Possible Sale of 'BRU License

[Adam Blistein]

If you're on the WBRU Alumni List Serve, you already know about this, but I wasn't on that list until this morning when Paul P. sent me (among others) this link:

http://us12.campaign-archive2.com/?u=75577ee4fbf64461277afda78&id=e4d1cda80d&e=4e5fae07cd

While I'm very open to other suggestions, my initial reaction is that they should sell the frequency and put the money into a high-quality and varied Internet broadcasting operation that might even include some video capability.  That was my initial reaction in part because I got Paul's message while I was at my computer listening to my all-time favorite Philadelphia prog rock DJ (Michael Tearson) in the only outlet he has left:  a consortium of Philadelphia-based Internet streams

http://iradiophilly.com/aboutus.php

Tearson was on WXPN (Penn's station) when we were on 'BRU.  He spent many years on classic rock stations here and on Sirius.  Admittedly, he has a rep for not exactly being management's most cooperative employee, but if the web is all he has left now, maybe that's the only place left for decent and innovative radio. 

On the other hand, I know of at least two thriving instances of community radio. My son has an hour each Monday here

http://www.wxnafm.org/history/

which, as you can see, emerged from the sale of the Vanderbilt University station's license.  Note that it took them 6 years from the sale of the license to get back on the air.  In addition, now that I'm retired, I just applied for a shift here

http://wrdv.org/aboutus.html

Although I don't know yet whether they're willing to put me in the class of potential DJs they're currently forming, I already know that it's "pay to play" @$25/month.  (My attitude towards that is that lots of people have hobbies costing them $300/year; so, why not?)    They also take sponsorships which sound as much like advertising as your typical sponsorship on an NPR station. 

Adam