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A wonderful thing about traditions is they can help you rekindle good things that deserve to be repeated, especially in showing others that you care.

When I first came to Pittsburgh in 1995, I found the city filled with kind people, civil driving, and a staff at WDUQ that tended to be the generous, gift-exchanging kind of folk.

For the early years, when we were fewer in number, as I was the General Manager, I would try to find special gifts like books and things. But, over time, as the years passed and the station grew, I ran out of book ideas unique enough for a burgeoning staff. There were only so many editions of “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” after all.

So, food became the next thing to share. Cub Scout Popcorn, given my association with all of that. Then, as my sons moved on to adulthood, what next?

Little did I realize that a longstanding Hanley family tradition was in need of extending.

For decades, my mother had made Krumkake, a not widely-known Norwegian rolled cookie. Owing to my mother’s Danish heritage, she had taken up making this cookie as her primary holiday baking activity back in the 70’s. It uses a lot of eggs and butter, and has some special features.

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Krumkake

A Scandinavian Christmas cookie from the Danish side of the family

3 well beaten eggs

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c butter

1/2 c flour

1 teaspoon extract of choice (I use vanilla and almond)

You melt the butter, blend it all together and bake it on a special iron (from Norway, of course!). Roll and let cool.

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For years, my mother had used a single iron that was placed over a stovetop burner. While the cookie you make and then roll was perfectly round in this iron, it was also very time consuming and less than perfect at keeping precise heating.

Later, my mother bought an “electric” two-sided iron. Instead of one cookie every 90 seconds, you could make two!

(wonder of wonders, I found one of my own in Pittsburgh at Wholey’s in the strip!)

The “roll and let it cool” part is what gets you. Despite what you may see online (and in the box of my electric krumkake iron), the wooden roller is not something we’ve ever used.

Instead, you take the hot baked cookie off the iron, put it down on a counter and quickly and with some danger, roll the cookie by hand.  Or should I say, by fingertips!

As cookies go, this recipe uses a LOT of eggs and butter. The batch I show here was using 9 eggs and three sticks of butter. And that cookie, when it comes off the iron, is HOT!

They can be served with whipped cream, sprinkled powdered sugar or just plain as is. I have seen variations, like the mix of flour doubled up, which makes for a doughier cookie, but this is the recipe I’ve settled on.

One trial effort this year, from Laura’s suggestion, was to take an unrolled cookie and use those tiny SOLBRÄND plastic bowls from Ikea to make a tasty pastry bowl out of the new shape.

More testing to be done…but whipped cream, ice cream, fruit – it is all good.

Krumkake is what I started to share with my “family” at WDUQ. Hundreds of cookies, a dozen or two at a time. Many plastic containers, carefully packed with festive paper towel wrapping.

That was a few years ago, also around the same time that my mother was no longer able to make these cookies, so it has been good to keep the tradition going. And share them with my mother, father and their neighbors, too.

Like my mother before me, December is now a month where eggs and butter fill the fridge, the smells of melting butter and vaporizing almond and vanilla extract fills the air. I even taught my youngest son, Jon, how to make them.

This year, with WDUQ gone, I’m not making quite so many cookies, but still in the hundreds. I’ve managed to go through several dozen eggs, share Krumkake with friends and family in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, California and Michigan.

I don’t plan on letting the tradition fade anytime soon.

All the best of great food, friends, family and the holidays to you now and every day.

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More changes are coming in the online space, but this is a good indication of how where you stand is not where you are going.

Today, a story about the shift the past 5 years toward mobile and iOS (iPhone/iPad, etc) devices. The media site Talking Points Memo has put up the statistics on who looks at their content and from what kind of operating system. Windows has dropped a lot. Mobile devices are booming.

And 3/4 of mobile “views” are on iOS (apple-ish) devices.

Putting it all together:
“So give or take, around 40% of the visits to TPM come from computers or devices that use an operating system built by Apple. Compare that to 20% only 5 years ago.”

As I recall, 5 years ago, I had a Palm TREO, which I thought was quite the device. Today, an iPhone 4s, which is a remarkable phone and computer that is also made of beautiful but very slippery glass. I still own a powerful Windows computer which I hardly fire up at all any more.

