About WQED Multimedia
Since its 1954 inception as America's first community-sponsored public broadcasting TV station, WQED has morphed from a single local television channel into what its 2017 leadership refers to as an educational media company.
Its nonprofit presence includes:
WQED-TV (PBS); WQED Create; WQED World; WQED Showcase; Classical WQED-FM 89.3; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM); wwww.wqedfm.org; WQED Interactive; iQ: smartmedia, WQED's educational initiative; and local and national TV and radio productions.
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Updated 11 minutes ago
WQED Multimedia secured a $9.9 million windfall as part of a sweeping federal effort to free up bandwidth for the nation's wireless communications giants.
The cash infusion will enable America's first local public broadcasting TV station and related arms to pay off outstanding debts, increase endowed funds and improve appeal to funders, WQED Multimedia President and CEO Deborah Acklin told the Tribune-Review on Friday. The announcement follows several challenging years for WQED financially, including rounds of layoffs in 2005, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2015.
“This cleans up the issues of the past and gets us out of the hole, stabilizes the organization and then allows us to figure out what public media means for the next generation,” Acklin said. “It's a very big, big moment for us.”
The payout will come from the Federal Communications Commission, which in 2002 pitched an auction process to repackage and reallocate broadcasting licenses across the spectrum — a term for the range of frequencies used to transmit audio, data and video.
WQED officials decided a few years ago to participate in the auction by voluntarily moving to another space on the same frequency.
Acklin emphasized the technological transaction orchestrated by the FCC will not disrupt or alter how viewers access WQED programming, nor will it affect WQED's capabilities or bandwidth capacity.
“I liken this in the simplest of terms to a spectrum of real estate,” Acklin said. “The FCC wanted our home on the spectrum, so they purchased the home, they're paying for us to move, and they bought us a new home down the street.”
Just shy of 2,200 broadcasters nationwide were eligible for the so-called “broadcast incentive auction,” which concluded Friday afternoon following months of rounds in four stages, said Charles E. Meisch Jr., a senior adviser on the FCC's Incentive Action Task Force. WQED, headquartered in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, was among 1,800 public and private TV stations nationwide to receive opening price offers.
The auction generated a total of $19.63 billion from mobile and Internet providers such as Verizon and AT&T, with $10 billion to be split among broadcasters that received winning bids to give up or switch frequencies, Meisch said. Some proceeds will be used to cover the cost of the auction and reimburse costs incurred by stations required to alter their licenses.
The remainder — more than $6 billion — is slated to go toward paying down the federal deficit, which is approaching $20 trillion.
The FCC will not disclose the list of stations awarded winning bids until the process formally concludes in a few months.
Among stations to tout hefty payouts so far: 21st Century Fox is slated to receive $350 million, and Tribune Media (no affiliation to Trib Total Media) will receive $190 million, Variety reports. The earliest WQED will actually receive the auction money is late 2017, Meisch said.
WQED board member Millie Myers noted that when Acklin approached the board about the process a few years ago, “everybody's first reaction was eyes glazing over it because it was very technical.” She and Acklin quipped that this week's board reaction could better be described as “eyes popping” at the multimillion-dollar payout, which Myers compared to winning the lottery.
“It helps everyone to breathe a big sigh of relief — all funders and all supporters, even the ones who send us $40 or $60 a year because they believe in what we're doing,” Acklin said.
But because the windfall is one-time funding, Acklin said it doesn't change the organization's three-year budgeting plan, which is leaner than previous years.
“The key is we still need public support and foundation support,” Acklin said.
WQED employs 48 employees and has a 2017 budget of $11.6 million, down from $12.3 million in 2015.
Contributions from the region's foundations have dwindled in recent years.
“People like to back a winner, and I'm happy to say that we've put ourselves back into the winning column,” Acklin said. “I think ears are open, and hearts, too.”
Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8514 or nlindstrom@tribweb.com.
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