After extensive time off from the full-time working world, I chose not to return to the tech industry. Instead, I started cobbling together a patchwork quilt of part-time gigs that I'm more enthusiastic about. CHIRP Radio is one of the biggest squares in that quilt.

In March 2025, I started as a part-time (paid!) contractor at CHIRP.

My ever-growing arsenal of tasks includes data entry, wrangling complex spreadsheets, putting together schedules and mass emails, cleaning out the microwave, writing social media posts for big events, hauling equipment to and from festivals, and more! These are things that our General Manager (the only *true* employee at CHIRP) and our dedicated volunteer staff don't have the bandwidth for. They have their hands full DJ'ing on air 24/7, reviewing music for our library, organizing live events across the city, making cool t-shirts for pledge drives -- you know, the big stuff! So I handle the little things. There is always so much to do, here.

Speaking of that volunteer staff, I am still a volunteer, too.

The bulk of my volunteer hours are spent with our Tech team. So far this year, we've built a couple simple apps to house processes that used to fill up monstrous, overgrown spreadsheets. The other volunteers seem pretty happy about them! After a successful beta test this past summer, we're also starting to launch our shiny new DJ tools app to the general population at CHIRP. Outside of tech, I've been spending a lot more time with the Marketing team this year; I even designed the poster and social media branding for our CD Blowout Sale last June!

"Ok, cool," you say, "You're doing a bunch of stuff at CHIRP, and even getting paid for some of it...blah blah...so why are you asking for money, then?"

Well, none of this awesome stuff I'm working on would be possible without YOU! Yes, YOU, reading this!

CHIRP is a listener-funded community radio station, which means all of the money we use to do these things comes directly from YOU. Without your donation, there would be no real-live DJs spinning commercial-free local tunes and taking requests from our little station in North Center. There would be no low-powered FM broadcast antenna and no worldwide digital stream. There would be no record fairs, CD sales, sponsored local shows and festivals...gosh, we do so much COOL STUFF and none of it would even exist without YOU!

So really, this isn't even about me at all...it's about you! Look how awesome you are, and how lucky we all are to have you! 💕

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MAKE A FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY DONATION TO CHIRP!

It's hard to believe that it's been a decade and a half since we launched the station! Some things have changed a lot, but what's stayed the same is our commitment to bringing you live, local, commercial-free music programming lovingly curated by our DJs every single day, plus dozens of events that showcase our city's diverse music, arts and cultural scenes.

This year we're celebrating our history while looking to the future, including rebuilding our website and mobile app into a sleek integrated web app that we know you'll love.

We are a truly independent, listener-supported station. Your generosity has helped us thrive over the past fifteen years, and will keep us going for decades to come.

IF YOU BELIEVE CHIRP CONTRIBUTES MEANINGFULLY TO THE MUSICAL AND CULTURAL LIFE OF CHICAGO AND WANT TO MAKE SURE THE STATION STAYS STRONG, PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT TODAY. 

IMPORTANT: If you would like to become a sustaining member by making a recurring donation (monthly or quarterly), or if you want to select a thank you gift, please visit chirpradio.org/donatenow to make your contribution (and to give in support of the person making this post, be sure to type their full name in the "volunteer to credit" section so they can receive credit for your gift).

And if you're interested in joining CHIRP's major donor program, The Vinyl Circle, with a gift of $500 or above, please use this form.