April 2025 WMNF News & Notes

First and foremost, thanks so very much to everyone for doing their part during our winter fund drive to help keep community radio vibrate at WMNF and around the world. Yes, around the world! We received donations from around the Tampa Bay area, up to Alabama and Michigan, and even from the Philippines. You did that! You gave us the resources to amplify your values internationally. We need to promote a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world now more than ever.

By the time you receive this message, the heads of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will have faced off with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and other members of the House Subcommittee on Government Oversight. They have called the hearing “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” Before hearing one word from those called to the committee, they are already stating NPR and PBS are “Anti-American.” Sound familiar? Hint: Senator Joseph McCarthy.

To be clear, WMNF pays to use NPR programming. We play the NPR headlines at the top of the hour almost every hour of every day. We also play some of their other programming like Fresh Air and Explorations on The Source/HD3. We are considered an NPR member station because neither NPR nor PBS broadcast their own content. They only produce programming. Locally owned stations, most of them affiliated with a university, pick which programming they will air. Like WMNF, local people determine which content produced nationally and locally should be heard by you.

I understand the points raised by Project 2025. They believe that if the state pays for media, the media will become the voice of the state. In United States history, corporations own most broadcast facilities, and their goals are to earn profits. A legit goal, but not the only goal for media as powerful as TV and radio. Congress decided in 1967 to create the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to ensure that quality educational content would be available for free on the people’s airwaves. It is estimated that 99% of the U.S. population can receive content from at least one NPR or PBS station. As far as I am concerned, taxpayer money used to broadcast quality, educational, and informational content is only “Un-American” if you want to keep people uninformed and in the dark. Kind of like not being fully awake.

At WMNF, we are committed to keeping you informed with award-winning news and public affairs that you will not hear anywhere else. We make space for people who speak truth to power. Commercial stations will not play all the great music created because some recording label executive or computer algorithm said so. Using their hearts, WMNF programmers curate and share the best music from independent, and even commercial artists creating alternatives to the hum drum. With your continued support, WMNF will always be the soundtrack for your life.

Randi M. Zimmerman

General Manager, WMNF 88.5FM