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Save Channel *16 (WQEX) FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

We urge you to join with Pittsburgh Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting and the Alliance
for Progressive Action in opposing WQED Pittsburgh's FCC petition to commercialize and sell off Channel *16 (sister station WQEX) to ShootingStar, Inc.

If WQED succeeds, we will lose Channel *16 for noncommercial educational broadcasting forever. If we can stop this deal, Pittsburgh Educational Television stands ready to operate this license in the public interest. All educational, cultural, labor and public interest groups in this community would have a role to play in program acquisition, production and scheduling.

Letters To FCC

Please write a short letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking them to say no to WQED and yes to keeping Channel *16 for public broadcasting.

Please address your letter as follows:

Magalie Roman Salas
Office of the Secretary,
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20554

And send your letter to:

CIPB
901 Old Hickory Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15243

We will make copies and see that they get to all the FCC Commissioners and WQED is legal counsel.

Alternatively, you can send your letter by e-mail to the following addresses:
 
Chairman Michael K. Powell: mpowell@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: kabernat@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: mcopps@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: kjmweb@fcc.gov
Secretary Magalie Roman Salas: msalas@fcc.gov
Steve A. Lerman, Esq.: slerman@lsl-law.com
Angela Campbell, Esq.: campbeaj@law.georgetown.edu
Jerold M. Starr, CIPB: jmstarr@adelphia.net

Feel free to select and combine any of the following statements as you wish to compose your letter.  If you have the time to add a personal touch, so much the better. To save time, you can copy the following statements and then cut and paste them into an email message that expresses your personal view on this matter. Please don't forget to address it to all eight parties listed above. The important thing is to be heard.

WQEX, Channel 16, is a public trust awarded to the people of Pittsburgh for educational    broadcasting, not private property to be sold for profit by WQED Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh already has more than enough commercial channels and WQED is not enough. What we need is an alternative, educational channel that serves the people of this community.

WQED programs consist largely of children's shows and the national feed. With its emphasis on community oriented programming, Channel *16 (WQEX) was once the third most watched second station in the country. We need it now more than ever.

Pittsburgh is a large and active city. We are rebuilding our downtown cultural center and support three professional sports teams. We easily can support two public broadcasting stations. Other smaller cities presently do.

When it was broadcasting its own programming, WQEX cost only $1 million a year to operate.  Not only was this a fraction of WQED's budget, but WQEX actually generated a revenue surplus.

WQED's debts are the result of wasteful mismanagement. A WQED investigation into alleged embezzlement was kept secret even from its own board of directors.

WQED has admitted to the FCC it is not in danger of going dark. It claims a $9 million debt, half of which it owes to its own capital fund. It also has assets, like Pittsburgh Magazine, worth millions more. If you allow WQED to get away with this, how many other public stations will be put on the block to solve cash flow problems that lay elsewhere?

Given WQED's long history of secrecy, it would not be accountable to the public in its use of this undeserved windfall.

WQED continues to spend freely even while it pleads poverty. In recent years, CFOs Mel Ming and Neil Mahrer have enjoyed compensation packages close to a quarter million dollars a year each. Ten WQED executives receive compen-sation packages up to $160,000 per year, far in excess of counterparts in Philadelphia and St. Louis.

WQED has rejected bids from not-for-profit institutions in the community to operate WQEX as a public station because they weren't willing to give CEO George Miles the huge windfall he has demanded, far in excess of the real market value of a noncommercial station. In fact, right now Pittsburgh Educational Television (PET), a community initiative, has a business plan to restore public broadcasting on Channel *16. Please give PET a chance to serve the people of this community.

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