Ambivalence – again

Last time I wrote about ambivalence it was literally about life and death, with international import. This topic has less gravitas, but shows my propensity for seeing the world in shades of gray.

This morning, my favorite radio station announced an impending format change. To say that radio has played a serious part of my life is an understatement. Ask Phil Thompson. While I have found radio stations to listen to, I have never found one that I have really liked so much until moving to Pittsburgh. This station has literally changed my life. I have been a long time NPR listener, and sometimes NPR member. I have lived in larger and smaller markets than Pittsburgh with NPR news stations of which I have been a regular listener, particularly WAMC out of Albany, and KUNI out of Cedar Rapids. While I don’t listen to news ALL day, it’s been nice to know where to find it. I have also been enamored of some local talk programming that isn’t of the Rush Limbaugh persuasion, if you know what I mean. I particularly enjoyed the WAMC conversations with Gov Mario Cuomo. Those were the good old days.

When I moved to Pittsburgh (can it really be 13 years ago this summer), I naturally gravitated towards the local NPR station. I was initially a little annoyed that there wasn’t and NPR only station, but WQED offered more than other local public radio stations. The amount they offered was enough for me, for the most part. And they had this other major programming thrust. Their old slogan “Hot News, Cool Jazz” summed it up quite nicely, even though they have hardly ever been limited to one jazz milieu.

As I began to listen to this station a funny thing happened to me. I’d listen to the news, and then the Jazz would start. Knowing there was no other station that I wanted to listen to, in this Pop or Classic Rock dominated market, I’d hang around on this station. There is in fact another station here that I like quite a lot – WYEP. But there are reception problems with them. Anyway, I began to be infected with this Jazz thing. I had always enjoyed Jazz a little. But I didn’t know it very well. After 13 years of a News/Jazz radio diet, I can proudly say that I am a Jazz listener - not an aficionado, by any means, but a solid listener. So much so, that I have lost a little touch with what is going on in other contemporary genres. Peter West would be sad, but he always knew I wasn’t as avid a music listener as he.

So, Duquesne University is selling WDUQ to a consortium, partially owned by WYEP. This is good news/bad news. I stopped becoming a donor a few years back when the Catholic Duquesne University made WDUQ return a sponsorship donation from Planned Parenthood. Not that I have anythign against the catholic church. I understand that this is the church's stance, if not those of many of their members. I just don't agree, and have witheld my funds. So now maybe I will become a member again. We’ll see.

There is more good news/bad news, as the new ownership group announced programming changes. They are changing WDUQ over to an NPR/Talk format. They say they will keep, and actually increase their jazz programming, but it will be on-line and on HD Radio. No broadcast jazz. So I should be happy right? Well I am. I will be happy to have more NPR/News offerings. But I am also sad. I really like WDUQ’s jazz programming. Now I won’t be able to listen to it in the car, or on my work radio. I am not sure if I will overcome the hurdle of new distribution to continue to listen to jazz the way I have.

Growth is not always easy, even if it is for the better.