Philly Radio: WXPN Reaches Membership Milestone

WXPN, the nationally recognized leader in Triple A (adult album alternative) music and the non-commercial, member-supported radio station of the University of Pennsylvania, announced today that it has reached a milestone 30,000 members.

WXPN General Manager Roger LaMay said of the achievement, “Thirty thousand music lovers can’t be wrong! In a multi-platform, decentralized era, this community is still growing. It’s gratifying to all of us here at WXPN that there are so many people who feel as passionately about musical discovery as we do.”

LaMay said that WXPN will recognize and celebrate its members with a special art installation at its annual XPoNential Music Festival next month.

Unlike commercial (advertising-supported) radio stations, non-commercial radio stations such as WXPN rely upon membership as an important base of financial support, which covers approximately half of WXPN’s annual operating budget. Anyone can support WXPN by becoming a member at any time, with a choice of donation levels that start at $6 per month.

WXPN members, listeners and staff celebrate reaching 30,000 members at the Friday, June 24 Free At Noon concert at World Cafe Live, Philadelphia. Member support helps make the popular, free weekly concert possible, and members receive first notice of artists who’ll be performing - and can RSVP first to attend - as a membership benefit.

Sydney Schaefer photo

Four years ago, station management set a goal of increasing membership 20 percent by June 30, 2016, according to Carissa Ciuca, WXPN Director of Individual Gifts. “WXPN members are a highly-engaged community of music lovers, and they actually helped us to reach our goal by sharing their enthusiasm about WXPN membership,” said Ciuca. Additionally, Ciuca noted, WXPN’s member renewal rate is an impressive 81 percent.

Reasons that WXPN members cite for supporting the station are plentiful, but most point to their enjoyment of music and WXPN’s reliability in exposing them to new artists. An example is longtime member Karen Scher, who states, “I became an ‘XPN member in the early ‘90s because I loved alternative music mixed with classic rock music. It was literally the soundtrack of raising my son, who is now a musician himself! I value my membership because it introduces me to new music of all kinds, and because WXPN keeps me current with new artists and heritage artists. I love being part of a community of like-minded music aficionados.”

With its recent acquisition of WXPJ-FM (formerly WNTI-FM) in Hackettstown, New Jersey, WXPN’s broadcast now extends throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and much of Delaware and New Jersey. For more information about WXPN, visit www.xpn.org.

WXPN is the non-commercial, member-supported, public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. WXPN serves the greater Philadelphia area at 88.5 FM, the Lehigh Valley at 104.9 FM, Worton/Baltimore at 90.5 FM, Lancaster/York at 88.7 FM, Harrisburg at 99.7 FM, Northeastern PA and Northwestern NJ at 91.9 FM, and the world via online streaming at www.XPN.org.​