Dear Friends of WUSM,

     2009 certainly has been a year of change and one that has brought challenges to our country, our university and WUSM, FM 88.5. We are tackling the challenges of today with you in mind, working to ensure that what you enjoy about WUSM continues and gets even better, despite these tough economic times. With your support and assistance, we remain upbeat and focused on a brighter future.

     One of our goals for the station is to make it possible for WUSM to be self-sustaining.   We believe our future depends on being able to operate and grow our programming with stronger support from our friends and supporters.  The State and University continue to make tough choices as to what they will be able to fund and what may need to be eliminated, including funding for public radio.  Our goal is to develop our own source of funding to protect us from the ups and downs of the budget, thus enabling us to protect our programming and improve our ability to serve you.

     We made the very tough decision to change our programming earlier this year, in part due to our quest to have unique and original programming for the station.  Our roots lie within classical music, but unfortunately other stations within our area also shared this format.  Part of our future success lies in our ability to stand out and have our own position within the local radio market.  Since our roots also lie within local programming, local artists and all those great songs that make up the musical history of Mississippi and America, it made good sense to move to our current format called American Roots.

     With your support and guidance, we are looking towards a bright future for WUSM, FM 88.5.   Over the coming months we plan to refine our line-up, add more locally based programming and when possible, live shows that we know you will enjoy.

     We wish you and yours have a terrific holiday and thank you again for your support of WUSM.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Staff of WUSM, FM 88.5