Dear friend of WKAR,
As we look back on 2025, every member of the WKAR team is filled with profound gratitude for you.
This past year was the most difficult in our station’s history. The loss of federal funding created a serious and unexpected gap in our budget. For a time, the future of WKAR — and the services we provide to mid-Michigan — was uncertain. We came to you, our community, and asked for your help to “close the funding gap” and sustain the programs and services you rely on.
You did far more than answer the call.
Donors like you from across mid-Michigan, including many who had not previously supported WKAR, stepped forward in remarkable numbers to send a clear and emphatic message – public media matters. Your generosity and encouragement are what allowed us to maintain critical operations as we revised our strategic priorities and restructured our team to deliver on the specific issues and services that matter most to you.
Your support has done more than keep the lights on. It has inspired us. In a year when circumstances outside our control forced us to make difficult decisions, your letters, phone calls and reassuring words at community events kept us strong. Every day, you reminded us why our work is worth fighting for, and we cannot thank you enough.
Because of your generosity, we’re entering 2026 in a strong position to continue serving our community with the original programming, classical music, trusted news, educational outreach and in-person events that define WKAR. But we are not stopping there. During 2026, we will work even harder to expand access to WKAR content, create more opportunities for community engagement and volunteerism and grow our student experiential learning program.
Doing more with less is an ambitious goal, especially when we know that the public media landscape has changed so drastically. The federal support we once relied on is gone, and optimism that it will be restored anytime soon is low. That is why the steady, ongoing support of our community is more important than ever.
We understand that requests for contributions can feel frequent, and we truly appreciate your patience and consideration as we work to grow our list of supporters. We ask because there is no substitute for public media; without sustained local support, the free news, entertainment and educational services that inform and connect our community would not be possible.
Your belief in public media — and your commitment to this station — renew our determination to persevere, grow and innovate on behalf of everyone we serve.
Thank you once again for your overwhelming support and encouragement. We are deeply grateful for your trust and belief in the power of public media to make a difference in our community.
With heartfelt appreciation,
Shawn Turner
WKAR General Manager
Michigan State University
P.S. If you’re considering making a new or additional gift of support to WKAR, this is a great time to do so. Every sustaining gift made by the end of 2025 will be doubled, powering the essential services our community relies on into the new year. Make or increase your sustaining gift here by December 31 to double your impact.