An ad-hoc committee, headed up Weaverville resident Fred Flaxman, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny the license
renewal of WCQS in Asheville, charging that the station violated
requirements to form a community advisory board and conduct listener
surveys
. The station filed a response with the FCC saying that it is now in compliance.
The station’s broadcast license, held by Western North Carolina Public
Radio (WNCPR), would have been automatically renewed on Dec. 1, but
the group's petition to deny triggered an FCC review.
Flaxman drafted a letter on behalf of his group, made up of roughly 30 area residents, that addresses the list of complaints to Bryan Smith, chairman of the board of directors for Western North Carolina Public Radio.
It reads:
Dear Chairman
Smith:
I write with the hope and
expectation that the Board of Directors of Western North Carolina Public Radio
and the members of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Radio share a common
goal: helping Western North Carolina to have the best, most responsive, public
radio station it can have given the financial resources available. Assuming that
is the case, we think it would be far better that we work together to reach this
goal rather than to engage in a battle with each other as we have been
doing.
The Ad-Hoc Committee
members are all pleased to have public radio service in our area. We definitely
do not want to do without it. We want to improve it. We want it to be more
responsive than we have found it to be in the past, as documented in our FCC
petition.
So I write to you today
with several suggestions that we think would greatly help to bring about
this improved responsiveness and service to the community. We sincerely hope
you'll agree with all of them. We don't think they are controversial. There are
other public radio stations and nonprofits in the United States that operate in
a similar fashion to what we are proposing. And these suggestions, if carried
out, would deprive us of any reason to challenge your license renewal and lead
us to ask the FCC to withdraw our Petition to Deny. Our proposals are as
follows:
1. The Board of Directors
of a public radio station, in our view, should be elected by the members of the
station, rather than being self-elected and self-perpetuating. We therefore
suggest that the changes to the articles of incorporation and bylaws necessary
to bring this about be made as soon as possible and elections held at the next
annual meeting.
2. We suggest that the
station's Community Advisory Board meet quarterly, rather than twice a year, and
be open to any resident of the station's coverage area who wants to join the CAB
and who attends at least three meetings each year.
3. We suggest that the
CAB's bylaws be changed to no longer require Board of Directors approval of CAB
members, to better assure the independence of the CAB.
4. We suggest that the
CAB's advice be sought prior to any program changes, and that the Board of
Directors make this a station policy. In suggesting this we emphasize that
management does not have to follow the advice of the CAB, only to seek it,
consider it, and follow it where practical and desirable to do so.
5. We suggest that all
station employees be individuals who believe strongly in the mission of the
station and of public broadcasting, and who are sensitive to and responsive to
the needs of the communities served by the station. We suggest that they work
hard to involve the public in public broadcasting, and never forget that they
are paid by the public they are hired to serve. We are sorry to report that this
hasn't always been the case in the past.
6. We suggest that final
programming decisions be made by people who are qualified by training or
background to make those decisions. We also suggest that a one-paragraph
biography of each station employee be posted on the staff page of the station's
website, so that listeners and members can see at a glance the qualifications of
those holding decision-making positions at the station.
7. We feel that the
broadcast of locally-produced news, public affairs, and talk programs by local
public radio stations is more important than ever. We think it is essential to
their very survival, as modern technology makes it possible through satellite
and internet radio to listen to stations all over the world as well as network
programming from NPR without tuning in to local stations like WCQS. Therefore we
strongly suggest that WCQS make local news, public affairs, and talk programming
an essential part of their mission statement, and hire the right people to carry
it out.
8. Nevertheless, we also
suggest that the broadcast of classical music, folk music, and jazz remains an
important part of the public radio mission in communities like ours where it is
the only free, over-the-air source of such programming. We think that the
station should continue and improve such programming by identifying and
broadcasting the best such programming available. We don't feel that this has
been evident in the past. Many years went by, for example, before WCQS offered
"From the Top" to their listeners. "Performance Today" from American Public
Media and the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts are still not available to listeners
here.
9. We also feel that part
of the mission of WCQS should be to encourage the production of high-quality
programming for broadcast on the station by local, independent producers. Some
of the best programs on public television in the U.S. come from independent
producers. The same is true for public radio. We suggest that the mission
statement be revised to encourage such production and acquisition, particularly
from your coverage area.
10. We suggest that WCQS
conduct annual surveys of its members to determine their reaction to the
programs being broadcast and their suggestions for improvements. We further
suggest that the results of these surveys be discussed at an annual WCQS
Listeners Meeting, which would be broadcast live and permit live input from the
public by telephone and electronic means.
11. We suggest that WCQS
produce and broadcast a regular, half-hour, daily local public affairs program,
perhaps immediately following NPR's "All Things Considered" at 6:30 PM, Monday
through Friday, and using the same radio magazine format. Grants from local
foundations, companies, and individuals could be sought to make this concept
financially possible.
12. We suggest that, in
order to be more responsive to the communities it serves, WCQS should
voluntarily conduct community ascertainment of the communities' needs by
interviewing community leaders each year. Also, we suggest that the station
respond to and tabulate all programming comments and requests, whether they come
by telephone, e-mail, via the station's website, or by letter, as is common at
other public broadcasting stations. The logs of comments should be distributed
weekly by e-mail to management, the Board of Directors, and the Community
Advisory Board.
13. Because radio is a
sound medium with no pictures, we believe that a station's sound is very
important. We suggest that WCQS commit to hiring the best on-air personnel that
they can find, so that the station always sounds like a professional,
world-class operation, and not like a college training station. We think that
the station has some excellent announcers on its staff, but we have heard many
complaints from our members and others about some announcers who fall short of
professional standards.
14. If low pay and
benefits is the reason for the lack of a totally professional announcing staff
at present, we suggest that the station establish a pay scale with benefits that
is generous enough to attract first-class, professional, experienced
talent.
The Ad-Hoc Committee for
Responsive Public Radio feels that, if our suggestions are taken and
implemented, these improvements will pay for themselves in increased listeners
and increased donations of financial support. They will certainly make the
station a more responsive and essential community resource.
We would like to meet
with you to discuss these suggestions and to see if we might reach a written
agreement and affidavit required by the FCC for us to withdraw our Petition to
Deny WCQS's license renewal. We would appreciate your bringing this proposal up
at your meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 18), and I look forward to your reply shortly after
that.
Flaxman is a longtime public broadcaster who previously held executive positions at WTTW in
Chicago, WETA-FM and TV in Arlington, Va., and KUAT-TV in Tucson, Ariz.