WIUX surpasses goal for station's 10-hour pledge drive, raising $1,500

WIUX, IU's student-run radio station, held a 10-hour pledge drive Friday. \nSenior Zach Pollakoff, the station manager, said he was thrilled with the success of the drive. \n"I'm really proud of the support we've gotten from local businesses," Pollakoff said. "It's great that our station gets that much exposure."\nThe pledge drive was so successful early in the day that WIUX was more than halfway to its $1,000 goal by 3 p.m. In the end, the group surpassed its goal by earning $1,500. Senior and WIUX Public Relations Director Eliza Erxleben said the drive's success was incredibly encouraging to everyone at the station.\n"It's amazing," Erxleben said. "It's something we've never done before. ... It's good to see that people actually do support us. It's always nice to know that."\nJunior Dan Fontaine, WIUX's news director, said he believed support from the Bloomington community was important not only to the pledge drive's success, but for the station in general. \nFontaine said combining support from campus and the community could make WIUX more popular. \n"I think to unite those two factions in the community is an incredible feat," Fontaine said. "When they come together to listen to WIUX and also ... come together to support it, I think it's really helping to build ties between the students and the community."\nPollakoff said he would like to do another pledge drive, perhaps making it a regular event at the station. \nHe said the pledge drive was not linked to the student-run station's current battle to stay on FM. The Federal Communications Commission was set to kick it off for a higher-priority FM signal out of Columbus, Ind., but is now reviewing a petition the station submitted to be allowed to stay on its current frequency. \nErxleben said she felt the public exposure garnered from the pledge drive could add support in that fight.\n"If people find out about our station, if they love it, if they see what we're doing here is good, it will make people want to keep us around," Erxleben said. "If we can show people that what we do here is valuable, then it's more reason to keep us on the air"