Anecdote is not data, but things are changing. Thing is, they always have been changing. The next five years will have a new story, to be sure.

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On my facebook page (and on twitter) on August 25, 2011, I posted a special NPR story and marvelous video of the 2005 Reed College Commencement address from a very nice Bob Boilen blog about Steve Jobs.  It was the week of the announcement of Steve Jobs’ retirement from Apple, and Bob Boilen, who chronicles interesting music for NPR, was taking special note of how Jobs had changed the way that we listen to music.

Steve Jobs was born not too many years before me and his perspectives on life, challenges and living are valuable to me.  His vision and persistence (even if wrong or “right” too early), too.

The Reed College Commencement speech at Stanford is a wise investment of 15 minutes.

When I got the news of Steve Jobs passing tonight (Ocober 5, 2011) I sent a message to my eldest son (who works for Apple), later we chatted.  When the call was over, up fades my audio on my iPhone.  I hear the last bit of a “THIS WEEK IN TECH” podcast….  

up next in queue in my iphone/ipod, Bill Evans/Tony Bennett:

When lonely feelings chill the meadows of your mind,
just think, if winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Beneath the deepest snows, the secret of a rose
is merely that it knows you must believe in Spring!


Just as a tree is sure its leaves will reappear,
it knows its emptiness is just a time a year,
the frozen mountain dreams of April’s melting streams,
how crystal clear it seems, you must believe in Spring!


You must believe in love and trust it’s on its way,
just as the sleeping rose awaits the kiss of May,
so in a world of snow, of things that come and go,
where what you think you know, you can’t be certain of,
you must believe in Spring and Love.

 YOU MUST BELIEVE IN SPRING  1968
     Lyrics by: Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman
     Music by: Michel LeGrand

Steve Jobs had ups and downs in his life, in his career, many springs in the cycle of seasons.   He made a difference, as we all can in our own way.

To change the way we listen, to encourage us to listen – and for so much more -

Thanks, Steve.

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In May and July of 2011, some last bits of tribute were paid to the first public radio station in Pittsburgh. Before this is all-too-distant memory, I thought it a good idea to share those awards.

May 9, 2011

At the Press Association of Western Pennsylvania 2011 Golden Quill Awards, WDUQ received the “Service to Journalism” award.

The award was in recognition of the entire staff of WDUQ throughout its almost 62 year history.  I was asked to say a few words on May 9. Circumstance truncated their delivery, but here they are in full:

The radio act of 1927 charged broadcasters serve the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” It was the privilege of the staff of WDUQ to serve as the steward for this rare and valuable treasure for the city and the citizens that mean so much to us.

In 1946, Father Joseph Lauritis founded the journalism department at Duquesne, following up a few years later with this FM Radio experiment, at a time when pretty much no one had an FM Radio.

December 1949, Duquesne University’s President, the very reverend Francis P. Smith said, “the university feels privileged to act as the instrument for educational radio in the Pittsburgh area. It looks upon this activity as a high responsibility to the community it serves.”

December 15, 1949. So began the service to this community of WDUQ-FM. From then until now, there were just a handful of managers (not counting “interim”). Father Lauritis, B. Kendall Crane and Ken Duffy; Judy Jankowski and me. 61 years – that spans the earliest days of public radio, to the founding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR. At the time I left WDUQ in 2011 – nearly 200,000 listeners in Pittsburgh, about 30 million NPR listeners, nationwide.

 

Through all of that time, WDUQ continued to not just be a part of the public broadcasting community, but of the community of PITTSBURGH journalists and broadcasters, of citizens and participants in one of the most storied and vibrant media and journalism communities in the nation. Not just aligned with public radio, but with the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association, the Pittsburgh Radio Organization and the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and with scores of community institutions and organizations. Hundreds of students, full-time professionals and volunteers passed through our hallways and on the airwaves.

