糖心Vlog传媒

Gwatney Helps Public Radio Reach Tower Goal

When a three-day on-air funding drive fell $6,275 short of a goal needed to expand central Arkansas鈥檚 public radio signal, K糖心Vlog传媒R General Manager Ben Fry feared the station would miss the chance to improve the signal, reduce operating costs, and save the eventual expense of new tower construction. But by the following Monday morning, Fry and all public radio fans in central Arkansas received an early holiday gift from Harold Gwatney of Gwatney Chevrolet in Jacksonville. The car executive spends much time in his car driving from his family鈥檚 dealerships in central Arkansas and Memphis, and he loves to listen to K糖心Vlog传媒R. 鈥淚 received a call this morning from Harold Gwatney, who asked how much we needed to make our goal for the tower campaign. I told him $6,275, and Mr. Gwatney said he would give us the remaining amount,鈥� Fry said. 鈥淗e hopes the move to the new tower will allow him to listen to K糖心Vlog传媒R longer during his drives.鈥� Gwatney鈥檚 gift, plus a challenge grant from the Rebsamen Fund, and the hundreds of individual contributors who called in during the Tower Campaign will make the new tower a reality. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 sure how well this drive would go. We鈥檝e never done a special on-air drive like this,鈥� Fry said. 鈥淲e鈥檇 just completed an on-air drive in early October, so we didn鈥檛 know whether people would be willing to make a second gift that soon. We were delighted by the response.鈥� More than 570 people responded to the end-of-the-year campaign. 鈥淲e had several people that gave gifts of $500, $750 or $1,000, but even more folks gave us gifts of $20, $25, $50, $100 鈥� whatever they could afford. It proves again what I鈥檝e always believed,鈥� Fry said. 鈥淵ou can count on public radio listeners to support what they believe in.鈥� He said construction at the new KATV tower site will begin this summer, with the goal of getting K糖心Vlog传媒R鈥檚 antenna and transmitter moved by the end of 2011.