800px-Yo-Yo_Ma_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_Davos_2008Usually, when Colorado Public Radio asks its listeners for cash, the station keeps it. But between November 30 and December 2, CPR, known for its love of classical music, will conduct a rare, on-air fundraising drive with the Colorado Symphony that culminates in a live broadcast of cellist Yo-Yo Ma from Boettcher Concert Hall (via press statement). In September, CSO musicians agreed to a 12.5 percent pay cut, as many as four weeks of unpaid vacation, and suspension of employer contributions to their retirement fund. “Colorado Public Radio recognizes the CSO’s unique role as one of Colorado’s key cultural assets and petitioned the Federal Communications Corporation for permission to conduct a one-time-only, on-air fundraising drive to support its major classical music provider, the Colorado Symphony,” CPR President Max Wycisk says in a statement (via the Denver Business Journal). Wycisk notes the FCC hasn’t authorized a broadcast station to run this sort of fundraiser for another group since 1993.