As this honor you bestow on WDUQ tonight pays tribute to the contributions of WDUQ toward journalism, I must make note of our longest-standing employee and stalwart promoter of journalism ethics and civic engagement. WDUQ News Director Kevin Gavin. Kevin has been the guide for our telling of Pittsburgh’s story on public radio since not long after NPR came to be. Starting as a student himself, Kevin has instilled the ethics and inquiry of journalism into the DNA of 90.5FM and into the minds and ideals of WDUQ’s staff, plus of hundreds of students at Duquesne University, many of whom are still active as journalists.

Please accept my gratitude for this honor on behalf of Kevin Gavin, Mark Nootbaar, John Boyle, Alexandria Chaklos, Larkin Page-Jacobs, Erika Beras, Bob Studebaker, Tony Mowod, Helen Wigger, Fred Serino, Vicky Rumpf, Mary Lloyd, Bob Addleman, Nancy Wood, Mark Bertolet, Chuck Leavens, Bee Barnett, Mike Plaskett, Mark Yacovone, John Johnson, Shaunna Machosky, Joan Swanson, Sean Dougherty, and so many, many more.

It is with humility and great appreciation on behalf of all of those involved with WDUQ since 1949 that we say “thank you.”

July 13, 2011

The Public Radio Regional Organization “PRRO” Award, granted to Scott Hanley, July 13, 2011.

The PRRO award was a total surprise to me, presented at a national conference for all of public radio which just happened to be held in Pittsburgh this year. The Award was delivered just before the NPR Annual Meeting on July 13, which just happens to be my birthday.

As it was a total surprise, I had nothing prepared to say but did share my great appreciation for recognition by my colleagues and peers.

But here are the remarks from the presenter that day:

Thank you…. Good afternoon, I’m Christina Kuzmych, President of Public Radio in Mid-America, and General Manager of Wyoming Public Radio.


I’d like to ask my fellow Regional Presidents to join me in presenting the PRRO Award.
· Jeanne Fisher, Eastern Region Public Media,
· Paul Stankavich, Western States Public Radio,
· Frank Lanzone, California Public Radio,
· Georgette Bronfman, President, PRRO

Each year the Regional Organizations present the PRRO award.
It given to an individual whose work has contributed significantly to the health and growth of Public Radio.

This year’s Award is a beautifully restored AM broadcast Bendix radio dating from 1946, with a built- in loop antenna, and sculpted wood cabinet.

The PRRO award honors the “unsung heroes” of public radio – the ones who often work behind the scenes, who move our industry forward– and who deserve recognition from the system.

This year’s recipient can be called a “Renaissance Broadcaster” – an individual who is equally at home in programming, production, engineering, digital technology, fundraising, administration, teaching, governance, and whose work cuts across all radio formats of news, music, and public affairs.

Our recipient trained to be a singer, but soon embraced radio and made it into a lifelong journey and passion.

Our recipient is an innovator, an instigator, and an implementer.
All of us gathered here today have benefited directly from this individual’s work.

Our recipient was
· Twice elected to the NPR Board
· Served as Chair of the NPR Distribution/Interconnection Committee, and helped launch Content Depot .
· Served on the National Radio Systems Committee of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association.
· Was Co-founder of Jazzworks, the 24-hour jazz service used by many stations
· Mentored hundreds of public radio professionals
· And, combining singing, radio, and technical experience, our recipient was instrumental in producing the yearly PRC Talent Shows, remembered so fondly by many managers.


Our recipient often shared ideas with managers and shaped our thinking. Here’s an example: [quote]
“It has been remarkable to see us grow from a shy, humble, striving and earnest enterprise into a massively influential media movement.
But I fear that we have bought into some of our own hype and the hype heaped upon us. We should still be earnest. We should still be striving. We should still be humble. We aspire to do great things – but we should be very wary of the hubris of believing that it is all about us.
[It’s not.]
It is about Mission, Stewardship. Service.”

It’s our pleasure to introduce this year’s PRRO award recipient – [who is also celebrating his birthday today]

And his name is...Scott Hanley!

And there, in a lower level conference room at the William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, applause and even the singing of “happy birthday.” It was a moving experience for which I remain humbled and thankful.

In 1995, President John Murray and Provost Michael Weber hired me to do a job which I was honored to perform, with people who cared about their craft, their art, their service, their listeners, the public and each other. A community grew around that service that came to trust and believe in WDUQ, even in some controversial and challenging times.

