KASU Encourages Collective Contributions for Transmitter Fund
JONESBORO — A transmitter fund page, KASU.org/Inspire, has been established on the website for Arkansas State University’s radio station, KASU 91.9 FM, for contributions toward the purchase of a transmitter to continue reaching the northeast Arkansas, southeast Missouri and northwest Tennessee broadcast areas.
The current transmitter is 27-years-old and was made to last 25-to-30 years at best, according to Kristy Cates, KASU director of development. The 100,000-watt transmitter will cost over $93,000. KASU is encouraging a different strategy to raise the funds needed to replenish the reserve funds that will be severely depleted when the transmitter is purchased.
The strategy to raise these funds involves a leader or company deciding on a sphere of contributions to give to this expense. Transmitter fund leaders will be responsible for challenging their sphere of friends or organizations to make the tiered goal, or donors, companies and organizations could directly contribute.
The spheres of contributions include:
Ionosphere— Those donors, companies and organizations contributing at $5,000 or higher will receive special recognition on the website, social media and on-air.
Mesosphere— Those donors, companies and organizations collecting $2,500 to $4,999 will be recognized on the website, social media and on-air.
Stratosphere— Those donors, companies, organizations collecting $1,000 to $2,499 will receive recognition on the website and social media.
Troposphere — Those donors, companies and organizations collecting $500 to $999 will receive recognition on the website.
KASU will also respect any anonymous requests.
The transmitter fund concludes Sept. 10. At that time, KASU will evaluate the program and decide how to proceed. Plus, in October, the fall fundraiser begins when KASU goes on-air to raise the funds needed for the programming heard at 91.9 FM and KASU.org.
KASU hopes that the Arkansas State community will help continue to transmit music, news, the arts and views to the public by leading a sphere of influence to raise the funds together. The KASU staff of eight full-time people accepted this challenge and raised $530 to make it into the Troposphere.
Cates can provide assistance in leading a group or contributing to the transmitter fund. She can be reached at 870-972-3486 or kcates@AState.edu.
KASU, 91.9 FM, is the public broadcasting service of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and broadcaststo listeners in northeast Arkansas, southeast Missouri and northwest Tennessee. The station also streams its signal online at KASU.org, and KASU is available on smart speakers by asking, “Play K-A-S-U.”
