Wonderful opportunity to take a leadership role

I wanted to add my two cents worth to your discussions about the future of WMUB.  First, I love the programming and hope that you all can find a way to keep WMUB intact.  I listen mornings and evenings during the week and Saturday mornings on the weekend.  I try to contribute what I can to help keep WMUB viable and have managed to be a dollar a day member for the past few years.

That isn't why I am writing you today.  This weekend I heard several stories about Antioch College making the decision to close in 2008.  While WYSO is part of Antioch University and theoretically not impacted, this is a wonderful opportunity to take a leadership role in Miami Valley Public Radio.  I believe that WMUB could easily be the single voice of public radio for the combined WMUB/ WYSO listening area.  With the unrest surrounding Antioch's decision, helping WYSO survive becomes a positive reinforcement to the WMUB name (versus a negative for ultimately removing WYSO as a stand alone entity).  If WYSO was set up as a repeater station with a few of their local programs intact, you could bring many of the current WYSO members into the WMUB family.  I don't know the details of radio program purchasing, but my hunch is that you could manage to keep the same program costs while adding the WYSO membership to your pledge lists.  

WMUB is a strong part of the Miami University brand in the Miami Valley.  A combined station preserves quality public radio with a focus on news for the greater Dayton, Oxford and Yellow Springs listening area.  Rather than looking at WMUB as an expense, I think the combined listening area would allow you to operate free of University funding after the purchase and consolidation was completed.  You might also start a separate funding campaign to help offset the acquisition costs. I'm sure that there are a few financially well off individuals or corporations that could help cover the cost of this acquisition for Miami University.  

I recognize that many of my comments are based on guesses without the benefit of actual operational conditions.  However looking at WMUB from a 50,000 foot vantage point, I believe that there is a clear opportunity for Public Radio leadership, a major enhancement to the WMUB brand and a strengthening of the Miami University reputation.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this suggestion.

--William Houghton, Springboro, WMUB member