Sometimes, you get to do the good and right things because they are good and right things. Sometimes, you have to grow and evolve in times of challenge and change. In leading a fulfilling life, I  believe it isn’t just what you do, but how you do it and whom you get to do it with.

To receive two marvelous nods of acknowledgement for the legacy of WDUQ this year means the world to me.

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Hudson's, Downtown Detroit

For some reason, flag day has about 87 occurrences on my iPhone today. There is some conflict with iCal, Mobile me (don’t get me started) and things that go back to my Palm Treo and maybe even the Palm Tungsten T3…

But with all of those “Flag Day” flags, I nearly let the day go without noting it.

To that end, I turn to the Downtown Detroit Hudson’s department store of my youth. It was the a guaranteed visit for Mom and me. We went to every Thursday after getting parts at Westinghouse for my Dad’s business (at least before I was old enough for school). The Mickey Mouse Sundae with the meringue shell collar and the chocolate wafer cookies was a winner. The televisions in that store were where we learned that JFK had been shot.

And Flag Day? Hudson’s had that covered.

A day to salute the symbol of our national aspirations.

Happy Flag Day!

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Douglas Adams. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Thanks to my time in public radio, I got to meet and interview him in 1982. My time in public radio has offered me many great opportunities to meet, interview and engage with a lot of remarkable people. Authors, artists, politicians, business leaders, trouble-makers and problem solvers.

From a cowboy who was also a pilot in the Berlin airlift who lived in the Big Thicket of Texas to presidents of the United States. Public radio gave me the privilege to meet people, hear and share stories, move hearts and (sometimes) change minds.

As I finish out my last official day with WDUQ FM, I’m thinking about the past 30 years.

I leave enriched by my 16 years at WDUQ, so proud of the work I and my staff, our volunteers and listeners did, together. But, it’s time.

This is not unlike the “walk away” I did as an active musical performer. Those parts of your life are always a part of your life. But life is not static. It moves. It evolves. It changes. Sometimes, when you find it repeating itself, perhaps that’s a good time to seek a new perspective.

In going through old clippings, I came across some things from my first months at WDUQ in Pittsburgh in 1995.

I came in to WDUQ at the same time as the “class of 1994,” when the U.S. House and Senate flipped from total control from Democrats to total control by Republicans.

Important work, treasured colleagues, conflicts and change to adapt to. It was always thus.

I have deep concerns about the NPR, the stations, the industry that I am leaving.

But as I’m still on the WDUQ payroll for a few more hours, I will still say “we.”

It has been remarkable to see us grow from a shy, humble, striving and earnest enterprise into a massively influential media movement. But I fear we have bought into some of our own hype and hype heaped upon us.

We should still be earnest. We should still be striving. We should still be humble. We aspire to do great things – but we should be very wary of the hubris of believing it is about us.

It is about mission. Stewardship. Service. Otherwise, we (NPR) are just a modest sized media company that happens to file a 990.

Over the past decade, there was great fretting about how NPR was not a digital company – that people of our experience and age could only “speak digital with an accent.”

I think the greater concern is having leadership that is not fully immersed in the values and vision of NPR and public media.

We cannot afford to “speak mission with an accent.”

So, I wish all my colleagues in public radio the very best, encourage everyone to think about mission most of all. The devices we use to connect to our listeners and our communities are not as important as the connections themselves. And the connections are between people.

To my “family” at WDUQ, you were and are the best at the mission of public service and broadcasting I could have ever had the privilege to spend a third of my life with. You will always be in my thoughts and in my heart.

* The title of the 4th book in the increasingly inaccurately titled trilogy “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. This was also a phrase first attributed to dolphins in the late 1970′s BBC radioplay that started it all. It has to do with grateful porpoises and their departing good wishes as they ducked out before the earth was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. When I met Douglas Adams, he was embarking on a book tour upon the release of the first of the comic novels derived from the radioplays. He was very tall and had a lot of hair back then. I was not tall, but also had hair at the time.

The books have a cheerier ending than the radioplay.

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This past month or so has been really busy.

