Another Modest Proposal

Maybe the way to go is nonprofit.

Hear me out. I'm not talking converting talk radio into public radio. Public radio does just fine as it is. I'm talking philanthropy. Community service. Preserving, or rebuilding, a source of news and opinion for the public interest. Stop laughing! It's not impossible! Really!

First, this fever dream happened when I pondered the fate of WEEU in Reading, Pennsylvania, the soon-to-be-owner of which says it'll shut the station down rather than bother operating it while it looks for a buyer for the license. The new owner (notorious newspaper chain MediaNews Group) has no interest in owning a radio station; it bought the Reading Eagle newspaper out of bankruptcy and WEEU came with it, and it clearly thinks that the only assets to strip-mine are the real estate and transmission equipment, so it doesn't see the need to keep operating the station as a going concern. So the station's endangered, although one local businessman has stepped up to propose buying the station and keeping it going as a community asset.

It's interesting that this is happening as part of the sale of a struggling newspaper. One of the ways newspapers have been saved is when a nonprofit foundation takes over the operation. The existence today of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News (and their Philly.com site) is because they were donated to a community foundation; the papers still take advertising and subscriptions, but they're owned by a philanthropic foundation supported by grants and donations. The Salt Lake Tribune is looking into converting from a commercial enterprise into a nonprofit supported by donations. These are creative approaches to preserving the service the news organizations provide to the community.

But the newspapers, despite years of cutbacks (which, sadly, continue even under nonprofit ownership; the Inquirer and Daily News just announced another 10% workforce reduction through buyouts, citing revenue troubles), can point to the value of having reporters cover the important issues of their markets. A lot of radio stations don't have the news resources or true local service to justify being considered a community asset. But WEEU has a mostly-local lineup during daytimes, and has been providing news coverage to Berks County for over 80 years. Could that be the kind of station that would be considered a community asset? Sure.

Then, what about those big AM stations that have withered and suffered over the last decade or so? Especially the stand-alones left after companies like Cumulus sold off their FM partners? Could these stations be operated as a public service by foundations? It would take some work: the IRS and FCC would have to be on board with the concept, and, in some cases, it would require rebuilding of news departments and likely retooling of the programming from all-partisan-shouting all-the-time to something more community-oriented (it does not have to be boring, though, and, again, we're not talking NPR, we're talking what we're used to as commercial talk radio, just operated as a community service rather than under the pressure of for-profit operation and private equity investors). The stations would still have to be cheaply run -- even nonprofits need to rein in spending -- but they'd be maintained as independent voices for the public good.

Or maybe this is a ridiculous, unworkable concept. If anyone has a better idea (better than "let 'em all die," at least), step right up.

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All Access is off Monday (5/27) for Memorial Day, so I'll be back Tuesday with more Talk Topics and news and stuff. Talk to you then.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
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