Future of WQPT-TV might include more local productions

By David Burke | Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The WQPT-TV of the future may include less programming from the Public Broadcasting System and more local productions.

But where the station would be located and whom it would have as a managerial partner, as well as its community outreach plan, are still in the works by the board that oversees WQPT.

In a 40-minute open session Monday afternoon in Davenport, the Greater Quad-Cities Telecommunications Board further discussed its strategic plan after its $335,000 funding from Black Hawk College in Moline — its home since it signed on in 1983 — was cut.

One option for the station is the program differentiation plan, or PDP, offered by PBS. Under the PDP, WQPT could offer up to one-fourth of the national programming offered by PBS and find other resources for the remainder of its schedule.

WQPT general manager Rick Best said the station would have to apply for the PDP, and acceptance was based on a number of criteria.

“It’s not just for financial reasons,” Best said.

There are numerous other suppliers for public broadcasting stations besides PBS, Best said.

WQPT’s overlap with the signal from Iowa Public Television could also work in the station’s favor, Best said, as WQPT could further differentiate itself from the programming on the statewide network.

“You are much more agile than they are,” David Othmer, a Philadelphia-based broadcasting consultant, said by speakerphone during the meeting.

Application for the PDP must be made by the end of the year, Best said.

“I think we will have the justification,” Best said.

In a financial analysis given to the Black Hawk board of trustees at its meeting last month, the telecommunications board said it could find donor support for continued programming and operations of WQPT, but not enough to secure the license and purchase the equipment, an estimated $2.5 million.

“WQPT really needs to have a financial plan, a business plan that will make it self-sufficient,” Othmer said.

Staff and board members will visit education entities in the Quad-City area to see where the greatest need for programming is and what WQPT can do to help.

“There are no absolute models,” Othmer said. “You get to know the community and the people in the community.”

Board members hoped to have a plan in place before the end of the year.

“There’s a lot of work ahead of us in a very short time,” board chairwoman Kathy Michel said.

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.