Member Profile: Linda Zorn

Honoring A Legacy, Creating Her Own

For devoted public radio listener Linda Zorn, becoming a high-level NSPR donor evolved over time. Initially, while in a job that required driving to and from community colleges throughout the North State, making a pledge was a way to put her money where her dial was, so to speak.

“As I was driving, I would listen to public radio in the morning and the afternoon, and of course, at some point and time, I heard a pledge drive,” she recalls.

It clicked with her then, she says, that she should become a member and help sustain the programming she enjoyed on a daily basis.

But supporting NSPR took on additional meaning for Zorn following the death of her husband, Steve Harrison—a well-known community member who worked for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., was an avid cyclist, and also loved public radio.

“When he died, I created a foundation—The Steve Harrison and Linda Zorn Foundation—and I really wanted to fund things that I felt would be in his name and that he enjoyed,” Zorn says. “He loved public radio because it was more of a neutral ground for political discourse, and it really shows all sides of an issue.”

She says while she does additionally fund some of the other passions that were Steve’s, the public radio piece was “such a common sense one.”

“I do believe that if you listen to Morning Edition and All Things Considered, you learn,” she says. “They go in-depth in their stories—you don’t just get the Twitter 140 characters; you get depth. And so I felt that this is where I want to put my money, because I really feel that it’s a service that people can listen to and—you learn, you learn. Every time you listen to public radio, you learn.”

Zorn’s level of giving has continued to grow over time, and she says part of the reason for that has been to inspire others to give. Last spring, during NSPR’s Buy Back the Drive campaign in which every dollar raised went toward shortening the length of the on-air pledge drive, Zorn decided to buy back a whole day with a $15,000 gift, hoping to encourage others by making a splash. And it did just that. 

“In fact, several people have asked me, ‘Wow, how did you do that?’" she says. "And I go, ‘Well, it was really pretty easy,’ They think there’s some complex thing about giving to public radio, and there’s not.”

With her gift, Zorn became the first NSPR member to join Chico State's new leadership giving society, The Tower Society, at the "Founder" level. 

You, too, can put your inspiration to work for NSPR. Learn more about following Linda's example and making a leadership gift on our Tower Society web page.