By Frank Dominguez, General Manager and Content Director
The current public health situation has affected us all, and WDAV isn’t immune – no pun intended… Okay, maybe a little bit intended; it helps to keep things light, right?
While the pandemic is no laughing matter, WDAV is committed to keeping our listeners calm so they can carry on. That’s why we significantly abbreviated our Spring Campaign. We realized that, with all the unusual circumstances and stresses everyone is encountering right now, the need for the respite that only classical music can provide is greater than ever.
Like all of you, we’re taking extraordinary measures to stay healthy, precisely so we can continue to serve you. Immediately after the early conclusion of our fundraiser, we sent the office staff home, with instructions to work remotely for as long as necessary. Since then we’ve been forwarding phone calls to personal cell phones, conducting meetings via Slack, and sending program logs and other documents to printers remotely.
Even the on-air staff is taking the steps necessary to work from home. As I write this, we’re training on newly acquired USB microphones and other gear that will let us host from makeshift studios where we live. While announcing in your jammies may sound like fun, working outside the studio is actually much more complicated and cumbersome than you might imagine. But we feel the extra effort is worth it. This is no time to deprive you of Your Classical Companions.
Which brings me back to that interrupted fundraiser. While it was incredibly successful, and we stand by our decision to end early, we did fall short of our $235,000 goal by about $14,000. Since then many generous listeners have been going online to contribute, or sending renewal mailings back with their gifts enclosed, so we’re hopeful we’ll be able to close the gap. But if you haven’t yet made your contribution to WDAV, we hope you will now. You’ll be doing your part to assure that we can “carry on” with our mission to build community around classical music.