WWOZ is a volunteer powered station and it has been since day one. Volunteering at WWOZ is a unique and exciting way to serve New Orleans and interact with our diverse music community. Volunteers are essential for WWOZ to support the local music community, and entertain, inform and educate our global audience.

Our small offices are fun, fast paced and often chaotic. Over the years, we have found that the most successful formula is for a volunteer to work a consistent 3-4 hour weekly shift during regular business hours.

What do volunteers do at WWOZ?
There are a variety of valuable services that you can offer WWOZ as a volunteer including -

• Communications - Phone correspondence, Written correspondence, Greet guests to the studio, etc.
• Clerical - Prepare mailings, Filing, Organizing, Data Entry, Data Organizing (e.g. create spreadsheets).
• Radio Production - Produce our Livewire, Community Notebook, and Street Talk segments.
• Event Production - Assist with remote and in studio live broadcasts, load-in/load-out, custodial, light carpentry, etc.
• Membership - Membership intake at events, Membership drive producers (people that are on the air with the show host inviting people to join WWOZ), process data during membership drives, answering phones, etc.
• Show Host - Our DJs (or shows hosts) are volunteers and generally volunteer their time for off air duties as well as their show host duties. You don’t have to be a music scholar to be a show host, but you do need to be passionate about the music genres that make up the WWOZ format.

We always need volunteers with basic technical aptitude, and good verbal and written communication skills. You don’t have to know everything since you will be trained and learn new skills as part of your volunteer experience. Working knowledge of standard PC office applications is an essential skill for most positions. Volunteers are required to have e-mail that they check regularly.

To schedule a volunteer interview please call our business office at (504) 568-1239. Interviews are scheduled two weeks in advance and take place during normal business hours.

Volunteer Needs - Jan - May 2008

2008 will present some new challenges to us at WWOZ. For the first year since Katrina, we will attempt to answer the phones in the studio during membership drives. During the past few years, we have used a phone service outside of the city, and we greatly miss the energy and fun that our phone volunteers brought to the station. We are asking for all of our listeners to take a couple of hours out of their busy schedules and volunteer to answer phones at the Spring ‘OZ Membership Drive. Watch this space for the date! Call Crystal at (504) 568-1239 and tell her to put you on the list.

We are also looking for some very special people to help us raise funds on-air. That’s right, you can be that second voice that you hear during the fund drives. We need people with a passion for what we do here at WWOZ and the ability to express it on-air. If you have that passion, that love, then we want you. We’ll have a class in February that will show you how it’s done. Please come join us by calling (504) 568-1239 or email help@wwoz.org and put membership drive in the subject.