WCQS 88.1 FM – Public Radio

I was raised on public radio.
I’ve been very fortunate to live in two cities that had truly kick ass public radio programming throughout the day, both Durham and San Diego.
Noting how progressive Asheville is, I assumed that our local public radio station would be chock full of awesome content, interesting stories on local businesses and happenings… but sadly most of the programming is classical music.
Luckily WCQS offers NPR programming between 3 and 7, and some nights they’ll have Jazz with Bob Parlocha, which is a nice change of pace… but for the most part it’s classical. Some times it’s latin classical, other times it’s kids playing classical, I mean it’s downright surprising how many different iterations and incarnations of classical music WCQS offers.
When I drive north of the 240 I try to grab WCQS’ sister station WYQS that plays nothing but BBC news all the time. That’s content that I can dig. But the signal is weak.
I love it when I actually hear David Herrand on the microphone. It’s like a breath of fresh air from the canned recordings of classical symphonies that all seem to blend into each other. When there’s a local story, or an interview I want to scream YES! THIS IS WHAT THIS STATION IS FOR!
This year I donated to WCQS for the first time, but I did so begrudgingly. I want to support my public radio station, but I also don’t want to let them feel like the course of action they’re taking is one that I agree with. I’m certain that what they need is more money to create more content, but I feel like more content is needed to generate more funds. It’s a tough place to be in.
I will continue to listen, and I’ll continue to donate money during the pledge drives. I can only dream that as our town grows, so will the content and variety of our public radio station.