Radio station WFMU is hoping pledge donors can send manager and his canvas chair aloft with helium b

[bananas]

Source: The Jersey Journal

Is that a man in a lawn chair floating in front of the New York skyline? If you pledge support to Jersey City-based WFMU 91.1 FM, it just might be.

The radio station's pledge marathon is scheduled for tomorrow, 9 a.m. until noon.

If the station can raise $180,000 during the "2010 Year-End Lift-Off," WFMU station manager Ken Freedman has vowed to take flight in his favorite lawn chair.

For every $1,000 pledge, a helium balloon will be tied to Freedman's chair.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/jerseycity/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1291706743175520.xml&coll=3

---

From www.wfmu.org :

WFMU will be taking pledges to send Station Manager Ken aloft with helium balloons on Wednesday, December 8th, 11am-noon (pre-game show starts at 9am)! For every $1000 we raise, we’ll fill up a balloon and tie it to Ken's lawn chair. If we’re successful, Ken will lift off! We'll host a live video feed of the whole debacle, so you won't want to miss out. Check out the trailer for the event on youtube here. Help keep WFMU and Ken aloft by using the brochure that will be hitting your mailbox soon, pledging online, or over the phone on December 8th. We’ve got a brand new t-shirt and a baseball cap up for grabs, too!

More info at the station blog http://blog.wfmu.org/
Good luck to station manager Ken!

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. I think I've seen that movie...

[Historic NY]

2. Didn't some So. American priest do that & went missing........

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=arRWnApqDoIg

[bananas]

3. Yes, they have a news video clip in this blog entry

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/12/why-wfmus-helium-balloon-flight-will-be-different-video.html

Why WFMU's Helium Balloon Flight Will Be Different (video)

If WFMU reaches our Lift-Off campaign goal this Wednesday and sends Station Manager Ken into space with 25 tanks-worth of helium balloons affixed to his lawn chair, it will be a triumphant moment. Can you picture it? I'm not actually sure what it's going to look like (fortunately there'll be a live video feed) but I can already imagine the feeling of looking up at the sky to see Ken -- a tiny speck burried in a sea of multicolored balloons -- and all of us down in the parking lot here in Jersey City smiling with great pride, just knowing that the station will be able to stay afloat through the frigid dark winter months ahead. Why? Because everybody chipped in -- either by pledging to the station and/or by putting their lives at risk -- to keep freeform radio afloat!

But did you know that our visionary leader would not be the first person to take flight through the power of helium? In fact, there's an entire website devoted to "Cluster Ballooning," and I've been reading up on some of the most famous examples in an online science magazine called the Darwin Awards:

* Father Adelir Antonio de Carli (left) was a Brazilian priest who attempted to break the world record for helium-propelled flight back in April 2008. The stunt was meant as a fundraiser for his parish. He set flight from the port city of Paranagua on April 20th 2008, never to return.

* In 1982, "Lawn Chair Larry" (right) spent 16 hours on his favorite lawn chair eating sandwiches and drinking beer at 16,000 feet above Los Angeles. "The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused," but he did inspire a whole generation of cluster balloonists.

<snip>