by Fred Sowder, WGOT Station Coordinator
The pandemic has greatly affected a lot of individuals and organizations financially. WGOT, the Civic Media Center’s community radio station, is no different.
Each year around this time, 100.1FM WGOT has celebrated its birthday with a fundraiser at The Atlantic with a full slate of some of the best local musical talent Gainesville has to offer.
With that venue now converted to an arcade, we’ve lost that option for our 14th anniversary. That, combined with a peak spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19, prompted us to undertake a think-outside-the-box event.
That is what led us to Omicronathon: a 24-hour live broadcast from our Civic Media Center studios beginning at noon on Saturday, Jan. 22 and running through noon on Sunday.
You, the WGOT financial supporter, will power this live fundraising event. For every $10 donation via GoFundMe, you’ll be able to request a song. You may request as many songs as you wish. (Yes, that means you could control about an hour of our programming for about $100 or so — just remember to keep it clean.)
If you’re missing music from your favorite local band, how about requesting their song so we can play it on the air?
When managing a college radio station in South Florida, WVUM 90.5FM, I participated in similar fundraising weekends (back then coordination was very heavy on logistics and required a lot of postage) and they often proved fun and successful, so we figured we’d give it a try here.
At the beginning of each year, WGOT faces a myriad of expenses involving musical licensing for both its broadcast and streaming services. We’re also a Pacifica radio station, which requires membership dues. And there are those pesky monthly expenses like tower rent, electricity, and internet.
So, if great national programs like Democracy Now! and The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour are important to you, we’d appreciate your support.
If you value fine local programming such as The Red Pony Music Hour, On the Rail, and Wake Up, Gainesville, your financial contribution would help a great deal in keeping your community radio station strong.
Thanks in advance for helping WGOT during this difficult time. Be sure to tune in to 100.1 on your FM dial in western Alachua County and streaming online at wgot.org everywhere else in the world during this marathon event that will further encourage our COVID-related insomnia.
Even if you are reading this after the fact, you can still support us financially by going to gofundme.com or patreon.com and searching for WGOT.
Oh, and coffee would be fantastic. Thanks again.