WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER.
One of my favorite pastimes is identifying areas where people listen to WBGO, using a set of analytical tools I affectionately call “The Map.” Why? Because a clear and complete understanding of WBGO’s audience is a key ingredient of our continued success as the most listened to jazz and soul radio station in the entire world.
Several times a day, I open “The Map” and scan the graphic representation of those who listen to WBGO using our website or our mobile phone applications for Apple or Android. What I see is the sweeping reach and impact of WBGO, on a global scale in real time:
The graphic above, and the listing below are “snapshots” of listener activity over the course of a single day during the week of Dec. 18th 2023. The dark shaded regions in “The Map” represent the places with the highest concentrations of WBGO followers, and the light shades represent the areas with measurable following—a kaleidoscopic array of WBGO faithful.
On my desktop I can see thousands more are listening to WBGO, just like you, in Antarctica, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Spain, Turkey, throughout the Middle East and the polar regions – all the peoples of our world coming to life in a deeply heartening reality check. This disparate collection of concerns, cultures, customs, ideas, and ideals is suddenly, every single day and in every time zone, a profound expression of a common bond, made possible by a love of music and a muse, which is WBGO. This is a highly distinctive representation among the thousands of American radio stations on the air, since only a small number of these stations have similar world-wide recognition.
"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." —President Abraham Lincoln, 1861
In a world where the miracle of togetherness can be fragile, and at times elusive at home and abroad, the energies at the heart of WBGO’s singular global impact are the “mystic chords of memory” and the “chorus” of support from the “better angels of our nature” that President Lincoln invoked in his first inaugural address. On the eve of Civil War, he submitted that we are inevitably better together, that togetherness is our destiny and protecting the ties that bind is essential to our survival as a society and as individuals.
WBGO is the sum of single, seminal contributions toward strong collective aspirations and achievements. WBGO is an incredible team of individuals that give their talents and dedication to our mission and values,—from the members of the WBGO Board of Trustees, an esteemed collection of accomplished and celebrated individuals who volunteer their vast expertise, advice, and council—to the highly skilled and committed managers, producers, program hosts, support staff and volunteers who consistently send the sound and visions of WBGO, to the tens of thousands of people like you, on every continent who listen and have given millions of dollars in individual contributions nearly every year since 1980, in support of both the music you love and adore, and the radio station that plays the music. Looking back on the past year, it is your uncommon generosity that stands out as the prime element in WBGO’s survival as an anchor arts and culture institution and significant employer in New Jersey’s largest city.
I look forward with great anticipation, to our coming together on the journey of celebration—of a new year, and WBGO’s Sapphire Anniversary, with all that it will entail—including exclusive programing and podcasts, community engagement and special events across the Tri-State region, and, perhaps most importantly, the announcement of a major project that will chart the course of WBGO’s future for decades to come—perhaps the most important development in the 45 years of our existence.
Unequivocally, 2024 promises to be a year replete with excitement and extraordinary accomplishment for our favorite radio station, for all to enjoy and be proud of.
To borrow a phrase that radio created a century ago—Stay Tuned—words that are especially poignant and applicable in the here and now. And what you hear—now and forever—can never happen without your contributions in support of WBGO.
Happy New Year!
