Help save Jazz

My apologies for putting one over on you yesterday for April Fools Day. A few of us had fun, others felt slighted and for that I apologize. But I did get a few of you to laugh.... and it's good to laugh. Won't happen again... for at least a year. On a more somber note, I want to reach out to my readers for help saving an institution. One of the finest all-jazz music stations in the world, KPLU, is in danger of going the way of the Dodo bird. KPLU serves the Seattle Tacoma area of the Pacific Northwest and, as such, is a local radio station of little concern to those jazz lovers not in their area. Except, and this is a big exception, KPLU streams their programming worldwide through Jazz 24. Jazz 24 reaches thousands of music lovers around the world. My wife Terri and I are huge fans of their brilliant programming, commercial free presentation of hand-selected jazz music. We'd love to see it survive and we send them funds on a regular basis. But, there's a problem. Jazz 24 is owned by Pacific Lutheran University who is preparing to sell the station to their cross town rival, the University of Washington (U' Dub as it's known). UOW plans to dilute the pure jazz content by offering a mix of jazz, blues, rock and "related" music with a smattering of news. In other words, they intend to take it from the pure to a watered down version serving a broader audience. Kind of like taking a high end piece of audio equipment and dumbing it down to sell more. Jazz 24 has been offered the opportunity to match UOW's offer of $7 million and keep Jazz 24 alive. Terri and I are doing everything we can to help save one of the last pure jazz radio stations in the world. Might you consider helping with a donation? Click here for information. If they don't make their goal, your donation will be refunded. Please give what you can if you love jazz. Every dollar, Euro, or whatever form of currency your country has will be doubled now, through April 15th. Donate $100 and KPLU gets $200. And your donations are tax deductible because they are a non-profit. Thanks for helping save an institution.