WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
1. Membership. As of July 31, 2015, WWOZ has received $2,182,431 in donations for FY 2015, a 9% increase over revenue for the same period last year (September 2013- July 2014). During the current reporting period, 7,245 individual members donated to WWOZ: 2,009 sustaining members gave $198,869 (9% of all revenue) and 3,655 out-of-state members gave approximately $938,445 (43% of all revenue). During the same period last year, 7,132 WWOZ members donated $2,003,495 to WWOZ: 1,768 sustaining members contributed approximately $160,000 (8% of all revenue), and 3,646 out-of-state members contributed approximately $881,538 (44% of all revenue). In the month of July 2015 alone, WWOZ received $15,534 in donations, a 35% decrease from July 2014, which saw $23,770 in donations.
2. Underwriting & Sponsorship. As of July 31, 2015, WWOZ has earned $332,380 in underwriting and sponsorship revenue for FY 2015, an increase of 13% over the same period last year (September 2013-July 2014), which saw $294,875 in revenue. In July 2015 alone, underwriting and sponsorship revenue totaled $38,939, a 152% increase over July 2014 revenue of $15,450. WWOZ signed three new underwriting agreements in August 2015: L. Kasimu Harris Photography, Live Nation for Gretna Fest, and Dickie Brennan & Company. Since the last Manager’s Report, the WWOZ Underwriting team evaluated available inventory to create new annual support packages that pull from both “prime-time” and “off prime-time” spot avails. Thus, WWOZ will be able to create packages at far more accessible rates in return for a long- term commitment. The two advantages to this approach are: 1) it will make underwriting more affordable to organizations who desire a more significant on-air presence, and 2) it will encourage supporters to make a commitment that will generate revenue for WWOZ over a longer period of time. The “Halo Effect,” i.e., the positive associations that public radio listeners have with corporate sponsors and underwriters, builds as listeners hear messages from an individual supporter consistently over a long period of time. WWOZ has created a finite number of these new annual packages; when all the packages have been sold, they should provide a strong base of reliable, year-round underwriting revenue.
3. Major Giving. As of July 31, 2015, WWOZ has received $186,767 in major donations for FY 2015, a 33% increase over the same period in FY 2014 (September 2013-July 2014), during which major donors contributed $140,454. In July 2015 alone, Major Giving received $16,833.
4. Swamp Shop. As of July 31, 2015, FY 2015 revenue for the WWOZ Swamp Shop totaled $53,190 a decrease of 19% over the $65,538 in Swamp Shop revenue generated during the same period in FY 2014. For the month of July 2015, Swamp Shop revenue was $210, a 95% decrease from revenue totaling $4,385 for July 2014.
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
5. Outreach. WWOZ served as a media sponsor of the Seventh Annual Culture Collision event, held on September 2, 2015 at The National WWII Museum’s U.S. Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. WWOZ also hosted an outreach table at Culture Collision 7, an event that serves as a celebration of the New Orleans cultural non-profit community, with 65 of New Orleans’ performing and visual arts organizations participating. Also on September 2, 2015, WWOZ hosted an outreach table at Tulane University’s annual “Make a Difference Fair,” an event designed for students to talk with non-profits and other service organizations about opportunities to serve in the New Orleans area.
6. WWOZ Video. On August 24, 2015, the Video team was on hand to document the two- hour panel discussion entitled “Ten Years After: The State of New Orleans Music & Culture,” organized by C5 [The Crescent City Cultural Continuity Conservancy] and held at Basin Street Station. The panel explored the challenges and opportunities in post-Katrina New Orleans for culture bearers of the city, including musicians, Social Aid & Pleasure Club members, and Mardi Gras Indians. C5’s panelists were: Evan Christopher, Lolis Eric Elie, Jordan Hirsch, Tamara Jackson, Fred Johnson, Howard Miller, and Bennie Pete. The panel moderator was Larry Blumenfeld, a cultural journalist whose writing appears regularly in The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, and The New York Times.
7. New Orleans Calling: “After the Flood.” August 29, 2015 marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, and to coincide with remembrance of that day and the flooding that followed, WWOZ produced “After the Flood,” a special episode of its syndicated radio program New Orleans Calling recounting WWOZ staff members’ experiences in the aftermath of the levee breach that forced WWOZ off the air, and the story of how WWOZ returned to the airwaves. “After the Flood” was broadcast twice on the air, posted to the WWOZ homepage, and a link to the program was shared via WWOZ’s social media programs. “After the Flood” took two months to produce.
