A
verbal scuffle has broken out in Peoria, Illinois about the future of NPR
News/Talk station WCBU 89.9 FM [link] a/k/a Peoria Public Radio.
A report in the Peoria Journal Star published last Tuesday (5/22) blew the lid off
years of inaction by Bradley University, the licensee of WCBU.
The
most recent dispute involves where WCBU will be located next year when the building
that houses the station will be demolished.
Gary Roberts |
According to the report in the Journal Star [link], Bradley University
President Gary Roberts said at a recent University Senate meeting that
estimates of the cost to move WCBU to a new location were discouraging.
Roberts added that a difficult
decisions about the future of WCBU will have to be made.
President
Robert’s remarks fit a pattern of benign neglect by Bradley in recent years.
By
any measure, WCBU is under-performing:
REVENUE
According
to WCBU’s FY 2017 audited financial statement, the station had total revenue of
approximately $1.1 million. Listener-sensitive revenue (members and
underwriting) was $535,000 (49%); CPB provided $172,000 (16%); Bradley
University provided $347,000 (32%). WCBU had a $50,000 deficit in FY 2017.
The
amount of support from the University is unusually high. While welcome, this level of licensee support
creates dependency that can vanish with the stroke of a pen.
We
examined WCBU’s closest public radio neighbor, WGLT in Bloomington/Normal,
licensed to Illinois State University.
WGLT is based in a market with less half of the population of Peoria. In FY 2017 WGLT had total revenue of $1.8
million, including $843,000 (47%) from listener-sensitive sources; $136,000
(8%) from CPB; and $286,000 (16%) from the University.
WCBU has excellent coverage of Peoria |
RATINGS
According
to Nielsen Audio, WCBU had 27,500 estimated weekly listeners in Fall 2017. In
the same survey period, WGLT reached 16,000 weekly listeners in Peoria. A large
number of listeners tune to an out-of-market station instead of WCBU.
STAFFING
WCBU
has five full-time employees, the minimum number to qualify for CPB support. By
comparison, WGLT has 13 full-time staffers. WCBU’s small staff limits the
station’s ability to do investigative reporting and local enterprise
journalism.
PROGRAMMING
Until
a few years ago WCBU was a dual-format station with NPR News and Classical
music. In 2011 the station adopted a 24/7 news/talk format and moved Classical
to an HD channel. Like most places, HD radio has very few listeners.
WCBU’s
schedule looks adequate. They are
carrying public radio’s big network shows: 1A, The Takeaway, Wait, Wait… and
The Moth Radio Hour. What is missing is locally originated programming about life in Peoria. WCBU needs to become "essential Peoria."
Downtown Peoria at night, reflected in the Illinois River |
Peoria
looks like a good place for public radio to thrive. The metro has around
250,000 people. Though the economy has been uneven in the last decade some sectors are growing such as health care.
To
us, it seems that WCBU is not a priority for Bradley
University. This is too bad because it could and should be a champion for Peoria's future. Bradley's President Gary Roberts sees WCBU only as a liability. In reality, it could be a key to a better future.
WCBU needs to become an essential part of life in Peoria. President Roberts should either embrace WCBU or let a more competent organization take control of the station.
Roberts should examine the overwhelming success of public radio stations stations at other private universities such as KRCC at Colorado College in Colorado
Springs, KCLU at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks or KLCC at Lane College in Eugene. At these universities, NPR stations bring visibility, goodwill and credibility for everyone involved. That is what people mean when they talk about public radio's "halo effect."
WCBU will have have to sold to some other group that would truly take in interest in the station and Bradley University seems to not be interested or they truly can't. At least a group of people were able to keep KUNC in Fort Collins from being assimilated into the Colorado Public Radio fold and eventually that station was able to truly evolve into a full time Public Radio News/Talker with the sign on of Triple A sister The Colorado Sound (KJAC). WBCU could suffer the fate that KUNC successful dodged.
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