At the beginning of this month, KNON-89.3 FM "The Voice of the People" recently launched its second pledge drive of the year.
It's a necessary evil: The community station depends on pledges from listeners to fund the station and keep them on air. Unlike other stations that hold pledge drives, though, this one's a little different: For KNON's drives, which occur quarterly during the year, the station asks that those donating money do so to a particular show on the station. The fewer pledges a show gets, the less likely it is that the show can remain on air.
Iconic local radio jock DJ EZ Eddie D knows this first-hand. Back in February, the host of KNON's Saturday night show, "Knowledge Dropped, Lessons Taught" -- the second-longest running hip-hop radio show in the country -- learned that, due to lack of pledge support, his show has been cut from two hours a week to one.
Eddie D, born Eddie Murphy, says that the change in time slot has indeed hurt his listening audience: "It used to be that people could tune in whenever they have time," Murphy tells DC9.
Now, with his show relegated to a mere hour, listeners have only a small opportunity each Saturday to hear the long-running hip-hop show.
During this new pledge drive, Murphy hopes to get his regular timeslot back.
If he raises enough money for his show, the time the station allows his
program to run will increase. Raising the money, though, has proven to
be no easy feat: "It's been difficult," Murphy says. "Now I only have one hour to reach out to people".
Still, Murphy has been hard at work, spreading word of the pledge
drive through Public Service Announcements that ask his listeners
to pledge to the show that they frequently enjoy.
The pledge drive, which ends on May 14, is Murphy's shot at reclaiming
his former timeslot.
Pledges can be made online at the station's
website, or by calling in to the station. Murphy will find out at the
end of the drive how many pledges that he received.
Here's hoping it's enough to give the DJ back his full show length.
