by Aleka Thrash

Cornerstone University radio stations WCSG and WaYfm both held sharathons in March involving approximately 40 volunteers. WaYfm’s goal was to raise $395,000, and they raised $262,000.

“We didn’t know what to expect with the economy the way it is,” said Rich Anderson, WaYfm’s general manger.

WaYfm held two sharathons: one in the fall and the other in the spring.

“We normally just did one sharathon in the spring,” Anderson said. “If you combine the two together, we are ahead of where we were a year ago” he said.

With the budget cuts and the effects of the economy, WaYfm is closing their Kalamazoo office, and relocating all of WaYfm to the Grand Rapids office on the Cornerstone campus. As a result of closing the Kalamazoo office, WaYfm will lose two part-time employees and save approximately $25,000 a year.

WCSG’s goal was to raise $375,000. They raised $290,000. WCSG hosted a two-and-a-half day sharathon. It was originally scheduled for two days, and they extended it into the morning show in the third day in an attempt to get closer to their goal.

“We have seen a decline all the way around, a decline in volunteer assistance, decline in the number of people giving, decline in the size of the gift,” said Chris Lemke, general manager and network program director for Cornerstone University radio.

People did not give as much this year as they have in the past to help support the radio stations.

“I think people did the best they could. It’s incredibly humbling when someone comes and says, ‘I lost my job, but because your station has meant so much to us, here is $10 a month,’ and they have no idea where it is going to come from but they are going to give $10 a month,” Lemke said.

In an effort to reach their goals, both WCSG and WaYfm sent mailing to past donors letting them know the sharathons were coming and to encourage them to give early.

“We don’t do a huge amount of promotion on the radio, because an on-air fundraiser is something people look forward to,” Anderson said.

Although both radio ministries did not reach their goals and have had to make budget cuts, radio programming will not be affected, according to Lee Geysbeek, vice president for broadcasting Cornerstone University radio.

“Programming will stay pretty much the way it is. Our No. 1 priority has to be the listener and the product they get. We obviously need to grow that product and tell people about that product,” Geysbeek said.

“In this season when the economy is really tough we just don’t know what it’s going to look like at the end of this fiscal year or calendar year. We are trying to cut deeply enough. Our first priority is people and programming,” he said.

CU Radio wants to retain every staff person possible so that programming won’t be affected. “The people that we have here are really good,” Geysbeek said.

“People are the ones that execute the programming. If we start reducing people then our programming and the impact that connect back to the listener — how we served them will be diminished. We are trying to cut as deeply as we can to protect people and programming,” he said.