In brief: Condensed pledge drive pays for public radio

A single day of pleading for donations, rather than a weeklong pledge drive, paid off for Spokane Public Radio.

KPBX raised about $166,000 Thursday in its first attempt at condensing its spring fundraising to one day. That was on top of $300,000 in pledges made in advance of the “one and done” event.

The $466,000 pledge total is an increase of about 14 percent over last year, SPR President and General Manager Cary Boyce said.

“It was well-managed chaos, and the results are such a good indication of how much the community is behind us,” Boyce said.

KPBX will repeat the one-day drive in the fall and “for as long as it’s successful,” he said. “We learned a lot on our first try, so we’ll be better at it this fall, making it even more enjoyable. It really was a lot of fun, so I doubt our listeners would let us go back.”

The idea of shortening the pledge drive originally came from a public radio station in Alaska, Boyce said.

“The idea caught on, and it was certainly popular with listeners and radio staffs,” he said. “More and more stations across the country have tried it with continued success.”

Boyce added, “It’s a lot less arduous on listeners, volunteers and staff alike.”

Staff reports

No threats against city, law enforcement says

Spokane’s leading law enforcers reiterated Friday that there have been no threats against Spokane since Monday’s bombings in Boston and encouraged residents to attend events like Bloomsday.

“We can’t live in a bunker,” police Chief Frank Straub said.

This Sunday’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event and Bloomsday, on May 5, will both have extra security, he said, and the public should look at attendance as a way of standing up to terrorism.

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, also the head of Spokane’s Emergency Management team, said the region’s various departments work together to prepare for large-scale operations like this week’s search for the Boston bombers, which ended in the death of one suspect and the arrest of another on Friday.

In June, the emergency management team will hold a large-scale training exercise. Knezovich said law enforcement will take over an area mall for an entire day and re-create a scenario similar to last year’s shooting in Aurora, Colo. The simulation will involve all emergency responders and hospitals.

Knezovich said the goal is to be as prepared as possible.

“There’s no way to make everybody 100 percent safe,” Knezovich said. “That’s one of the prices we pay for freedom.”

Jennifer Pignolet