More than 1,900 people helped Kansas Public Radio conclude a successful spring membership drive after they reached their goal.

After eight days of on-air fund raising, KPR ended its drive at 6 p.m. April 15 with $271,217 in pledges. The Campaign For Excellence 2016 drew pledges from 1,918 listener-members.

The membership drive began with more than $124,000 raised through a direct-mail campaign. More than $146,000 was raised on-air by pledges from new and renewing members.

“We are very grateful to everyone who pledged their support to Kansas Public Radio during our spring fund drive. Support from private sources accounts for 60 percent of the station’s budget and provides funds for in-depth news coverage, musical programming and coverage of educational cultural events,” KPR Development Director Feloniz Lovato-Winston said.

All tax-deductible donations during spring and fall membership drives directly support KPR’s local and national programming.

The overall pledge total does not include challenge grants, in which a company, foundation or individual will donate money if KPR can raise a certain level of funding during a specific time period. More than $43,000 was raised through challenge grants.

In each hour, KPR interrupts programming for about 10-15 minutes to ask for donations. Regular programming resumes for the rest of the hour. The membership drive featured a “Power Breakfast” on April 6, when an entire day’s fund raising was compressed into 90 minutes. That raised more than $26,000.

Even though the on-air portion of the drive is over, listeners can donate anytime at the KPR website.

More than 100 volunteers answered phones from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. during the drive. Area restaurants donated meals and beverages for volunteers’ breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks.

KPR, a 15-time Kansas Association of Broadcasters Station of the Year, licensed to KU, broadcasts on 91.5 FM in Lawrence, 89.7 FM in Emporia, 91.3 FM in Olsburg-Junction City, 89.9 FM in Atchison, 90.3 FM in Chanute, and 99.5 FM and 97.9 FM in Manhattan. KPR can be heard online at http://kpr.ku.edu. KPR also operates KPR2, a news-talk programming stream, which can be heard on an HD receiver or on KPR’s website.