Cash strapped Sydney community station FBi did not have its prayers answered by a million dollar donation from Richard Branson when he spoke on air this morning. But the station did generate good publicity from the interview and extracted some Virgin giveaways out of Branson, who also signed up as a station supporter.

FBi has been running a campaign called Ask Richard in the hope that some of its listeners could capture Branson’s attention and convince him to donate a million dollars. Branson heard about the station’s campaign when an Aussie woman swam two miles to his island to tell him about the campaign.

Branson told breakfast presenter Alison Petrowski he could not donate a million bucks to everyone who asked him, because he had to prioritise his donations for higher causes such as poverty in Africa and other worthy causes.

He did agree to help the station with publicity plus organise some Virgin sponsorship, and he donated Virgin airtickets to be used as prizes in the station’s fundraising drive.

Listen to the Branson interview here (16 Mb mp3). The interview was on a very poor phone line from his island, it is unknown whether he was talking on a Virgin mobile.

Hear the earlier lead up promo here.

The Ask Richard campaign is being run at the site below.