Fall 2005 Fall 2005

FALL 2005 The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments INSIDE: RESPECTING YOUR ELDERS A WELCOMING LANGUAGE 12 Photo by Cami Mesa HIGHER FIDELITY HOW A BUNCH 91OF TIE-DYED 3 IDEALISTS GOT TOGETHER TO START A RADIO STATION, FOUGHT, WENT BROKE, GOT REAL JOBS, LISTENED TO THEIR HEARTS AND RETURNED TO BUILD THE THIRD-LARGEST INDEPENDENT STATION IN THE COUNTRY. BY CHRISTINE O’TOOLE 14 ay Christman, Bjork to Buffalo Springfield. DJs and recent $500,000 grant for the capital surveying Stone Mountain from his 22 volunteer hosts mine a 13,000-CD campaign to build the WYEP community terraced 10th-floor office in downtown library and computerized playlist to mix broadcast center. “But for reasons of both Atlanta, is choking with laughter. The Americana, alternative rock and country, artistic and cultural merits, we believe buttoned-down president of the city’s blues, folk and world music, often within WYEP is an important asset. It’s well Federal Home Loan Bank is recounting the same half hour. managed. It has a huge amount of his days with a scrappy community radio In its 30-year march from adolescence community support, and the station station in Pittsburgh— a low-frequency, to adulthood, 91.3 FM has followed a supports other local artists.” high-decibel, basement operation fueled path most Boomers would recognize: Through the past decade, the by zealotry, Benzedrine and hoarded youthful passion and experimentation; Endowments has contributed nearly LPs. As president of the station’s board self-doubt; longing for stability, respon- $1.2 million to the station. This includes of directors, Christman woke to the sibility and commitment; and finding six years’ worth of grants totaling ringing of his bedside phone one bitter the balance between self-expression and $600,000 to support “The Allegheny midwinter night in 1980. paying the bills. The station’s new build- Front,” the only environmental news “One night at 1 a.m., I got a call from ing, launched with the Endowments’ help, program in western Pennsylvania. the late-night DJ, W.T. Kolteck, who’d is proof that its board members, with an Environment Program Director Caren play stuff like The Clash and Elvis impressive business plan and a financial Glotfelty says the funds have helped the Costello. He was whispering,” says the surplus, have budget-conscious minds station make the program, developed by 56-year-old executive. “He told me he without having lost their rock-loving souls. volunteers, more professional. The result was being held hostage in the broadcast For WYEP, maturity means embrac- of the long-term investment is that booth by another volunteer who had ing its hometown with award-winning listener numbers are up. pulled a gun and was demanding that public affairs shows, a downtown concert “We are happy with the product, W.T. play ‘more coal mining music.’” series of national headliners, six-figure and we see opportunities for growth, The DJ, the kidnapper and the station fundraisers for causes like the Greater even to the point of becoming self- survived. But none of them could have Pittsburgh Food Bank and sales of in- supporting,” says Glotfelty. “The show predicted that their rabid, proprietary studio performance CDs. The hometown does an important local service in cover- passion for authentic music would has loved it back. Individual contributions ing environmental issues in western eventually give WYEP both the third- have doubled. Membership has tripled, Pennsylvania, but it’s grown to cover largest audience for “album adult alterna- and renewals are frequent. WYEP’s issues in the larger region.” tive” music in the nation — behind retention rate of 58.3 percent is the Such programming innovation and similar public radio stations in New York highest in the country among its peers. development have contributed to the and Philadelphia — and its own new “Because they’re heard and not seen, Endowments’ confidence in supporting performance space and broadcast center we don’t usually think of radio stations the station. on Pittsburgh’s South Side. as cultural assets,” says Mary Navarro. “As you see an institution struggling The station’s programming still defies As a senior officer in the Endowments’ to grow, you often don’t know, exactly, easy description, ranging from Beck to Arts & Culture Program, she directed its where it is headed,” says Navarro. Christine O’Toole is a Pittsburgh-based writer whose last story for h, about changing lifestyles in the young to reduce childhood obesity, appeared in the Spring issue. 