by Fred Sowder, WGOT Board Member
For eight years now, WGOT has broadcast on the Gainesville airwaves at 94.7FM, sharing the frequency with two area churches. Two years ago, the FCC gave us permission to move up the dial to 100.1FM to have our own 24/7 broadcast schedule. After renewing our original 18-month window to give us an additional, final 18 months of time, only about a year remains to make the big jump. That will take some fundraising.
To that end, we’ve begun a crowdfunding campaign through generosity.com. Our $33,000 goal will help WGOT’s expansion in many areas, including the new transmitter and equipment to make the move to 100.1; equipment such as mixers, amps, microphones, and turntables for a physical studio location (our staff have been recording shows mostly on their laptops this whole time!); the resumption of our worldwide internet stream (which was recently suspended for financial and legal reasons); and funds to cover rent/lease of a studio space for at least 12 months.
We urge you to please check out the crowdfunding campaign on generosity.com’s website or follow us on Facebook (http://on.fb.me/1njetqP) for all the details. Different sponsorship levels will get you great thank you gifts such as stickers, shirts, CDs, and Sweetwater Organic Coffee. We also encourage local independent businesses to get in on the ground floor of sponsoring programming on WGOT by airing underwriting announcements. Check out the fundraiser page for three different sponsorship options or contact us at info@wgot.org for further info.
In the meantime, please join us downtown at The Atlantic (15 N. Main St.) on Saturday, January 23 as we celebrate our 8th anniversary on the air with music from Q the Sound, Thunderclap, Thin Skins, and The Tri Hards. Doors open at 9 p.m. with music at 10, with a suggested sliding scale donation of $5-10.
With your support, we can continue to provide and expand our eclectic lineup of local music and talk programming as well as national programs such as Democracy Now!
We hope to see you on the other side. Go low!