Great public radio – that happens to be vegan!
They are running a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a series of programs by Ian McDonald – the first ever radio history of vegetarianism. Please CLICK, READ & HELP them with some $ (or £, or €)..
The last day of the campaign Sunday Feb 16 – it ends midnight New York Time. It’s most of the way to the goal, but if it doesn’t reach the goal – then none of the funding happens.
The Ernest Bell Library is going to be providing great material to them.
The programme is entitled –
Vegetarianism: The Story So Far – A Radio History
Budget
Ian has set the initial goal at a level that will provide basic travel expenses and some money for content (such as archive and voice actors to portray the range of voices in the story).
£3100 is an estimate based on:
- £1000 – Kickstarter rewards and fees
- £100 – books and research
- £400 – small range of voice talent for dramatic readings
- £200 – token amount of modern audio archive
- £900 – travel expenses within India, including wifi for backups
- £200 – insurance & visa & vaccinations
- £100 – travel to locations within the UK
- £200 – two years’ web hosting, streaming, &c
Ian aims to reduce these costs by, for example, using volunteer resources where he can (not least of all, himself).
The goal (largely because he is unpaid) is a fraction of the going rate for radio documentaries.
Much of the travel is going to be in the UK. he is not, for example, planning international travel where he will gather content for just one episode. He is going to India because half the story he is telling happened there.
The Vegan Option began as a podcast. It is currently being broadcast weekly to a million Londoners on Resonance 104.4FM.
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Ian McDonald – talking about HappyCow
“Whenever I’m going somewhere new, I check Happy Cow to see what the vegetarian treats there. Everyone does that. But even when I’m in London – the vegetarian restuarants whereof I should now know like the back of my hand – I’ll pull up the website to jog my memory. If I’m heading off to a corner of London I don’t know, it’s a lifesaver. I was meeting a friend at Heathrow airport, and discovered via Happy cow that if you go three tube (transit) stops away from Heathrow Airport, the tube station is on a street with three vegetarian restaurants.
The app (I still have VegOut – sorry – not the new Happy Cow one) is useful on the move. I might know there are a couple of nearby restaurants, but not which ones are closest or (vital for after last orders) which ones are still open.
It’s been particularly good when travelling to be able to find new places – like I did with the Xing Hua Vegetarian Restaurant in the middle of Singapore. Or link interviews with vegan restauranteurs to reviews and photographs – as I did when travelling in Southeast Asia.”
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Example show from Jan 2012 – including Eric from HappyCow – click below to listen.
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A Press Release
KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TO
FUND HISTORY OF VEGETARIANISM RADIO SERIES
Independent broadcaster Ian McDonald has successfully launched a campaign aimed at raising funds for a 10-part radio series telling the fascinating story of the global history of vegetarianism, with almost a third of the target reached within 48 hours.
History of Vegetarianism: The Story So Far is the brainchild of Ian McDonald, producer and presenter of The Vegan Option. The need for a comprehensive series telling this collective history quickly became apparent to Ian as he began his research into the topic.
Ian explains, “I quickly realised it was a much bigger and more exciting topic than would fit into a couple of episodes. It needs a full on series, full of interesting characters and amazing twists.”
He continues, “To tell it properly is a much bigger project than The Vegan Option has ever done before. It became clear to me that to do this story justice would require a fair amount of money.”
To raise the funds to cover the production costs of this unique project, Ian has decided to run a Kickstarter campaign. This unique form of crowd funding appears to be the perfect fit for this campaign with a third of the project goal achieved within two days of the launch.
Ian adds, “I am thrilled by the initial response. Backers interested in the creation of this radio series range from bloggers located in the USA to local listeners of my regular radio show The Vegan Option, currently broadcast on London station Resonance 104.4FM. There is certainly a worldwide interest in this story being told.”
People generous enough to financially back the production of Vegetarianism: The Story So Far on Kickstarter are able to choose from a selection of rewards, including a postcard from one of the places where the story unfolded, the entire radio series on a USB stick and a podcast master class run by Ian who honed his skills working at BBC Radio.
Go to the project page to discover more, watch the video (with a glimpse of what The Vegan Option studio actually looks like), pick your reward by backing the project and help history come to life.
The History Of Vegetarianism: The Story So Far will be available as a download from The Vegan Option website.
Kickstarter project page: http://kck.st/veghist
The Vegan Option online: http://theveganoption.org/
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