UF raised almost $50,000 less than last year in its fall pledge drive for WUFT-FM, the university-owned radio station that recently dropped its classical music programming in favor of more news and talk shows.
While UF pointed to the slumping economy and shorter pledge sessions, the leader of a local group opposed to the station's programming changes said the decrease in donations can be attributed to a lack of support for the new format.
Over a total of 11 days from late October to Friday, UF pulled in about $83,000, said Paul Gordon, the interim executive director of the Division of Multimedia Properties in the College of Journalism and Communications.
Last fall, the take was about $132,000 in 12 days of pledging.
Gordon said the decrease had a lot to do with the economy and shorter pledge segments, as well as one fewer day of pledging.
UF officials have also said they expected a decline in listenership and donations initially, which is in line with what other stations across the country that have switched from music to news programming have experienced.
Gordon said he expects donations to pick up again next fall and said UF does not regret making the changes.
"We're absolutely convinced that what we're doing is the right thing," he said.
John Wright, dean of the journalism college, also pointed out in an e-mail that almost 30 percent of the contributions came from new donors.
According to Gordon, this fall's numbers are actually better than UF expected and, he said, combined with other factors, the station should not take a big financial hit.
For example, he said, fewer people accepted the gifts that typically come with donations, more contributions were made online - where they cost less to process - and 11 positions were recently eliminated from the station, which reduced the station's expenses.
Sue Yelton, the leader of a group that has protested the station's changes, said she doesn't buy UF's claims that the economy and shorter pledge segments had a huge effect on this year's donations. The economy was bad last year too, she said, but that didn't stop people from donating in near-record numbers.
"I think that our community has made it clear that we support the mix of music and talk that we had originally," she said.
