PBA meets with WREK

The Public Broadcasting of Atlanta (PBA), an under-body of the Atlanta Educational Telecommunications Collaborative (AETC), met with WREK Radio last Thursday to discuss a potential collaboration between the two entities.

"They proposed to help WREK out with programming and underwriting, which is raising funds for the station," said Bradford Petrick, WREK's general manager.

Unlike Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), PBA did not come in to propose a buy-out of WREK's signal and airtime.

"They said that they did not come with a purpose. They wanted to hear what we needed and help if it was necessary. According to PBA, they came with a service and a mission, and they are out for the public good to enhance the community," Petrick said.

PBA has a history of aiding radio stations without taking them over. During the early 1990's PBA came to the aid of WABE 90.1 FM, the radio station for the Atlanta Board of Education.

"The Atlanta Board of Education radio station used to cost the city money because of poor programming and no listeners. AETC came in and turned the station around and the station grew from being worth a couple hundred thousand dollars to being a multi-million dollar station," Petrick said.

After the proposals by GPB and the Athletic Association (AA) to change the nature of WREK, the Radio Communications Board (RCB) decided that they would meet with all organizations involved, including PBA, individually to see what the best option would be for the radio station.

During the meetings, the RCB has taken a passive approach, doing more listening than talking in the meetings.

"We basically just listened to what they had to say. We did not tell them what we wanted from them, but we threw ideas back and forth about how a relationship could move forward. We asked them if they would help us with programming and they said yes. They also said that they would help us with raising funds for the station," Petrick said.

The main difference between PBA and both GPB and the AA is that PBA is not proposing to take over any aspect of WREK.

"They specifically said that they do not want airtime," Petrick said. Both GPB and the AA want to use several hours of WREK airtime each day. In fact, PBA wants to improve and expand what WREK is currently doing with its programming.

"PBA wants to help us expand the unique programming that WREK currently produces," Petrick said.

PBA got involved in WREK in the fall when the news broke about GPB and the AA looking to buy out WREK. The PBA was under the false impression that WREK was in trouble as a station, and got involved to lend a hand.

"PBA met with Clough about six months ago to discuss options with WREK. This is how the process started," Petrick said.

Despite the altruistic nature of PBA, the services that they are offering will come at a price.

"We would not be getting their services for free. Because they would be providing people who are paid salaries by PBA, we would have to reimburse them for the services that they provided. However, we did not talk dollar amounts during the meeting," Petrick said.

A town hall meeting will be held to allow the RCB to present the student body with the different options that were given by the three entities. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for the week of April 9.

"We are still talking with SGA about a definite date for the town hall meeting," Petrick said.

WREK is also still looking into converting to high definition (HD).

"We are looking at the summer for getting estimates on the conversions," Petrick said.

One of the possibilities for expanding into HD is the use of a directional antenna.

"With a directional antenna, we would be able to reach cities like Rome. In fact, we could broadcast all the way to Alabama with a clear signal," Petrick said.

WREK is also looking to expand its other services on campus, such as WREK TV including campus announcements and events. The channel would be reached by everyone in on-campus housing.

PBA would not be able to provide much assistance to WREK in their conversion into HD.

"They talked about moving our transmitter from west campus to the PBA transmitter. However, this is not feasible. We could get some help, such as consulting their chief engineer, but we would not get financial aid," Petrick said.

According to Petrick, the overall meeting was more purposeful than the meeting with GPB.

"We can work with PBA to make WREK better. They have the knowledge and the people to make it happen," Petrick said.

Student feedback will be requested before any decision is made on the future of WREK. Any of the proposals is a viable option for WREK, as is the option of not doing anything at all.

With all the plans that WREK has for its future, the possibility of changing the nature of the radio station is completely up in the air. The RCB will discuss the options and decide whether to move forward with any of the plans presented or continue exploring improvement from WREK separate from external organizations.