15 Staging performances by emerging or established artists has always been part of WYEP’s mission. At left: Billy Price and his band rock from the balcony of a South Side club during a WYEP fundraiser in the 1970s. Below: Erin McKeown serenades listeners at one of the station’s recent Summer Music Festivals. The 27-year-old singer has made four albums, including her latest, “We Will Become Like Birds.” Photo courtesy of WYEP PERFORMANCES Christopher Rollinson Prosody 16 Each Saturday night, this program and Every Tuesday evening, WYEP airs Listeners can tune in Saturday mornings another, Blues and Rhythm, bring the best western Pennsylvania’s only to the Music Mix to hear an eclectic of local and national blues, rockabilly regularly scheduled radio program featuring collection of music that spans genres, and gospel, while mixing in jump, swing, contemporary poets and writers. generations and the globe. acoustic and rock styles. “The Allegheny Front,” a weekly environmental Three times a week, this program helps The weekly Roots and Rhythm Mix is devoted radio program and web site, is designed listeners to discover new music or to the music of people and communities to deepen listeners’ respect for nature and find out new facts about their favorite albums. that thrive outside of the mainstream. inspire them to act in an environmentally responsible manner. Photo courtesy of WYEP Joshua Franzos Eclectic programming gives WYEP the spice that attracts a similarly varied audience. Opposite, bottom left: Maine singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne croons a tune in the station's studio. He has performed on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and won three awards at this year’s Boston Music Awards. This page, bottom left: Bill (W.T.) Koltek poses next to some groovy electronics in this 1976 photo. Bottom right: DJ Stephan Bontrager plays a wide variety of artists during WYEP’s Midday Mix, which airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. Bontrager moved to Pittsburgh from his hometown of Denver in 2001. 17 WYEP Audience Profile “At every stage, WYEP has successfully building. (The current signal is 18,000 Education taken the next logical step. If you’re really watts, less than half the strength of most High School Graduate 22% good, you get out of the basement.” commercial stations.) Some College 13% College Degree 36% Rosemary Welsch remembers the “It was off the air as much as it was Advanced Degree 29% basement days. “If you’d told me in on,” says attorney and current board September 1981 that we’d be moving into chairman Blaine Lucas, one of several Annual Income this new building, I’d have said ‘that’s a volunteers who’ve spent decades serving Under $25,000 7% $25,000–$34,000 17% fairy tale,’” says the 46-year-old Welsch, the station. “The meetings of our board, $35,000–$49,000 26% whose butterscotch voice has been a most of whom were the DJs, were fights $50,000–$74,000 19% signature at the station since then. over who took whose albums. It was an $75,000 + 31% WYEP’s new home on Bedford Square extension of a college radio station, part Gender is a $3 million mansion compared to its of that second wave of public broadcast- Female 48% original crib in south Oakland, a typically ing stations.” Early programs, controlled Male 52% louche college neighborhood. Its Cable solely by the person commanding the Place studio was a pair of dingy sub- mike, linked art, music and politics. Age terranean rooms “whose only other use “One of the wonderful aspects was 25–34 21% 35–44 30% would have been as an S&M dungeon,” that every sexual, ethnic and political 45–54 34% recalls Christman. With a mission of interest group imaginable could and 55–64 13% “cultural ear shock,” the fledgling station generally did have their own radio Median Age 41 hit the airwaves in 1974, borrowing show — the Lesbian Republicans, the Family Size 2.6 members space for an 850-watt transmitter atop Indian Lesbian Republicans,” says the University of Pittsburgh’s highest Christman facetiously. The Media Audit: Media Profile Report 2004 TUNED IN Joshua Franzos Tom Barr Tom 18 It was cultural ear shock all around. Rosemary Welsch and Bruce Mountjoy, market. In 1996, all restrictions on “We tried to be very respectful of that voted to restructure, in effect taking national ownership were lifted. While ad format,” recalls Peter Rosenfeld, a board themselves off the board.” revenues boomed, local programming member since 1979. “But it was con- The vote was agonizing and emo- variety went the way of Milli Vanilli. trolled chaos,” with predictable results. tional. “Some people left in protest. Meanwhile, programming at WYEP By the mid-1980s, programming There were broken relationships and edged toward a definitive style. languished. Federal funds dried up. So hurt feelings,” acknowledges Christman. “We didn’t have a format,” says did membership donations. “It wasn’t With the old board dissolved, a new Welsch. “So we trimmed off the extremes, sustainable,” says Rosenfeld. “We couldn’t executive committee put the station back took out jazz and bluegrass, and we really charge subscribers, like cable TV.

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