We have a very special radio station in Tampa that had a very special general manager. WMNF 88.5 Community Radio is unique to most indy stations because they accept no underwriting, no sponsorships, no local government funding. All monies for the station are raised in the community. Listeners fund it, listeners program it, nobody but the community owns it.
Vicki, for the last 10+ years, ran the station and proceeded to help the station build community involvement even more, build listenership, and raise enough monies to move out of the literally ramshackle house the station was in to a sparkling new building with top notch studios about 5 years ago. People referred to Vicki as the heart and soul of the station.
Many, many times WMNF brings artists to town to Skipper's, where they sell raffle tix and collect a part of the proceeds as fundraising. Some of the best acts I've ever seen at Skipper's have been WMNF shows.
JJ and the guys know Vicki. Many times they've come to town and played in studio there. It's WMNF that introduced us in Tampa Bay to Mofro, and they were the first ones to bring them to town at their annual Tropical Heatwave festival in Ybor in 2003.
To honor Vicki, Skipper's will hold a celebration of her life on Monday Dec 15 at 6 p.m. (To show you how special she was, I happen to know that in the 29 years since they started, Skipper's has opened on a Monday 3 times and one of those was for Mofro last year.) ---------- MofroFan1
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2008 4:44 PM
Hey Clay, thanks for sharing this. It sounds like Vicki was a wonderful lady who did a lot for the Tampa Bay community. ---------- Nothin' like a little front porch soul to cure your blues!
Thanks ash...yep. She was 56, with the same man for 31 years, was originally a volunteer and then took a big pay cut to go to work at MNF. If there were progressive issues to be tackled--black or white or brown or straight or gay or poor or homeless or being beat up by the Man--Vicki was there with a hand and a voice.
---------- MofroFan1
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