FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Tom Scharpling on March 02, 2009, 08:12:00 PM
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Hey, everyone! It's Tom.
WFMU’s two-week long fundraising marathon just started. If you’re not aware of it, this is how the station raises money to stay on the air. The station is 100 percent listener sponsored. We don't run ads and we don't take corporate funding or government grants. And that's what keeps the station 100 percent freeform, letting me do something as willfully stupid as The Best Show On WFMU every Tuesday, letting me and Jon Wurster do our thirty-five minute calls without commercial interruption or editorial feedback from anyone at any point.
It's not cheap running a radio station, especially one that streams the show on the internet 24/7 (at www.wfmu.org) and maintains an extensive archive selection of virtually every show I and every other DJ have done in the last eight-plus years.
I'm doing two shows during the marathon - Tuesday March 3rd between 8-11 PM EST and next Tuesday March 10th between 8-11 PM EST. And if you're a fan of Scharpling and Wurster or me or the people who call or the guests I have on or the podcast or freeform radio or stations that shouldn't exist in the face of all the corporate creepiness, it's a cause worth supporting. If we don't reach our goal of 1.2 million dollars by the end of the marathon, we are In Trouble.
If you want to throw some support, please call 800-989-9368 or pledge online at www.wfmu.org BETWEEN 8-11 PM EST ON MARCH 3rd! In addition to your money going to a worthy cause, you get a lot of stuff back.
Everybody who pledges 75 bucks or more automatically gets The Best Show On WFMU’s MIRTH MUSIC AND MAYHEM: A PRIZE PACK IN THREE PARTS. And this is an amazing thing that I’ve been working on for AGES.
The MIRTH part of the pack is an ALL NEW SCHARPLING AND WURSTER CD, with stuff written and recorded for this CD. This marathon is the ONLY time you’ll ever have a chance to get it – it goes out of print as soon as the marathon ends!
The MUSIC part is insane – an all-star various artists tribute to the album RAM, featuring ALL NEW AND ORIGINAL RECORDINGS from artists like:
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
TED LEO
AIMEE MANN
PORTASTATIC
DANIELSON FAMILY
DUMP
THE BLACK HOLLIES
THEHANK IV
THE BARBARAS
JAMES PANTS
and so many more!
These artists recorded these songs JUST FOR THIS CD, and again – it is only available by pledging to me! THIS CD GOES AWAY after the marathon ends!
And finally the MAYHEM part of the deal: A really cool ENVIRONMENTAL TOTE BAG with the famed ‘Dogmo’ logo on the side and a FRIENDS OF TOM MEMBERSHIP CARD that you can only get during this marathon!
Again, this is the only chance at getting these things. Once the marathon is over, THEY ARE GONE FOREVER.
There are pledge levels at $150, $365, $500, $1000 and $3000, and the station takes care of you big-time with a TON of awesome prizes and shirts and CDs that you can’t get anywhere else. And unlike that PBS or NPR crap, WFMU’s premiums are all top-notch and well made – who hasn’t seen a cool WFMU t-shirt in their travels? And everything is 100 percent TAX DEDUCTABLE!
And as an added bonus, anyone who pledges $1000 or more to my show gets an insanely special premium: “Taste Of Newbridge”, a limited edition TEA blended by T Salon & T Emporium just for this marathon! It’s a high end tea combining ‘a black tea base with notes of caramel, chocolate, vanilla and a touch of Mandarin orange rind!’ Each tea comes in a container featuring customized Best Show packaging and a quote from Philly Boy Roy! The retail value on this is around a hundred bucks, and this is the ONLY chance to ever get it!
But PLEASE pledge DURING MY SHOW! It's the only way for me to prove to the Powers That Be that The Best Show On WFMU is popular and worth keeping on the station for another year. All we're doing is trying to earn our keep.
And if you want to support the station but don't have the money right now, YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY YOUR PLEDGE RIGHT AWAY! The station sends you a bill in the mail and you can take care of it later. You can structure your payments in EASY MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS! But the important thing is pledging and being a part of something Good in a world that is filled with Too Much Bad, especially in These Troubling Times.
And PLEASE spread the word about this! Put it on Facebook and Twitter and MySpace and maybe even Friendster if you can still remember your password. Post it on like-minded message boards! Tell co-workers and friends and family members and whoever! The station has a huge mountain to climb this time, but we can do it if enough people step up to the plate and pitch in.
