One of the biggest surprises – and announcements – from Mayor Tom Henry’s State of the City address had little to do with city government at all.FORT WAYNE – A Fort Wayne-based Internet radio and video ministry aimed at providing uplifting music and messages to teens has left its organizational nest.
After nearly having to close last year from lack of money, Remedy.fm has now reorganized as an independent non-profit organization, emerging from under the wing of Taylor University Broadcasting Inc., Clinton Faupel, Remedy’s new executive director, said Wednesday.
The new non-profit is called The SoulMedic Media Group Inc., and, at present, Remedy is its only activity, he said.
“We now have our own board and our own 501(c)(3) and are no longer owned by Taylor University Broadcasting,” Faupel said.
A 501(c)(3) designation allows a non-profit to solicit tax-deductible contributions and provides a mechanism for public accounting of how funds are used.
Remedy had previously sought contributions under the umbrella of Taylor, which also provided funding. But in late 2008, Taylor officials said the ministry would need to develop new funding sources or close because the university could no longer underwrite budget shortfalls.
Intense fundraising last year by Remedy secured American Bible Society sponsorship and three donors who each pledged $30,000 a year for three years, plus other major contributions from a nationwide base, said Faupel, an ordained minister in the Missionary Church.
The donations allowed Remedy to develop a $400,000 budget this year and not lay off or cut the pay of its 17 part-time and three full-time employees, he said.
Faupel said SoulMedic will be governed by a 10-member board. Board chairman will be Scott Figgins, vice president of claims for Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co. in Fort Wayne.
Other members include two staff members from Taylor University-Upland, which will continue to provide student interns and volunteer training, and two representatives from the New York City-based Bible society, said Faupel, who also is a voting board member.
Remedy’s founder, Char Binkley, an on-air personality at Fort Wayne-based Christian radio station WBCL-FM, will continue to serve on the board, as will WBCL Executive Director Marsha Bunker.
Binkley, who had been assigned to Remedy while employed by WBCL, has returned to a full-time position there. She called Remedy’s turnaround “incredible.”
“I sat there yesterday as all the papers were being signed, and it’s just incredible in that just a few months ago we didn’t know if we were going to stay on the air or if we would have to shut down the ministry,” she said.
“I really feel, I truly believe, my calling was to help birth it and just set it loose,” she added. “I’m almost speechless as to what it has become.”
Remedy broadcasts from a storefront studio at 327 E. Wayne St. The station recently registered its 250,000th unique Web visitor, Faupel said, who added that visitors have hailed from 99 countries and every U.S. state.
