NPR & Jazz Programming To Increase With WDUQ Sale
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - WDUQ is the home of National Public Radio programming in Pittsburgh and jazz lovers go to the station for their favorite tunes.
However, a pending sale of the station should mean more NPR and more great jazz.
The name will change, but the service to Pittsburgh will not.
"We are very about taking that and transforming it to service the needs of the community in terms of local journalism and national journalism in a way that isn't being done in the market," Essential Public Media Chairman Marco Cardamone said.
WDUQ is getting a facelift and new call letters, but the station's signature NPR programming is not the only thing that will expand when it is sold for $6 million to a subsidiary of WYEP-FM.
We don't know yet what the new call letters will be, but the new station will be on the South Side where WYEP is now. A dedication to the community and to jazz will not change.
"We worked very hard to say how do we expand the offering and how do we use technology to support jazz and how do we use both HD, online, mobile apps and the FM signal to support the jazz culture in the region," Lee Ferraro from WYEP-FM said.
High-definition radio and Internet streaming make it possible to nearly double the amount of jazz programming to 174 hours a week.
Member listeners will receive vouchers to help buy HD receivers. The move to high-definition means NPR will be on in Pittsburgh full-time on WDUQ.
Pending FCC approval, more NPR and all the jazz could start as soon as July.
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