The future of my workplace has been in flux

My parents’ health, a concern

And in the midst of it all, I witnessed an amazing confluence of things digital (silicon) and living (carbon).

About halfway through the May pledge drive for my station, WDUQ, Pittsburgh (a very important pledge drive), my father suffered a heart attack at his home in Ann Arbor. His neighbors leaped in to help and got him to the hospital, for which I am immensely grateful. Good neighbors are a wonderful thing.

Tuesday, May 26, I had put in a very long day at work and headed home for a hoped for 4 hours of sleep. Instead, it was off to Ann Arbor.

My Dad was not in immediate danger and resting. Wednesday was a day of tests and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. The news was that my father was going to need aortic valve replacement surgery and some heart bypass work. But as we were coming up on the Memorial Day weekend, probably not until the Tuesday of the next week.

Digital Guests

A couple of years ago, as my visits to my parents increased, I had installed wireless DSL at the house. Last year, I upgraded from my old Palm Treo to an iPhone 3GS.

Oh – and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor has free Wifi.

All this plays into how I was able to be a part of the ongoing dynamic of a very important WDUQ pledge drive while 280 miles away tending to very important family business.

Almost Live

While I was with my father and often waiting, the outstanding staff and volunteers of WDUQ continued to do a great job in gaining listener support for this important one-week membership campaign.

Having wireless at my father’s house and the hospital and an iPhone in my pocket, I was able to listen in to the pledge drive from Ann Arbor when I had a moment. Remote computer viewing software allowed me to see the impressive progress toward (and past) on-air fundraising goals. But being 280 miles away, while I could observe and call and e-mail back to Pittsburgh, I couldn’t be in the drive.

If you ever listen to WDUQ pledge drives, you may notice that they are the one time you hear me, Scott Hanley, on the radio a lot. I used to be a journalist, a producer, am an occasionally a disc jockey. But my real job is mostly making sure that other broadcasters are given the resources, tools and time to do their work as journalists, producers and disc jockeys.

During a pledge drive, you might hear me make extemporaneous “pitches” about anything from the history of WDUQ and public radio, to my time as a member of the NPR board, the importance of independent journalism and more. Mostly, those little spoken “essays” happen as they happen. Occasionally, there are some that get recorded and played at times when I might not be there. But they are most often “in the moment,” suitable for a particular instant of the pledge drive or related to timely events of the day.

With me being in Ann Arbor, WDUQ staff could play my messages that were recorded earlier, but serendipitous statements couldn’t be. I wasn’t there.

There are things that only the General Manager can say – and the message changes over the drive.

And I was waiting. A lot.

Waiting Room

Wednesday, my first full night in Ann Arbor, I pondered what to do from my father’s quiet livingroom. With the newish iPhone, I had become impressed with the voice memo application and the microphone implementation with it.

So, in that quiet livingroom, with a decent digital recorder (the iPhone) from my pocket, I gave it a try.

The quality is not as good as the ElectroVoice RE20′s we rely on at WDUQ, but the timeliness of the message seemed to outweigh the loss of fidelity.

I used my laptop to send the file back to WDUQ and hoped they could make it work. WDUQ operates a high level digital audio system (ENCO DAD) which Helen Wigger and Chuck Leavens helped make sure the new almost live “spot” could be played on the air.

It worked (you can hear it, here). I was able to spend a lot of time with my Dad and still be a part of my Pittsburgh “family” of listeners and WDUQ staff and volunteers. When I could, I recorded a few messages (one aired within minutes of my recording it). Done on an iPhone and over the Internet.

Based on the surgeon’s advice, I headed back to Pittsburgh late Thursday night for a super-quick visit to take care of a few things – and participate in the last hours of the pledge drive – before heading back to Michigan with reinforcements for the weekend.

With my Dad’s condition evolving, I was leery of sharing this story. But even when he was in the hospital, he got a kick out of how I was able to be with him and also take care of important things with WDUQ.

Saturday morning of that Memorial Day weekend (not the next Tuesday), I was back in Ann Arbor as my Dad went in for his open heart surgery earlier than expected. Now, eight weeks later, he is home and recovering remarkably well.

