With just about two and a half weeks left until the deadline for the final $637,000 payment owed on the licenses and equipment of the former WLIU radio station, the station’s manager says the money to complete the purchase is still not in place—and that, in fact, the fledgling corporation’s board of directors has not actively met in many months.
Wally Smith, who managed WLIU and has steered the effort by Peconic Public Broadcasting, a corporation formed by former WLIU employees and supporters to keep the station on the air, said that the group has a significant chunk of the money needed either in hand or in the form of a promised donation should the checks need to be written, but he acknowledged that the bulk of the money has yet... more
Wally Smith, who managed WLIU and has steered the effort by Peconic Public Broadcasting, a corporation formed by former WLIU employees and supporters to keep the station on the air, said that the group has a significant chunk of the money needed either in hand or in the form of a promised donation should the checks need to be written, but he acknowledged that the bulk of the money has yet... more
Not that it would totally suck, however...
As for Muscoot's observation that the downhill slide began when they stopped providing local news, well, that was only a symptom. They stopped providing local news because they couldn't afford it anymore, they had all those enormous salaries to pay. Why doesn't ...more anybody reveal how much money the employees were paid from funds raised from the public?
"Well, if we cut salaries this year, the savings would be minimal."
WELL, how about the CUMULATIVE cost of said compensation over the course of a decade, or two?
Sounds like a significant amount of working capital from here...
What a sham WLIU was for years -- claiming to be a college radio station but where were the students? Where was the educational element? What smalltown college radio station has people on staff with six-figure salaries?
Adios, Wally. Your station failed because it had no soul.
Fact remains, the cumulative effect of the excessive salaries earned by those employed by a PUBLIC radio station, was most likely a hefty contributor to it's budget shortfalls, and it's eventual undoing. They pillaged the coffers, of which fund were not only donated by the community, but by the taxpayers of the state ...more of New York.
To opine that executive compensation was not a factor in the failure of this radio station is not only ludicrous, but baseless.
The college next upped it's power to 150 watts soon afterwards. The station operated out of the basement ...more of one of the buildings on campus. To those old enough to remember, it was similar to the old University of Bridgeport station, WPKN. I suspect there was never carriculum in broadcasting offered at the Southampton campus. Over the years, the station continued to increase it's signal to the the present 25,000 watts, a new tower and broadcast equipment.
I must admit, the station offers a profession sound and high signal quality. The students I remember are long gone. Nowadays they could probably not even hope to get a DJ time slot there as the available slots probably have been filled for years.
The problem is it took deep pockets to keep this station on the air. I believe it was at least 1.5M a year the college was paying towards it's operation. I tuned in 88.3 the other day and noticed a vast difference in signal quality. I suspect the power has been drastically reduced from the FCC authorized 25K watts to save money. Even if a last minute donor comes to the rescue, the yearly operating budget of the station would have to addressed. I personally don't see much hope and suspect it will go silent on August 31st.
But for full disclosure let me add that I speak with some knowledge of the broadcasting industry and "public" radio in particular. In fact I was one of the founders of Hamptons Community Radio which currently operates the 88.7 station in East Hampton, and has just been given the FCC go-ahead ...more to build another station on 89.1 in Westhampton. Thus in competition with WLIU/PPB. Although I am no longer on the Board, I know that fund raising has been difficult in spite of their focus on local community programming. Getting volunteers takes time and resources which are not in abundant supply anywhere these days.
Of particular concern to me is that 27East and the Press Group papers have gone along with the statement that NPR programming will disappear on the East End. The Independent this week interviewed a Long Island University spokesperson who saii that if the sale does not go through, WLIU (which the University owns, after all) will continue to play NPR programming, but with computers instead of real people. In fact, they will likely take more NPR material to fill the day. Of course there are two other "public" stations (besides the 88.3 and 88.7 locals. There's 91.3 licensed to Southampton but programmed from Connecticut, and 89.9 licensed to Noyack, again programmed from Connecticut, and both do A LOT of NPR originated material. The 88.7, at which I still do volunteer work, will not become another NPR affiliate and is hustling to get more local programming, but they've only been on for 9 weeks.
As to what happens to 88.3 long-term, that's not clear for now. The NPR contracts with WLIU run until the end of the year, and I'm sure LIU (the University) would like to sell it to recoup at least part of the over $2 Milllion in losses they covered prior to 2009. Will another "public" broadcaster buy it? Maybe, but the more likely scenario is that a religious group with deep pockets will eventually own it, and change the programming. I guesstimate that may take six months or more.
Let me add that WPKN in Bridgeport, which is on 89.5 reaches all but the Easternmost parts of the East End, is a public station unaffiliated with NPR.
Smith and Grice should happily stand aside and put it back in the hands of the people, not the hands of two.
I have a feeling if that were the case, you would have no problem getting the loot.