Dear President Bennet:
I write to respectfully ask that you not pursue the possibility of affiliating WESU-FM with National Public Radio.
While you should be justifiably proud of the network that you helped bring to prominence, it already has six affiliates in Connecticut, including WPKT in neighboring Meriden. Listeners who want to listen to NPR are well served.
On the other hand, listeners who want the kind of innovative, unique “free-form” radio that airs on WESU have few, if any, alternatives in central Connecticut. Indeed, there are few radio stations around the country that are willing and able to break from the mainstream and take risks.
While WESU may not be, or sound, all that professional, there is still great value to its programming and to the learning opportunities it offers. Turning large blocks of time over to a national network does not enhance those opportunities for students, it diminishes them.
I devoted a large portion of my four years at Wesleyan to WESU, serving as its President in the 1981-82 school year. I worked many hours both on the air and off, doing anything and everything that needed to be done. That experience made it clear to me that I would seek a career in broadcasting, a decision I have never regretted in my 22 years in the business.
My hope is that today’s students are not denied the opportunity I enjoyed.
I urge you to allow the students of the University to continue to program WESU as they see fit, to allow them to experiment, to take risks and learn from their own triumphs and mistakes, in the great Wesleyan tradition.
Sincerely,
Alex Crippen
Senior Producer, CNBC Television
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