Remember:
CALL 1-800-989-9368 or PLEDGE ONLINE at www.wfmu.org on TUESDAY MARCH 3rd between 8-11 PM EST and be counted!
Thank you!
Tom Scharpling.
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Not to mention the sense of pride you get knowing you are part of keeping something truly awesome running strong. And the shame you feel if you know you could have contributed but didn't.
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I will listen. And I will pledge.
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My next sentence is absolutely true, and sincere.
My Mom is having half of her colon, her appendix, and her gall bladder removed today, mostly to address a cancerous tumor that the doctors are optimistic is entirely enclosed in her colon, but I will still find a way to pledge before The Best Show ends tonight.
My next sentence is random and frivolous, to help me momentarily forget the enormity of today's events in the "from Knoxville" family history.
I challenge anyone who has ever drank wine from a box to match or exceed my premium pledge of $75.
P.S. Will I be ostracized within the FOT community if I also manage to pledge $20 to The Dusty Show? Clay's show is just so darn cute.
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I challenge anyone who has ever drank wine from a box to match or exceed my premium pledge of $75.
I did drink wine from a box, I did drink wine with a fox
I will pledge $$$ to WFMU, I will pledge $$$ to Tom-R-U
I stopped listening to the crap on the radio in highschool (half a lifetime ago for me now), but many years ago WFMU made me realize that radio can still be used for good instead of evil.
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My next sentence is absolutely true, and sincere.
My Mom is having half of her colon, her appendix, and her gall bladder removed today, mostly to address a cancerous tumor that the doctors are optimistic is entirely enclosed in her colon, but I will still find a way to pledge before The Best Show ends tonight.
My next sentence is random and frivolous, to help me momentarily forget the enormity of today's events in the "from Knoxville" family history.
I challenge anyone who has ever drank wine from a box to match or exceed my premium pledge of $75.
P.S. Will I be ostracized within the FOT community if I also manage to pledge $20 to The Dusty Show? Clay's show is just so darn cute.
Dave, anyone who tries to ostracize you will have 6'6" and 350lbs of Kung Fu named Steve to deal with. My prayers are with you and your mom, brotha!!!
Can't wait for this marathon!!!
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Dave-
Your mother is in my thoughts and prayers. You take care of family business. I'll be thinking of you.
Tom.
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I've just moved house and currently have no broadband internet, or money. Still, I can stretch to a monthly payment, so I'll be setting my alarm for 1am GMT, and cranking up the super slow dial-up internet connection*, to make sure I pledge. I started listening to The Best Show just before last years marathon, and its now pretty much my favourite thing, so its well overdue for me to step up and do the right thing. Then on thursday, i'll be going to my parents house to get nagged whilst I leech their wi-fi and download the podcast.
*how did we ever manage?
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dfk, that's serious business. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.
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FOT worldwide, have you blogged about this? Have you updated your FB status yet? Any TWEETS? Get on it, people!! I just came back from the supermarket with a ton of candy and snacks and tea, to keep me up til 5 am (CET)! LET'S DO IT!
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Hope everything goes smoothly today, Dave.
I just got my tax return check last week and you better believe WFMU is getting a chunk of it.
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I'm PAYING my taxes for the whole of 2007 this week, and will be 100% broke afterwards - and I will STILL pledge! Credit cards were invented for a reason, people!
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In spite of the economy, my employer is still giving me a bonus and a raise this year and I will STILL pledge tonight!
I will still sacrifice in the midst of my time of triumph! That's how dedicated this listener is.
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Good luck to your mom, Dave.
Which is the better night to pledge, tonight or next week?
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DfK - Yikes. I hope everything works out well and the docs get all the bad stuff out. And I will match AND exceed!!
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There is no better gift than the gift of that post-pledge feeling of contentment.
And also the DJ premium!
dave: My prayers will be with you guys!
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I hope everything goes well with your mom, Dave. My thoughts are with you.
If Dave is able to pledge in spite of his circumstances, there's no excuse for everyone else not to pledge. Do it, people!
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dave! good luck with your mom.
im very excited to listen live and donate tonite.
*buffcoat, i dont think it matters unless the premiums are first come, first serve. although, my understanding from previous years has been: you get your stuff after your first three payments.
