The fundraising deadline to help community radio station WGXC get on the air has been extended until July 1, the program director says. Tom Roe said that, as of Friday, the station has raised 40 percent of what it needs to match a $71,486 grant provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration through its Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. He said the station has raised $28,357, but still needs another $43,128. “It’s been going very well so far,” Roe said of the fundraising. He said $5,000 was raised in the past two weeks to get the deadline extended from March 31 to July 1. Roe said the money being raised will help the station buy the equipment necessary to get on the air. He said the grant, though, will only pay for large equipment, like the transmitter. The grant will fund half of the equipment needed to put the station on the air later this year at 90.7 on the FM dial. WGXC will be a 3,300-watt non-commercial community radio station with shows about local issues such as agriculture, history, the arts and education. It will reach most of Greene and Columbia counties and have studios at the Catskill Community Center and in Hudson. Another studio may be established in Cairo. Roe said the station is trying to get on the air by the end of September and that individuals interested in hosting shows have until May 1 to apply. The application form is available at www.wgxc.org. Most of the shows will be hosted by people from Columbia and Greene counties and feature topics of interest to those locales, Roe said. One of the station’s next fund raising events will be an open mic night on April 23 at Gallagher’s, 513 Main St., Cairo. The event will run from 7 to 9 p.m. and is being held in conjunction with the Cairo Public Library.