FBi rescued from ruin

Eight weeks after launching an innovative media campaign to save itself from financial ruin, Sydney community radio station FBi has pulled itself out of red alert.

Station manager Evan Kaldor says the youth broadcaster is just under the halfway mark of their target, having started their ‘Ask Richard’ campaign in May to compel listeners to appeal to Sir Richard Branson for $1 million.
While the British entrepreneur stopped short of dishing out the million, instead offering Virgin Atlantic and V Festival tickets as a prize to listeners who signed up as supporters, Kaldor said the fundraising response was overwhelming.

With dozens of ‘Save FBi’ shows throughout Sydney organised pro bono by an array of venues, technical staff, record labels and bands themselves, Kaldor says that everyone was equally integral in achieving success.

“All of them very quickly got on board, all of the venues immediately donated their time and their space,” he said. “We arranged for 130 bands to play, all of whom donated their time,” he said.

“The whole process has shown that there not only is a real vibrancy but also a real solidarity in the scene. It’s very encouraging.”

The station raised approximately $200,000 in membership fees from its supporter drive, also deploying volunteers throughout Sydney to collect donations with large buckets.

While Kaldor couldn’t reveal the average size of donations, he said it was much higher than expected.

Money raised so far will go towards paying off the station’s debts, upgrading infrastructure, and building cash reserves to ride out the difficult times. Despite a massive withdrawal from investors earlier in the year, putting the station in a perilous position, Kaldor explained that tuning out was never an option.

“We always took the view that we’d do whatever’s necessary to stay on air, but the result that we got has been very encouraging and the fact that we’ve been able to raise enough money to keep us going for not only the very short term but for a number of years to come has been a really good result,” he said.

But with benefit shows planned through to the end of July, the fundraising isn’t over yet, and Kaldor says the station will continue through to the new year to reach the $1 million needed to secure its long-term viability.