Athens, Ga. — The University of Georgia Press and the Friends of WUGA will sell deeply discounted books and CDs during their jointly sponsored “Book & CD Supersale” on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 21 and 22. The event is free and open to the public and will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Tate Student Center Plaza.
Because of strong connections between WUGA audience members and UGA Press book buyers, the two units have joined together to hold their sales side by side. Proceeds benefit fund-raising efforts currently underway by WUGA and UGA Press.
The book sale may be familiar to some Athens residents. In the past, UGA Press has sponsored the “Dirty Book Sale,” featuring slightly damaged or shopworn books from its Athens warehouse. Books of nature writing, poetry, fiction, literary criticism and African- American studies, as well as titles about Georgia and the South, will be available.
WUGA’s CD drive began when Flagpole magazine donated hundreds of CDs to kick off the campaign. The public has since donated more than one thousand discs representing a wide array of artists: classical, Celtic, rap, Christian, Broadway, jazz and local music, as well as movie soundtracks and world music – about as diverse as the station’s programming itself. Musicians represented range from Bill Monroe to Bob Marley, Marshall Tucker to Moby, the Dixie Chicks to the Rolling Stones, and Thelonious Monk to Mozart. For every three CDs they purchase, shoppers can choose a free disc from among hundreds of special items while supplies last.
UGA Press recently launched a new fund-raising campaign. With the help of Lane Stewart, the Press’s director of development, an inaugural fundraising advisory board is being composed of alumni and others from around the state. A recent pledge of $100,000 from the Wormsloe Foundation will support the publication of natural history and environment titles published as Wormsloe Foundation Nature Books. Donations by Wormsloe will cover a substantial percentage of the production costs of UGA Press titles in the 2005 fiscal year.
WUGA’s CD sale follows a highly successful on-air pledge drive. WUGA faces the dual challenge of rising programming costs and FCC-mandated digital upgrades. Working with fewer staff and less money than in the past, the station hopes to continue to provide high-quality national and statewide programming while expanding local programming that reflects and informs the community. Describing the economic realities the station faces each day, station manager Steve Bell, said, “WUGA has constant needs for equipment upgrades to continue providing the highest-quality audio for our listeners. In addition, our costs for some of our programs continue to rise. The funds raised by the CD sale will help defray both these operational requirements.”
For more information about the CD sale or WUGA fund-raising, contact Pat Priest at ppriest@charter.net or Abbie Thaxton at thaxtona@uga.edu.
For more information about the book sale or UGA Press fundraising, visit http://ugapress.org/BookSale.html or contact John McLeod at jmcleod@ugapress.uga.edu or 706/369-6160.