We are more than halfway into our 2024 Fall Fundraiser, and a new day means new incentives to encourage WDET listeners to make an investment in Detroit Public Radio’s future.

Listeners who make a donation during In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper from 12-4 p.m. on Wednesday will be automatically entered into a drawing for two VIP tickets to all events or performances at Spot Lite Detroit for a full year.

Missed Hooper’s show? Tune in to The Boulevard with Waajeed from 8-10 p.m. Wednesday and make a donation of any amount and you will be entered in the Spot Lite drawing.

Those who donate during The Boulevard on Wednesday could also win an unreleased Waajeed vinyl titled Get in the Zone LP — set for release this November — and an Underground Music Academy snapback hat.

Listeners will have one last opportunity to win the Spot Lite passes this Saturday, Sept. 21, by making a gift to WDET during The Progressive Underground with Chris Campbell from 6-8 p.m. or during The New Music Show with Shigeto from 8-10 p.m.

Tune in to WDET at 101.9 FM to hear the latest incentives being offered before our Fall Fundraiser ends Sept. 22.

Comedian and actor Marc Evan Jackson joined The Metro in studio on Tuesday to talk about how his nonprofit is using improv to help metro Detroit youth, as well as to encourage listeners to support WDET during our 2024 Fall Fundraiser.

Read more: Freshen up your WDET swag, become a sustaining member today

The former Michigander — known by many for his comedic roles on NBC’s The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine — founded The Detroit Creativity Project in 2011, along with several other Los Angeles-based performers whose careers started out in Detroit, to help bring free improv lessons to Detroit students.

But the goal of the program isn’t simply to teach students improv comedy, he says. Rather, improv can help young people build confidence and step outside their comfort zone.

“The overarching point of what we’re trying to do [with The Detroit Creativity Project] is not create the next generation of comedians and actors and directors and musicians necessarily, but to create the next generation of problem solvers and good humans,” said Jackson.

Jackson also reflected on his past career in public radio — formerly working at WGVU-FM in Grand Rapids in various roles — and why he believes it is vital to support public media.

“It’s programming and music by people, for people,” said Jackson. “It’s different than corporate media…you’re going to hear music on WDET that you would never come into contact with anywhere else in the world. You’re going to find stories like that of The Detroit Creativity Project.”

If you would like to support 75 years of quality, culturally-rich local programming at WDET, make a gift today at wdet.org/give. And don’t forget to check out the many awesome incentives being offered for those who donate during our Fall Fundraiser, running through Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Use the video player below to watch the full interview with actor Marc Evan Jackson.

As if there weren’t already plenty of reasons to support WDET, we are offering up a host of new gifts to entice listeners to become sustaining members during our 2024 Fall Fundraiser.

This year, we expanded our local music and news programming by 40%. With half of our operating budget funded by donors like you, it is imperative that each and every listener who values the important work we do step up, and make a gift to help sustain what has been a cultural staple in Detroit for the past 75 years.

Check out some of our premium gifts for sustaining members below to showcase your Detroit Public Radio fandom while helping to support this vital resource for Detroiters!