Public Broadcasting Atlanta GM: Want more WABE news? Go HD

WABE bills itself as “Home of the Classics and NPR News.” Audiences who like each want more of one and less of the other. John Weatherford, senior vice president and general manager of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, which holds the licenses for WABE radio (90.1 FM) and WPBA TV (Channel 30), says the solution is “HD Radio,” a digital signal that “rides on the back” of the analog broadcast signal, but enables WABE to split the signal into three channels, one each for news and classical music and a third for a mix. It’s all free once you buy an HD Radio (less than $100). WABE is also working to make all locally produced content available on the Web.

On the TV side, Weatherford has struck a deal with GPB (seen locally on Channel 8) to reduce the duplication of programming between them. He says the result is a 22% jump in ratings.
Weatherford says technology isn’t the only thing changing in broadcasting, and that public broadcasting performs an increasingly important service.

In this podcast, Weatherford also laments the change in standards among commercial stations owned by media giants, who he says have lost focus on the original mission of broadcast media.

“Broadcasters are still in the business of being issued licenses on behalf of the federal government,” Weatherford says, “on behalf of you, the communities that we serve, to provide something important to you. And if we’re not doing that, then we deserve not to be around.”
Public Broadcasting Atlanta is controlled by Atlanta Public Schools and is not to be confused with Georgia Public Broadcasting, a network of stations across the state, seen locally on Channel 8.