpose is to enforce the law. The law
says that the airwaves are in the public domain. Corporations are
private entities and therefore are not legally entitled to broadcast.
Not any more than Exxon is allowed to drill for oil in National Forest
Reserve. So we turn to the listener (that's you, by the way) and we say
"we need your support." (support is a metaphor, the metaphor is that you
the listener are the concrete foundation upon which our transmitter
tower rests. In reality, we don't exactly mean that we need your
support, what we really need is for you to donate a little of your
money.) And, while we have you listening, considering this, let us point
out that it may seem strange to you that you have to give your money to
us, when the other radio stations (which clearly, from the sound of
them, have much higher budgets and actual paid employees) are free. Why
should you have to pay for the cheap one, when you can get the expensive
one for free? Well, the fact is, commercial radio isn't free. You pay
for it. You listen to the radio and you hear the advertisements for
McDonalds and Miller Beer and you eat food from McDonalds and drink
Miller beer and that money goes back to the station in the form of
advertising revenues. And, more than that, you buy CDs. Yes, on a
commerical radio station, even the programming is an advertisement: an
advertisement for the latest Madonna album. And you aren't just buying
cheeseburgers, lite beer, and Hall and Oates, you're buying AOL
Time-Warner and Starbuck-McDisneys, and an entire ideology that says you
are what you buy. But when you give money to WEFT, you don't buy WEFT.
You buy WEFT some electricity. In effect, you are supporting a public
institution, so your donation to WEFT is not the sort of disposable
income you might fritter away on disposable commodities such as donuts
or Don Henley albums, no, the money you give to WEFT is essentially tax.
The portion of your tax that goes to support community radio. Pay your
community radio tax. File now, at 359-9338. That spells FLY WEFT.