My WDUQ family is waiting and looking toward the future – but the most successful May on-air campaign, ever, certainly makes for a better prognosis, too.

So, like I’ve written before, people matter more than technology. But technology can help with people and things you care about. And friends, neighbors, family and outstanding colleagues are really important.

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The passing, today, of Daniel Schorr at the age of 93 is a time for appreciation, sadness and remembering.

I met Mr. Schorr a few times over the past many years, but it was more likely from my getting into a cab that he was getting out of at 635 Massachusetts Ave, NW (NPR headquarters). Still, it was a pleasure to be in his presence, and it was always a comfort to hear him on the air.

I wrote an essay for Daniel Schorr’s appearance at the 3 Rivers (now Drue Heinz) Lecture Series in Pittsburgh back in 1999. I can’t find the file (it was done in WordPerfect), but it was an overview of his remarkable career, plus my observation about one of my favorite parts of his interactions with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday.

Scott, an ardent sports fan, would always ask Mr. Schorr his opinion on who was likely to win the major sports event coming up in the days ahead. I always found it amusing, since Daniel Schorr was not going to be especially up on the latest achievements of Kordell Stewart or any other sports figure of then or any time. Daniel Schorr was much more concerned about more serious things.

This was the only time he was less than prepared to address a topic. Still, Mr. Schorr was always a good sport about it.

Thinking of his career of the pursuit of the facts and larger truths, I can only cringe at the latest “journalistic” efforts of the week regarding USDA official Shirley Sherrod. Although Daniel Schorr had acquired a Twitter account, speed was not the goal of his work. Accuracy and perspective was.

So, as we mourn the loss of Daniel Schorr, I hope we recognize that his thoughtful approach to seek truth and speak it is something that is always at risk. Mr. Schorr, on more than one occasion, risked his career to maintain his integrity.

Mr. Schorr finished his storied career with many years at NPR. I and many of my colleagues will, I am sure, do our best to see to it that the path for Daniel Schorr’s kind of journalism still has a successful home and place in Public Radio and all the kinds of public media still to come.

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In my current job as General Manager of WDUQ in Pittsburgh, the question gets posed as to why WDUQ does news and jazz programming – and not news and talk programming.

(it should be noted that the question of “why do you do so much news?” also gets asked).

First, an important point to start. WDUQ’s listenership is large and has been growing. The metro audience for the station is at a record high and that has been the case for several years.

The implementation of a new audience measurement method from Arbitron, called the “People Meter,” has given all of radio more precise information than ever before.

In March 2010, WDUQ-FM was measured as having 180,500 total listeners per week, the #13 station in the Pittsburgh market with a 3 share. This is ahead of the other fine public radio stations in Pittsburgh, WQED-FM with 115,500 listeners (#16) and WYEP-FM with 80,000 listeners (#26) (Monday-Sunday, 6am-12m, Arbitron People Meter).

Could WDUQ’s ratings be higher? Possibly. But they are not considered to be “bad” among WDUQ’s peers. WDUQ’s ratings are on par or better than other NPR stations that are essentially news/talk stations in cities like Cleveland, St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago.

“Both sides” of WDUQ perform well. The NPR News programming on WDUQ reaches about 140,000 listeners per week. Jazz programming, parsed separately, about 130,000. For WDUQ overall, and even more so with jazz programming, WDUQ has a much more diverse audience than most NPR stations. WDUQ is the #2 or 3 station with African American listeners in Pittsburgh – and tied for #1 in middays.

Jazz has a special cultural and historic role in Pittsburgh, too, so the value is more than just in the numbers. WDUQ believes that that legacy and diversity is significant. But the numbers are significant by themselves.

But “parsing” the programming into separate streams is misleading. Unlike many other “dual format” NPR stations, most of ‘DUQ’s listeners (more than 2/3) listen to both news and jazz programs.

In terms of resources and attention, WDUQ’s major focus is news. As a rough thumbnail, WDUQ spends about 70% of its programming budget on news, about 20% on Jazz.

The station had more news until the NPR program Day to Day was canceled by NPR for budget reasons in 2009. When Day to Day left the network, the WDUQ programming team wrestled with the financial and programmatic options, and chose, for the time being, to not replace that valuable noon-hour with what seemed to be less viable news and talk options that would have left very little room for local news.

