Text size: 
WQPT may leave Black Hawk College
Originally Posted Online: June 24, 2009, 6:28 pm
Last Updated: June 24, 2009, 7:54 pm
Comment on this story |
Print this story | Email this storyLast Updated: June 24, 2009, 7:54 pm
By Jonathan Turner, jturner@qconline.com
|
After calling Black Hawk College home for nearly 26 years, WQPT-TV, the Quad-Cities PBS station, may move. The BHC Board of Trustees and board of the Greater Quad Cities Telecommunications Corporation, which advises WQPT, have agreed to transfer the operating license to the station board. WQPT general manager Rick Best said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not expected to rule on that request until late summer, but "it's likely, at some point in time, we would no longer be on the campus of Black Hawk College." In anticipation of that license transfer, the station board has had several discussions on potential partnerships with many institutions of higher learning in the Quad-Cities area, including Western Illinois University. No relationship has been formed yet with any, WQPT board chairman Kathy Michel said Wednesday. "Our intent is simply to continue with the license transfer process that is under way while providing quality service and programming as is currently available through WQPT," Ms. Michel said by e-mail. "In the meantime, the board continues to explore every option to assure that WQPT remains the viable, successful community asset that it is," she said. "The board understands that we hold a community asset in our trust and have a responsibility to investigate every possibility." BHC has held WQPT's FCC license since its founding in November 1983. It is one of just three public TV licenses held by an Illinois community college. When it started, the Quad-Cities was the largest metro area in the nation without a PBS station. The license transfer would not cost the WQPT board anything, Mr. Best said. The board took no action Monday when it met to discuss options for its license transfer, including a possible transfer to another institution of higher learning, Ms. Michel said. Upon FCC approval, expected by Sept. 1, the WQPT license would be a community-based license. BHC and the station board have agreed WQPT will pay $5,000 a month rent to the college starting July 1 and can remain up to three years, Mr. Best said. "Finding space is an important part of our plans, but it's not the highest priority," he said. When state funding cuts forced BHC to take away more than $400,000 from the station in 2007, BHC gave the WQPT board the option of buying the license. The group, however, could not come up with the estimated $2 million in needed funds. There were no other offers to buy the license. The college eliminated its operating support almost two years ago, ending it altogether June 30, 2007. The state also reduced its financial support. The PBS affiliate left two vacant positions — chief engineer and development assistant — unfilled and cut full-time positions of public affairs director and a videographer in January. Former production manager Paul Magnuson left the station earlier this month to work for a local production company. WQPT currently has 10 employees. In the past year, WQPT stopped producing weekly local programs and switched to a different PBS programming plan that significantly reduced what WQPT pays for programming. In May, WQPT launched "Get Movin'" — a locally produced, eight-episode series on exercise and healthy eating targeted at 6- to 11-year-olds. It airs at 4 p.m. Fridays. Federal funding supplies about 30 percent of the station's annual $1.8 million budget, with individuals providing 25 percent, college in-kind support totaling 15 percent, and state funding and corporate support providing most of the remainder. 
|
|
