WDUQ belongs to the public
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Last week's announcement that Duquesne University has hired a broker to sell the NPR affiliate WDUQ had loyal listeners spewing their Pinot Noir across the room. While the station cannot be converted to a for-profit entity, it can most certainly become something it is not now, namely a Christian propaganda machine. Verily, it could become an anything propaganda machine so long as it remains noncommercial. (I have friends several clicks right of me who argue that National Public Radio is a propaganda machine.)
But the truth is, Christian broadcasters around the county have deep pockets and a 24-hour opportunity to raise more money on-air. They are the most qualified buyers of noncommercial licenses right now and WDUQ sits firmly in their crosshairs.
Credit Duquesne, a Catholic university, for not using the station to proselytize over the years. Not that Duquesne has been totally hands-free. A number of listeners were outraged (me included) when the university administration barred the station from running an underwriting announcement from Planned Parenthood.
What are the alternatives to saving core NPR programs in Western Pennsylvania? I will list two in the order of desirability.
The staff of WDUQ incorporates as an independent nonprofit entity, leverages money to buy the station and its assets and continues to program more or less the way it does now. There is a big bonus in this scenario because the station would have to appoint a board of directors. WDUQ works without any sort of advisory board. All nonprofits benefit when there are informed and dedicated trustees governing the organization. This alternative would make WDUQ a better station.
One of the other two NPR affiliates in Pittsburgh, WQED-FM or WYEP, radically alters its programming to pick up flagship programs like "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition."
The most likely candidate to do this is the all-classical station WQED. It ran the afternoon news program "All Things Considered" at the same time as WDUQ for a couple of years in the early '80s. I worked for WQED back then as a producer and administrative assistant, and I could not go anywhere in the city without someone telling me what a stupid idea that was.
First Published January 24, 2010 12:00 am