8. New Media. WWOZ.org hosted the live video stream of the C5 panel discussion “Ten Years After” on August 24, 2015. In honor of the month-long remembrances of Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood of 2005, WWOZ.org posted “Remembering Katrina: Ten Years After the Storm,” which featured a comprehensive list of “Katrina 10”-related community events in the New Orleans metropolitan area, as well as a public thank-you to the “Katrina Network,” the group of 31 community radio stations – 29 in the United States, one in Canada, one in Australia – that provided WWOZ with assistance in the aftermath of the Federal Flood. On September 1, 2015, WWOZ created a LastPass Enterprise account for its employees, in order to mandate the use of secure passwords on WWOZ computers, laptops, and mobile phones. Five WWOZ employees have volunteered to test use of the password manager plug-in, and WWOZ plans to roll it out to all employees by October 31, 2015 at the latest.
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
9. In-Studio Performers and Guests.
August 1, 2015: Dennis Formento & El Habib Louai August 4, 2015: Peter Orr August 5, 2015: Gary Granata, Carmine Potenza August 6, 2015: Marc Stone, Askia Bennett, Micah McKee, Steve Pyke & Nic Kaczorowski August 7, 2015: Herreast J. Harrison August 9, 2015: Adam Crochet, Kateri Yager Laborde, Gary Granata, David S. Shields August 11, 2015: Dr. Jimbo Walsh, Jonathan Freilich, Marcello Benetti, Jesse Morrow, Paul Thiboudeaux, Martin Krusche, Helen Gillet, Shan Kenner, Maurine McCort, Miguel Barrosse, Jason Brettel August 12, 2015: Bruce Tyler, Jamie Bernstein, Kelcy Mae, Jeremy Joyce, Smoky Greenwell August 13, 2015: Dennis Pontrello August 14, 2015: Elle Dorado, Peter Orr, John Driver, Carlo Nuccio, Pat McLaughlin August 15, 2015: Carolina Hernandez, Jose Fermin Ceballos August 17, 2015: Ben Russell, Gary Hudson, Papa Mali, Laura Paul, Erica Dudas, Christina Duggar August 18, 2015: Mia Borders August 19, 2015: Helen Gillet, Bobby Hjortsberg August 20, 2015: Clifford Baptiste, Jasmine Ratliff, Darryl “Dancing Man 504” Young, Askia Bennett, John Ellison & Colby Johnson (Wild Tchoupitoulas), Brother Davis, Brother C, & Calvin H. Jones, Sr. (Valley of the Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club), Kevin McCaffrey, Heather Keizur August 21, 2015: Donald Surtain, Jr., Alexis Marceaux, Sam Craft, Gabrielle Gopinath & Benjamin Funke August 22, 2015: Javier Olondo, Ariana Hall, Dan Storper August 23, 2015: R. Califa, Brotha T., Luther Gray, Morgan Molthrop August 25, 2015: Zoe Tritsis, David Morris, Sam Cammarata, Tony Frickey, Jesse Hathorne, Denise Moore, Christina Juran August 26, 2015: Hannah Davis, Justin Powers, Sean Johnson
10. Upcoming Live Remote Broadcasts & Recordings.
Thursday, September 17, 2015:
Jazz in the Park featuring Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet Armstrong Park, New Orleans
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
11. Press.
KGNU-FM/AfterFM.com: “The Morning Sound Alternative with Joanne Cole – Interview with David Freedman” Original Air Date August 31, 2015
David Freedman: “… a lot of stations worry about people tuning out during their fund drives – they don’t tune out of WWOZ, it’s a party, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
David Freedman: “The fact is that we’ve lost 100,000 of our original people who live here, and they were black, the neighborhoods they lived in were destroyed, and the neighborhoods are the incubators of our culture….”
David Freedman: “If you don’t live here, I don’t know that you can really get how sacred our culture bearers are. I mean, what they do is really sacred, it’s not ‘entertainment’….”
The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com: “BBC revisits WWL-AM's Katrina experience, plus WWNO and WWOZ tell their storm stories” Dave Walker, August 29, 2015
“And here's the K+10 episode of ‘New Orleans Calling,’ the WWOZ FM-90.7 magazine show produced by George Ingmire and Dave Ankers.”
Gothamist.com: “An Insider's Guide to New Orleans” Kelsy Chauvin, August 29, 2015
“Head three blocks past Canal Street to check into the very new, chic Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery. Occupying a refurbished 1854 shipping warehouse (a.k.a. a chandlery), here's where exposed-brick walls and hardwood floors will make New York hipsters feel right at home for sweet nightly rates. And in case the city's radio station WWOZ doesn't do the trick, the hotel offers its own Spotify radio station curated to suit the local mood.
