Off the Hook!

Yesterday was Wednesday, and that means, at 2 AM Thursday’s Finnish time, 7PM Eastern Standard Time in New York, “It’s time once again, for Off the Hook”. Yeah, that’s the show I’ve listened to for a good number of years, regularly. Now, I’ve been downloading the old episodes, since 1988 up to today, so that I can say I’ve heard it all. I’m presently listening to the June 2005 episodes, which means I have a few more years to go.

Yesterday was a fund raising episode, which means they ask callers to call in and support the radio station (WBAI 99.5 Mhz in New York). The station is entirely listener sponsored, and with a donation of 25 dollars (approx. 18 euro) you become a member of the station. This means that you get to vote in the elections for the board of the station. Also, you usually get a premium for your troubles. A premium is a gift of sorts, something to help ease the process of parting from your hard-earned cash.

Different shows on WBAI offer different premiums. This episode, Off the Hook offered the following pledges: For pledges 25 dollars and above, you get the Off the Hook t-shirt, and you become a member of the station. For 75 dollars, you could get the t-shirt, the membership and a set of DVD’s with video from this years Notacon convention. For 125 dollars and above, you got the aforementioned, plus a DVD set that contains all the episodes of Off the Hook. I pledged 25 dollars, and i hope they’ll ship the t-shirt to Finland…

But really, the station is worth keeping on the air, so I’d donate just for that. If they don’t make enough money to pay for the transmitter fees and licenses to keep a station like that in the middle of the dial in New York (with transmitters on top of the Empire State Building (previously the WTC…)). I’ve listened to about a thousand episodes, and I can vouch for those guys.

Take a listen at http://www.2600.com/oth