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
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Testimonial: I listen to the radio for a living. Approximately half of my work week is devoted to listening to drive-time commercial radio for in the take-no-prisoners field of media research. It's tedious, repetitive and involves correcting the same mistakes dozens of times. and the shows themselves? Try listening to Scott and Todd on PLJ. You'll be begging to clean your ears out with a shrimp fork. It's not the worst. The worst is discernibly better than PLJ or Elvis Duran.
The last thing I should want to do after slaving for the man is listen to more radio. But then there's "The Best Show on WFMU".
I'm pledging. You better believe I'm pledging.
(Dave, all the best from Brooklyn. I hope it all goes well, sir.)
(Unrelated note: spell check thinks "drive-time" should be "derivative".)
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
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I'm moving to a new apartment this week and still need some stuff for the new place which will pretty much eat up most of my savings. But I'm still going to pledge.
Dave, all the best to you and your mom from Germany.
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Hey, phonebankers, should I bring a box of TastyKakes SENSABLE [sic] finger cakes? Or would ol' Mayor Ziegler disapprove of this sugar-free bastardization? They only have one butterscotch krimpet left at the corner Duane Reade, that's not enough for everyone to share!!
And to Dave: As I said before, my thoughts and best wishes are with you and your family. You're a nice guy, and I imagine you were brought up by a sweet Southern lady. I hope your momma pulls through this soon and has many years of baking red velvet cake and such. Seriously.
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They only have one butterscotch krimpet left at the corner Duane Reade, that's not enough for everyone to share!!
the lady holding up the line at the store today begs to differ; she was wearing a shirt that said, "i'd like to buy the world a coke".
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That Best Show Tea premium hasn't got people talkin' (until now). What a weird and wonderful premium. For a FOT/tea nut such as myself it sounds awesome, but holy s-hit is it out of my $$$ league. I hope someone gets it.
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Best wishes to your mom, Dave (and please ignore my new avatar--it was the closest thing I could come up with to a staring chicken).
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I can't pledge this week, as my funds are low. But I promise next week you will see a pledge from me. I must have that premium!
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I've crunched the numbers, and I've got just enough room to pledge $75 and have enough left over for the power company and the IRS. I'm looking forward to tonight!
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I can't pledge this week, as my funds are low. But I promise next week you will see a pledge from me. I must have that premium!
Don't forget that you don't have to pay up front. They will send you a pledge form and you can do monthly payments!
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That's awesome! (I was thinking how unfortunate the timing is what with rent being due this week).
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note: from y understanding, if you do the monthly payments, they charge the first payment right away if youre using a credit card.
this is how i remember it last year when i did the payments. im sure i'll be corrected if im wrong.
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I believe you're right.
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I can't pledge this week, as my funds are low. But I promise next week you will see a pledge from me. I must have that premium!
Don't forget that you don't have to pay up front. They will send you a pledge form and you can do monthly payments!
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder!
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Thirty eight minutes away.
WE CAN DO THIS.
Tom.
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Yep. Time to leave work early....
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The kettle is on. The powernap was had. The bowls of candy are in front of me. The coke is lined up- wait
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
It's weird they never seem to mention it... that 75 dollaz gets you the fun pack PLUS the WFMU t-shirt... BARGAIN!
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
It's weird they never seem to mention it... that 75 dollaz gets you the fun pack PLUS the WFMU t-shirt... BARGAIN!
I gave a premium pledge but did not choose one of the t-shirts on the pledge page. Is there someone I should contact to rectify this situation? I only ask because those t-shirts are pretty sharp.
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I took a break while working at the Best Buy the Improv Everywhere-ers invaded and did the right thing. I can't wait to finally have an FOT card.
Oh and having Laurie take my pledge was a BIG plus too.
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Will we get to know by how much you crushed your goal for the night, Tom?
Also, will I have a choice of WFMU shirt? Because the Woof Moo shirt is wonderful.
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i pledged online and got to pick which one i wanted, i dont know how different it is for phone pledges. and i dont know what Tom's goal was, but i know he beat last year's, which hit the $40k mark.
ive never been more proud to be indirectly associated with a stranger in my life.
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My thoughts are with you and your Mom, DFK.
I'm pledging next week. Promise!
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$62,500. Not too shabby.
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I was not expecting the "do you have a message for Tom" question as my pledge was taken and responded with a lame "you rock Tom". I did manage to listen long enough to hear Tom throw a "you rock" right back at me.
Then I stayed up all night thinking of all the things I should have said. I may have to pledge next week, just to up the ante.
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you and me both, although I was not disappointed with an "I love you" right back at me.
