WRR Open House for Public Input

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City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture

On Monday, May 23, 2022, the City of Dallas held a public open house to share information about the proposed WRR 101.1 FM Management Agreement with KERA and to receive input on the future of WRR.

Click for more information about the proposed agreement.

More than 50 people attended the meeting, and 24 written comments were submitted. The comments have been categorized and excerpts from each are below.

Support KERA management proposal (13 comments):
We’ve been WRR listeners for over 22 years. I’m the Board Chair for the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and our children learned about GDYO via programming back in 2008. Both our children joined GDYO, and my wife and I continued long after they graduated. WRR has been a great supporter of GDYO and all other youth and professional arts organizations in Dallas. We hope the City Council will approve KERA’s proposal.

To have North Texas, Broadcasting (KERA) assume management of WRR would present a great opportunity to not just extend a 100-year legacy, but to realize many enhancements to the local music community. I am a Dallas native, having lived here my whole life, I have benefited significantly from listening to WRR. That station played and continues to play, a big role in my knowledge and appreciation of classical music It would be a terrible irreversible shame to sell WRR.

Keep the station classical (5 comments):
There are very few cultural and artistic treasures that are completely free to all and even fewer that are available to everyone anytime and anywhere in Dallas, WRR has given so much to so many that it would be impossible to quantify it.  Please, on behalf of generations of listeners, save this gift to all our residents for generations yet to come.

Do not sell the station (3 comments):
DON’T SELL WRR, LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS!!!

General comment (2 comments)
The conduct of the city with declaring bans on speech is not constitutional. KERA can’t talk to WRR, WRR can’t talk to KERA. DSO can’t talk to WRR, WRR can’t talk to DSO. The word for this would be dictatorial. Perhaps a little thought about how this was conducted would be good for the city.

Sell the station (1 comment):
To the City of Dallas: As a responsible steward, the city should explore all options: Relevant Radio is prepared to offer 15.6 million for the station. FCC and board approval should take less than three months. FM stations have dropped in value by 65% since 2010 with further decline projected. This asset will never bring greater value (10 million above the deficit to support the art) Please respond, thank you.