LEWISTON — The Maine Public Broadcasting Network is hoping that an abbreviated but highly publicized radio pledge drive will galvanize enough existing, former and potential first-time donors to pledge as much in donations in a single day as MPBN usually takes a week to raise.

Within days, listeners of MPBN’s seven radio stations throughout Maine will begin hearing live and pre-recorded messages asking listeners to help MPBN in a novel experiment to see if it can change how such campaigns are conducted.

On Thursday, Oct. 20, beginning at 12:01 a.m. for online donors and at 5 a.m. for call-ins from radio listeners, MPBN will conduct what it hopes will be the shortest radio membership drive in its history, seeking at least 2,600 individual pledges over 24 hours, either by phone or online through its Web site.

At prevailing average gift levels, the pledges should generate more than $200,000 for the network, said Jennifer Foley, vice president for membership and philanthropic giving.

Comprising nearly two-thirds of the MPBN’s annual budget of about $11 million, donations from individuals, businesses and foundations are the most critical source of revenue for the network, with gifts from individuals outpacing corporate donations by about a 3-to1 margin.

By comparison, MPBN’s last radio pledge drive in July required nine days to generate a comparable number of pledges.

The difference between past attempts and the drive on Oct. 20 is that in the past, Foley said, listeners knew they could procrastinate and still give the next day or the day after that.

“The biggest two days for any MPBN pledge drive are the first day and the last day,” she added, “and so it makes a certain amount of sense to put them both on the same day and simply see what happens.”