I used to try to guess what motivated you to give, but the longer I work with WORT supporters, the more I realize I can’t put your motivation in a box.
There is no one experience of WORT and there is no one reason to support us. Your reason is as unique as you are but the effect of giving is the same: ensuring media by the people, for the people.
When you listen to WORT next I hope you feel that it belongs to you. Because without you and the thousands who listen and support us, we would be nothing.
Thank you for giving WORT shape, purpose, and momentum. Thank you for fitting us into your life.
With immense gratitude,
Susan Sheldon, Donor Liaison
On Behalf of the Volunteers and Staff of WORT Community Radio
Please see the How to Help tab at the top of the page for other ways to support WORT, including car donations, stock donations, and distributions from your IRA.
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WORT’s Legal Name: Back Porch Radio Broadcasting Inc
Federal Identification Number: 23-7328965
Official Address: 118 South Bedford Street, Madison WI, 53703
Your support helps improve both the sound quality and the diversity of WORT’s offerings.
WORT Equipment Needs for 2020
New transmitter: $13,500
The station sends our programming via the internet to a small building on Forward Drive that contains our transmitter. The transmitter is basically an amplifier that increases the power of our audio signal to 3,000 watts and relays it to the space we lease on the tower owned by NBC 15.
Due to the age of our current transmitter (20 years old, well past its usual replacement date) and its cobbled-together state, there are functions we need it to do that it can’t. We must replace it within the next six months to maintain compliance with FCC regulations.
Digital library backup unit: $3,000
We have ripped the audio from a huge number of our CDs, to the tune of 7.5 terabytes of data, all stored on a server in the building. A terabyte is a million million or 10 to the 12 th power bytes of data. Currently, we don’t have a way to backup this data so if the server goes “poof,” the data and those hundreds of hours of work to convert our CDs to digital go “poof” as well. We need some way to ensure that our digital music library remains protected.
CD players: $1400
Marantz used to make the CD players we use in our studios but they, along with most other manufacturers, no longer produce broadcast-quality CD players. There are some available on the market but they are not cheap. Denon makes a sturdy, dependable player that is programmable, but it costs $700 each. We’ve been scavenging old parts from the dead players we’ve held onto, but we’ve reached the point where we need to replace two of our workhorses with reliable players that do what our hosts need them to do.
Microphones, Windscreens, Shock Mounts, Boom Arms: $4500
The industry standard microphone is the Electrovoice RE-20. It’s a good all-around microphone and is the workhorse for radio hosts, YouTubers, podcasters, and anyone else who produces quality audio. We have a few at WORT but we need to outfit all of our studios with mics that give you the best possible sound. The RE-20 costs $450 each (we need 8) and we also need the windscreens that keep you from hearing popping Ps and sibilant Ss, as well as shock mounts and boom arms that hold the microphones securely in place.
Server replacements: $3000
Like any modern business, WORT runs on computer servers. While we are moving a lot of our business needs to the cloud, many of the files necessary to keep us on the air must remain local to the station. This includes programs to create our radio archives, the archives themselves, audio files of news interviews, etc. In some places the hardware is aging and breaking down. We must ensure this hardware remains operational.