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
11. Press (cont).
WRIC-TV/WRIC.com: “Richmond’s ‘Mr. Jazz’ remembers Hurricane Katrina” Amy Lacey, August 28, 2015
“[Michael] Gourrier has won awards for his broadcasting since then and is still active in the New Orleans jazz scene. He flies there a few times a year to raise money for WWOZ, the station where he gave 25 years of his life. He is also a part of Jazz Fest at the House of Blues. There is a life Gourrier left behind in Louisiana, but he is working on making new memories here.”
Esquire.com: “How ‘Highway 61’ Changed My Life 50 Years Ago” Charles P. Pierce, August 28, 2015
“Weekly WWOZ Pick to Click: ‘Walkin’ with the Spirit’ (Coco Robicheaux): Yeah, I still pretty much love the battered, shattered but still beating heart of America, New Orleans, Louisiana.”
Mississippi Business JournalMSBusiness.com: “JACK WEATHERLY: Healing on the coast — A sunny mortality” Jack Weatherly, August 28, 2015
“The sea may get its revenge. It is rising up, literally, in what some see as its reaction to our profligate energy-consuming ways. But these fatalistic thoughts are muted in the evenings when my wife and I sip Chardonnay and listen to jazz and blues on WWOZ broadcasting from New Orleans, or benefit from the shade of an ancient live oak sheltering us from the harsh afternoon sun. A sense of history and permanence prevails.”
The Lens/TheLensNola.org: “Opinion: Two sides to the Katrina recovery: one black, one white — separate and unequal” Eugene Thomas, August 28, 2015
“The question is whether we, the people, can come together out of our common love of New Orleans, our unique culture and our traditions. Will we demand equitable allocation of resources, housing and opportunities? Will we maximize the new Resilient NOLA plan for future protection? We must demand accountability from our elected leaders. Will they listen?”
“Eugene Thomas is a self-employed real estate broker, an attorney, a Sunday night DJ on WWOZ and an ordained Babalawo priest in the Ifa tradition of the Yoruba people.”
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
11. Press (cont).
The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com: “Stirring the ‘gangsta gumbo’ 10 years after Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans rap gets a closer look” Alison Fensterstock, August 27, 2015
“In 2005, before social media use was ubiquitous, word of mouth was the best strategy for reaching those in need, and [Jordan] Hirsch found that rappers (as well as other non- ‘traditional’ musicians, like punk-rock or heavy metal bands) were ‘trickier’ to reach, he said, because they weren't already plugged into the networks that connected so many local musicians to those with the resources to help: WWOZ, Offbeat magazine, Jazz Fest.”
“And more than 10 years after DJ [Rogan] Davis was booted from WWOZ's airwaves for playing bounce, early discussions about an online-only ‘WWOZ-2’ streaming channel floated the idea of a show focusing on bounce music.”
NPR Morning Edition/NPR.org: “At a Shelter of Last Resort, Decency Prevailed Over Depravity” John Burnett, August 25, 2015
“Families were camped out inside the [Ernest N. Morial Convention Center] — which a few days before had hosted the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ game show. They tried to maintain their dignity as they gagged from the stench of raw sewage that had soaked the carpet.”
“‘This is craziness. Not one public official has come here even though we hear ‘em on the radio talkin’ their s***. Not one person from the convention center. Not one person from the Red Cross. [Dead] bodies are here. ...This is craziness!’ said Johnny Jackson Jr., a former city councilman, state representative and then [Board] President of the beloved local music station, WWOZ.”
The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com: “WWOZ's ‘After the Flood’ tells the story of a community radio station, brought back by its community Alison Fensterstock, August 20, 2015
“It's a micro-history that becomes something bigger in the way that WWOZ, getting back on the air and giving reeling New Orleanians a taste of home, in 2005, was something bigger. In one understated moment, WWOZ DJ Cousin Dimitri distills the feeling; he was back in town, doing the dull work of putting up drywall, and WWOZ was finally back on his radio. ‘That first day I had WWOZ to listen to at work,’ he said, ‘it was a good day.’”
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WWOZ Board of Directors General Manager’s Report September 9, 2015
11. Press (cont).
Esquire.com: “Why Joe Biden Should Hang It Up and Not Run for President” Charles P. Pierce, August 15, 2015
“Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: ‘Viva La Money’ (Allen Toussaint): Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans.”
The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com: “Musicians, tradition bearers to discuss state of New Orleans culture 10 years after Katrina” Alison Fensterstock, August 14, 2015
“‘Ten Years After: The State of New Orleans Music and Culture,’ which is free and open to the public, takes place Monday, August 24, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Basin St. Station (501 Basin St.) The conversation will be broadcast live on WWOZ 90.7FM, or via wwoz.org.”
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