By David Pierce/The Pocono Record
Conservative talk radio will have left-leaning competition early next year from a non-profit Scranton radio station that organizers say will be heard throughout Monroe and Pike counties.
WFTE-FM plans to begin broadcasting to a five-county area in January. A staff of two and about 100 volunteers will be overseen by a nine-member board.
“We’ve tried to run this for $100,000 a year,” board Chairman Jake Rosen said. “The key is to keep expenses low.”
Community Radio Collective Inc. will provide alternative local news and talk, a couple of hours per day of Spanish language broadcasts, educational programming and the work of local musicians, he said. It also will carry national programs such as “Democracy Now,” the “Thom Hartman Show” and “Law and Disorder Radio.”
There are 57 AM and FM stations from Scranton to Stroudsburg, Rosen said, most controlled by three national corporations and lacking local content.
“Almost all the programming is the same, usually automated music — the same music,” Rosen said.
WVIA, the Pittston National Public Radio affiliate, provides classical and jazz music along with national news, but doesn’t offer the local programs WFTE will provide, he said.
“There’s really no station that specializes in local reportage that focuses on the community,” said Rosen. “We definitely plan to cover local government activities independently.”
Efforts to form WFTE began in 2008 when the Federal Communications Commission announced the availability of a non-commercial broadcast license for the area. The board has raised $180,000 toward a $220,000 goal. Fundraisers are planned this fall for the remainder, which will be used for a broadcast tower in Hamlin, Wayne County, and a Scranton studio.
“This is quite a small sum for what we are creating and the tremendous impact it can have in this area,” Rosen said.
A benefit concert will be held Oct. 23 at the Stone Elephant in Olyphant, with an under-21 concert planned Nov. 6 at Scranton’s Vintage Theater.
WFTE’s website is under construction. For more information call 570-212-WFTE, e-mail info@wfte.org or go to Facebook/WFTE.
