Toronto not-for-profit JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) says it’s made significant progress toward “closing the gap,” following an urgent fundraising appeal in early July to make up a $150,000 budget shortfall.
Dana Wigle, General Manager of the 24-hour jazz station, says thanks to a 24-hour live appeal and the support of artists and listeners, that shortfall has been reduced to $50,000.
“We’ve closed the gap considerably,” Wigle told Broadcast Dialogue on Thursday. “We have three weeks left to go and we are 75% of the way there, which is amazing.”
Like other broadcasters, the not-for-profit is adapting to the shifting media landscape and running lean, but in no way is in dire financial straits, Wigle asserts.
“It’s urgent. It’s always urgent when you’re a charity because you don’t carry a giant surplus, but it’s not dire,” said Wigle.
The station did go through dire times in 2019 when a third-party workplace review resulted in the departure of former CEO Ross Porter and eventually the ouster of its board of directors.
“At that time a new board came in and new management and they stabilized the radio station, but it was with a fraction of the team, a much smaller team, and on the heels of that, less than a year later COVID happened,” said Wigle. “No one has caught a break since then. We got out of COVID into inflation and a rapidly changing media landscape, all that while occupying 10,000 sq. ft.”
With a smaller team, the station no longer needs the expansive Liberty Village studios that it first took over in 2006 when it was operating with a much larger staff, and hosting more live events.
As the station looks ahead to celebrating CJRT-FM’s 75th anniversary in November, it has put that space up for sub-lease, as it takes steps to plan for a sustainable future.
“Right now our space is way bigger than what we need,” explained Wigle. “It doesn’t meet our needs anymore. As a charitable broadcaster, and a broadcaster in general, we need to be nimble and our resources invested back into the product and the technology we need to evolve. If we were to stay and try to manage 10,000 sq. ft. for the next five years then we would find ourselves in a dire situation.”
Wigle says right now, conversations are being had on what makes sense for the station location-wise going forward.
“We’re talking to fellow broadcasters, other arts organizations, to look at our future. Do we share space? Are there resources that we should be sharing? Is the secret to this not doing this by ourselves?”
“Every single dollar we generate goes right back into organization,” said Wigle. “What we’re trying to avoid is making cuts to the very essence of what we do, which is programming. We really don’t want to impact the quality of the product that we have.”
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