In terms of listener support, WDUQ is doing better than ever. But network programming costs continue to climb. So, we wrestle with the issue of what to program and when.

If jazz were unsuccessful, it would not be such a vexing problem, but technology has offered some potential solutions. The station has been a national leader in the new technology of HD Radio. WDUQ has put a significant amount of public radio talk programming on the HD2 signal, and the BBC world service on HD3. While it is taking a while for HD radio to “take off,” WDUQ’s interest and commitment to that additional programming is real.

For the past five years, listeners longing for public radio talk programming from WDUQ have had a new option with the purchase of an HD Radio. Some advances in upgrading that service, nationwide (advocated strongly by WDUQ management) could make HD radio even more viable in the future.

WDUQ’s HD2 stream includes NPR programs like “On Point,” “Talk of the Nation” and much more. Those streams are also offered by WDUQ online for people who can listen via the Internet.

Just like any public media outlet, WDUQ tries to make the best decisions possible to serve the community and be economically viable. Nothing on ‘DUQ’s air is taken for granted and change and evolution is always a part of the picture. But when you commit to certain choices, you should commit fully.

If the results of your current choices are working, making changes is more difficult based on what you risk losing. That doesn’t mean you don’t consider change, but it means you consider change carefully – and, for the most part, you don’t publicize change unless you are clear and committed on what you are going to do.

When making change, unintended consequences are always looming. The NBC television network was very daring in their attempt at change last year when they opted to eliminate their then 10pm weeknight programming to bring on Jay Leno for a weeknight show. While the costs of the 10pm Leno show seemed to make economic sense for the return to NBC, the cost in overall lost audience for local affiliates was significant. So, NBC changed back – and fully committed to that change, too.

WDUQ has evolved and changed greatly since it first went on the air in 1949. It is the most listened to, most supported public radio station in the region. With that mantle of success comes an obligation to always explore options and opportunities.

Given the stewardship role of a precious non-commercial frequency, WDUQ is also careful and respectful of the obligation of service to the community that has supported the station thus far. That’s why the entire staff of WDUQ welcomes ideas, questions and concerns all the time.

More than probably any other medium, radio stations can have a deeply personal meaning to each person they touch. For WDUQ, there are about 180,000 listeners, each with their own story, plus the stories of an entire community that we are committed to serve.

If you have questions or concerns about programming at WDUQ, an email to info@wduq.org or a letter to WDUQ, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 is always read, appreciated and considered.

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WDUQ, Pittsburgh’s leading public radio station, may or may not continue as a public radio station.

Duquesne University has put the station up for sale. The lone public radio bidder, Pittsburgh Public Media (PPM), is led by station management, staff and a growing group of community volunteers. PPM was formed as a non-profit Pennsylvania Corporation January 14, 2010.

While PPM has deep ties to the traditions, innovation, technology and aspirations of WDUQ, it is NOT WDUQ. Gifts made to WDUQ are restricted gifts to Duquesne University (the licensee) and the contacts and mailing lists for donors are the property of Duquesne University, restricted for the purposes of supporting the station.

WDUQ serves about 180,000 listeners per week, but PPM cannot reach those people directly. PPM is NOT WDUQ .

One could say it is a “chicken and egg” situation. But PPM can be WDUQ’s future – especially if we teach the chicken and egg to twitter.

To move to a future for NPR, public radio and jazz programming in Pittsburgh, PPM will need to pull together many people, quickly. The Internet and especially social media, like Twitter and Facebook, provides a great way build the momentum to let WDUQ become independent.

Check out the PPM web site. There will be information that you will find helpful. Follow Pghpublicmedia on twitter. Become a fan of Pittsburgh Public Media on Facebook.

And spread the word.

It seems as though a “tipping point” for WDUQ may be coming soon. With interest, with money, volunteer time and support.

Making WDUQ a fully independent, community based public radio station will mean involving the people – joining voices, interests and resources. Through all of this, making what is now WDUQ far better than it has ever been.

Friend. Fan. Tweet and retweet. A click or two to start can make all the difference.