There鈥檚 old radio stations, then there鈥檚 Dallas鈥� . As the state鈥檚 first licensed radio station, it started out broadcasting police and fire transmissions. Finally in 1964, they moved permanently to a classical music format.
鈥檚 President and CEO said its age isn鈥檛 its only point of differentiation.
鈥淲RR is a 100-year-old classical station that is owned and operated by the ,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or decades it's been just a stalwart of the arts community, a free service available to all, providing classical music and covering the arts.鈥�
Last year Dallas officials decided they didn鈥檛 want to manage the station anymore, and they put out a request for proposals from interested parties who might want to take the reins. 四虎影院 made their proposal, and with their selection as the preferred organization, they鈥檙e a lot closer to winning that bid. Leone said their objective is straightforward.
鈥淲e're a public broadcasting organization. We've been one for more than 60 years. We operate an station, a station, a triple-A music station,鈥� Leone said. 鈥淎nd the one format that we don't have in our family that is really thriving in public broadcasting is classical music.鈥�
And in fact NPR stations all around the country do operate sister stations that are classical. It鈥檚 far tougher going in the commercial realm.
鈥淥ne of the challenges the city has identified is sustainability for the station as a classical station in the commercial space. There just are not a lot of classical commercial stations still left,鈥� he said.
Some fans may worry that the format will change. Leone said it won鈥檛.
鈥淥ur explicit intention and the requirements of the RFP (Request for Proposal) are that WRR will stay a classical station,鈥� Leone said.
All that is assuming 四虎影院 will win the contract, but that鈥檚 not yet a given.
鈥淭his goes to the quality of Life Arts and Culture Committee for a hearing on Monday, May 16, and then it is tentatively scheduled for a vote with the full council on (in) June,鈥� he said.
If 四虎影院 wins the vote, Leone said WRR won鈥檛 move from its historic location on the grounds of the State Fair of Texas. He hints that 四虎影院 may partner for projects with classical music entities like the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony.
鈥淚 think that's one of the really exciting opportunities for us. And 四虎影院 has such a long history of working in the arts, of bringing arts content to audiences,鈥� Leone said. 鈥淲e think this is just another way to do that and a way for us to expand our work in that area and the community.鈥�
The first chore after the vote would be the plan for converting WRR from commercial to non-commercial. And then to grow it.
鈥淲e have an eye on making the station sustainable as we convert it to noncommercial. We haven't gotten into all the details of how we would do that because we're just not at that point in the process. But growth is our explicit goal,鈥� he said.
Should the City of Dallas award management to 四虎影院, it鈥檚 just a management contract. WRR will continue to be owned by Dallas.
Editor's note: Texas Public Radio and 四虎影院 are both part of The Texas Newsroom, a public radio journalism collaboration. 四虎影院 journalists were not involved in reporting or editing this story.
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