UPDATE: Holy moly, y'all, we've already hit my goal! You are the best!!

I've never done this well on a drive before, so let's go for broke - I'm adding a stretch goal of $500, and as a thank you to those that have already donated, all new sustaining members (any amount, monthly or quarterly) will be invited to come on my show and guest-curate/announce a three song set! If you've ever entertained dreams of being on the radio, now's your chance - and you'll actually be on the air when we're at 107.1FM WCXP come October 21st!

This is it, y'all. After 10 years, CHIRP Radio is FINALLY taking over the North Side at 107.1 FM!

Our broadcast officially launches on October 21st at noon. We need your help to get there.

I know we've had a couple of fits and starts, but the tower is going up. Like, right now. As you're reading this, there's an engineer and some building dudes on top of a high-rise on Sheridan moving some metal around and probably making nervous jokes about the wind.

But, as our tower rises over Lake Michigan, so do costs. Which is why we're doing our biggest fundraising push EVER. And I'm trying to do my small part as a DJ, Record Fair Co-Director, Promotions assistant, and general enthusiastic appreciator of all things CHIRP.

So, I imagine you have some questions:

How does my $$$ help CHIRP?

• $10 covers one day of transmission from our studio to our transmitter site, half a day of streaming costs, or one album that isn’t sent to us by an artist or label
• $25 covers the cost of a replacement stylus for a turntable
• $50 covers one day of rent for the CHIRP studios
• $60 ($5/mo.) covers one month or CHIRP’s phone or DSL bill
• $120 ($10/mo.) covers a turntable tune-up
• $240 ($20/mo.) covers a hand-held field recorder for our features team, or one month of maintenance for our mobile app
• $365 ($1/day) covers just over a week of rent for the CHIRP studios
• $500 covers one month of rooftop rent for our broadcast antenna
• $1000 covers a year of insurance for our studios or our broadcast antenna

Okay, cool, but what do I get out of it?

I'm guessing you mean besides a sense of goodwill at furthering the cause of independent music radio in The Second City?

Yeah. Let's talk tangibles. I've got bills to pay, lady.

Fair enough. Well, any donation made to a 501(c)3 non-profit (like us) is tax-deductible --

-- But tax season's not until April. What do I get right now?

Okay, okay. So we've got some pretty cool donor gifts this time around. If you sign up to give $5/month, or a flat $60, you'll get this dope poster:

Nice, right? That's designed by renowned Chicago screenprinter, Dan Grzeca. If you can manage to double that ($10/month or $120), you'll get a t-shirt version of the poster design plus our very awesome CHIRP Member Card (good for 2-1 entrees at a ton of restaurants, as well as admissions to local museums and other great stuff!)

Things get fancy at the $20/month level (that's $240 flat if you're not a math kid):

ooooOOOOhh! Shiny. That's in addition to the aforementioned CHIRP Member Card.

If you can set aside $1/day ($365), you'll get all three gifts (poster+shirt+flask) in addition to the Member Card. If you're feeling particularly generous (and feel like meeting my fundraising goal in one fell swoop, damn), $500 will get you all of the above plus a tour of the station! And Shawn's undying gratitude, I'm sure. As well as mine.

OH CRAP I almost forgot. Everyone who gives during the course of this drive will receive an automatic entry into a drawing for a Downtown Weekend Out: a two-night stay in an exclusive loft room at the brand new Ace Hotel, breakfast included, and dinner at City Mouse! More rules here: http://chirpradio.org/rules/sweepstakes

Wow, that's a lot. How do I make sure I get my sweet gift?

Either donate via this page and email development@chirpradio.org, or donate via chirpradio.org/donatenow and select "Jenny West's Radio Quest" where it says "CREDIT THIS DONATION TO THIS SOCIAL FUNDRAISER". Otherwise it won't count toward my goal. And I like meeting goals.

So like... are you putting anything on offer here? Like, personally?

Not sure how to take that, but... if you donate $20 or more, I will laptop/spotify/bluetooth/youtube/whatever-I-don't-have-to-rent-equipment-for DJ a party/occasion of your choosing FO' FREE. If this is like a fancy thing and/or I def need equipment (like a PA), I'll deduct your donation from the equipment rental costs (around $80 usually). That's a pretty sweet deal, right? 

What if I don't live near Chicago though?

Well, I can at least curate a Spotify playlist for you or something. We'll figure it out.

Dang, cool. So this is pretty important to you, huh?

YES. This is the organization I honestly spend something like 75% of my free time on. Sometimes even my not-free-time. I've made amazing friends and awesome music scene connections through this group, and I'm allowed to DJ and share music I love with people once a week for two hours (my show's called Music For Chameleons, it's 8-10pm Tuesdays, check it out!). None of that would happen if this organization didn't exist.

Sounds like it's pretty important for the local Chicago music scene too.

Now you're getting it. We focus on local artists and labels pretty heavily - for some bands, we're the only chance they'll have to be on the air. We also promote local concerts and fellow non-profits, so we'd like to think there's a net benefit to the community.

Well, I'm sold. How do I contribute?

Through this page, or through chirpradio.org/donatenow. 

Great, that's taken care of. Good luck with your drive!

Thanks so much! And don't forget to tune in for your on-air shoutout. You're the best!

No, you are!

Oh, stop. We'll be here all day.

MAKE A GIFT TO CHIRP TODAY!

CHIRP is a listener-supported, community-powered radio station—your gift makes everything we do possible!

Please make a gift supporting our fall fund drive so we can continue to bring you great music and events! Your gift will also help us launch our broadcast at 107.1FM in October 2017!

If you would like to become a sustaining member by making a recurring donation (monthy or quarterly), or select a fall campaign thank you gift, please visit CHIRP’s main donation page to make your contribution (and don’t forget to enter the name of the CHIRP Volunteer or DJ in the “How did you hear about CHIRP” section so they can receive credit for your gift!)