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I won something by a band I've never heard of!
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I'm gonna dig DEEP and pledge again next week (and you have no idea how dug I deeped for this weeks pledge I had to do!) to try and get Tom to say Trucknutz on the air.
Juvenile? Yes, but I'm okay with that.
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I won something by a band I've never heard of!
I wonder how much I have to pledge to win a copy of Philly Boy Roy's Complete Sandanista! Sessions box. I really wanna hear some of those all-amplifier hum discs.
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So yeah, Skittles decided to make twitter part of their website so they could make everyone tweet about skittles and then apparently buy a bag. I think we can steal their thunder and make everything about the marathon and just drop the word skittles at the end so when people to go see their own skittles post they're bombarded with 'FMU.
Hey it couldn't hurt. You can always delete your skittles pandering tweets after your post falls off the first page.
(http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7060/skittles.jpg)
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Truly one of my proudest moments was hearing Tom personally thank me on the air last night! I called my mom about it.
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it was interesting to discover hatch's home state is AZ.
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I haven't heard yet how The Mike Show did in the marathon. Any early numbers? Any numbers? Empty bottles?
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
It's weird they never seem to mention it... that 75 dollaz gets you the fun pack PLUS the WFMU t-shirt... BARGAIN!
I gave a premium pledge but did not choose one of the t-shirts on the pledge page. Is there someone I should contact to rectify this situation? I only ask because those t-shirts are pretty sharp.
I thought a few minutes before replying to this, but I am in the same boat... The web pledge page didn't indicate that a T-shirt is included in the $75 pledge...
Can anyone clarify? It's not like I don't already have a few fmu t-shirts, but I would like that new one with the bird!
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A pledge of $75 gets you everything UP TO and including the $75 level. I think the pledge form makes that pretty clear, but I'm sure you can alter it after the fact if you email or call the marathon HQ.
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The marathon volunteer wrote down my name wrong, which led to Hatch and Tom completely mispronouncing my name and thanking a first name that DOES NOT EXIST AT ALL. This was supposed to be my moment of triumph! What am I going to do about it? Pledge next week and enunciate!
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The marathon volunteer wrote down my name wrong, which led to Hatch and Tom completely mispronouncing my name and thanking a first name that DOES NOT EXIST AT ALL. This was supposed to be my moment of triumph! What am I going to do about it? Pledge next week and enunciate!
You think you got it tough, go back and hear what kind of thanks a certain dfk got; it's around 3:01 on the archive.
Of course, all is forgiven; in times of great works, sacrifices must be expected and accepted.
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Weirder than any of this is the fact that Clay Pigeon apparently knows Fredericks from New Port Richey. I listened to Clay's marathon show yesterday and they talked about it when Fredericks pledged. Soon thereafter, Tom pledged and his comments called dibs on Fredericks.
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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8kw0w_me_fun
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Weirder than any of this is the fact that Clay Pigeon apparently knows Fredericks from New Port Richey. I listened to Clay's marathon show yesterday and they talked about it when Fredericks pledged. Soon thereafter, Tom pledged and his comments called dibs on Fredericks.
I just listened to that today, it was great. I was kinda surprised Tom wanted him...
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
Now that most people have pledged, I thought I'd observe that I don't think you do. But I usually do a bunch of different pledges so I can't keep track of what's for what.
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
Now that most people have pledged, I thought I'd observe that I don't think you do. But I usually do a bunch of different pledges so I can't keep track of what's for what.
You definitely do.
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PS question: for higher pledges, do you get whatever your pledge includes (DJ premiums, etc.) and whatever is in the lower pledges leading up to it?
Yes you do.
Now that most people have pledged, I thought I'd observe that I don't think you do. But I usually do a bunch of different pledges so I can't keep track of what's for what.
Or do you? According to the little card I got in the mail, you do. But the website doesn't seem to indicate that.
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Yes, you get everything at your pledge level and below. It's under #2 on this page: https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php
#2 Swag Selection Section
Please choose any and all items that you are eligible for (including items offered at lower pledge levels).
So if you pledge $75 you get:
-1 DJ Premium
-1 WFMU T-shirt
-Reduced Record Fair Admission
-1 WFMU Garden State sticker
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However, I think the number of DJ Premiums you can get is set according to pledge level.
So for Mouse of Today Pledge, you get "7 DJ Premiums total" (not 11 DJ Premiums).