When WESU announced last fall it would begin broadcasting NPR programming as a means to raise money and save the station, it coincided with the largest on-campus activist action in recent memory. For some, this was a lucky opportunity to sweep up the NPR issue with the flurry of other grievances being aired by students. Unfortunately for WESU, the station then became a symbol of something larger, more complex and ultimately unrelated to the issue at hand.
Yes, it was and remains important for WESU to maintain its identity and character, and to be able to continue serving the community as it always has. Despite assurances that these things could happen alongside NPR programming, massive and uninformed resistance to the plan drowned out the actual information. Some considered NPR a corporate machine that would threaten WESU’s integrity.
With WESU resuming live programming this week, complete with several hours of NPR broadcast a day, it is irrelevant to consider whether or not this is the right thing to do—it’s already been done. NPR will be a presence at WESU for some time, and in the process will help revitalize what is still our community radio station. The WESU student staff now has the general manager it has desperately needed for some time, and several students at the station have said they are grateful for the influx of money and support that NPR’s broadcasting has provided.
88.1 may now be less distinctive for broadcasting “Morning Edition” in the morning instead of obscure Italian pop music, but it’s not necessarily worse off. It’s time to drop WESU as a symbol of corporate influence, or too much administrative power, or anything else larger than itself. Their airwaves, for the most part, are still as local and student-run as they ever were—all things have been considered on this station for longer than NPR has been in existence—and these changes should enable the station to be even more diverse, while gaining some much-needed professionalism.
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