| 'Tis the Season
By Tom Rieland, WOSU General Manager  The holiday season brings with it thoughts of giving. It is also a time to think of those individuals who give their time and generous donations to WOSU Public Media. Throughout our history, WOSU has benefited from a purposeful community who give generously of their resources—be it volunteer hours, membership dollars, or special gifts, WOSU has been a grateful recipient of your generosity.
One additional way that many have used to make a lasting impact is through planned giving. These gifts can be as easy as naming WOSU in your will or by working with a financial planner on a plan that might include benefits to those who make the gift. We were notified of one such gift recently.
The donor let us know that they had included WOSU in their will for 10% of their estate. The wording they used was “to support PBS programming in Columbus.” Although we [WOSU] knew the intent of the donor, we had to meet to explain the challenges of verbiage when it comes to planned giving. This wording would result in the gift going to PBS and not to WOSU Public Media as was intended.
If a donor’s intention is to give to PBS or NPR, we would certainly honor that request and connect with their respective foundations— but we knew that the intent of this recent planned gift was for WOSU Public Media. The best way to ensure that your intentions are clear is to meet with our Director of Advancement, David Dunham. David would be happy to meet with you and help you through the process—to ensure that your wishes are clear.
‘Tis the season to make sure your generous gifts go where you want them to go!
A hearty thank you for your continued support of WOSU. For more information, contact David Dunham at WOSU: 614-292-9678 or david.dunham@wosu.org.
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New Changes in Planned Giving Legislation
WOSU Public Media  While answering phones during our most recent fund drive, I received a call from a good friend of WOSU Public Media. He informed me that he was making a planned gift from his “Required Minimum Distribution” on his IRA for this year to help with the WOSU membership drive. He encouraged me to share with others this unique giving opportunity for those 70 1/2 and older in order to let others know of yet another way to support the valuable programming on WOSU TV and radio.
If you are not familiar with the terminology of a “planned gift,” it is a gift given from assets that generally benefits an organization that was important to someone during his or her lifetime. It can be as simple as putting WOSU in your will or it may involve a financial advisor and a planned giving representative from a charity that you are passionate about. We’d like to share with our readers, viewers, and listeners a third option for a planned gift that currently has limited availability.
New legislation—effective for tax years 2008 and 2009 only—makes it possible for you to make cash gifts to WOSU from your traditional or Roth IRA through a “qualified charitable distribution” or “charitable IRA rollover” totaling up to $100,000. You would not incur income tax on the withdrawal but you must act by December 31 to take advantage of the provision for 2008. If you would like to discuss your planned giving options or contact WOSU for more information, please call David Dunham at 614-292-2159.
—David Dunham, Director of Advancement
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WOSU Public Media 2008: Looking Back, Moving Forward
By Scott Gowans, WOSU Web
 2008 was a year of change and progress for WOSU Public Media. We thought we’d take this opportunity to look back on 2008 and share those memories with our Airfare readers.
- Last January, audiences got a peek at The String Machine, a music-and-dance program performed at the WOSU@COSI Battelle studio with the Columbus Dance Theater and the Carpe Diem String Quartet. Contemporary music was transformed into the string quartet form while Columbus Dance Theater dancers became a kinetic machine of movement. Audience members were part of a live studio audience and experienced both the exciting new dance and the excitement of seeing the creation of a dance made for television.
- On January 14, WOSU Public Media began offering our listeners the best of the best on WOSU 89.7 FM. Our local classical music hosts started sharing their expertise at mid-day, and we added more local news coverage from our award-winning WOSU news team and national news programming from NPR.
- The generous gift of Sandy and Andy Ross for the mediaLab at WOSU@COSI helped to bring a new learning tool to teachers and students in central Ohio. The mediaLab is used to teach general courses in new media to anyone interested in learning to develop a podcast or create stories with digital media. It is equipped with a dozen Macintosh computers, the latest in digital media software, and a Smart Board.
- WOSU unveiled its new radio studio facility on March 24. Renovating the outdated meeting rooms in the Fawcett Center for Tomorrow at Ohio State started in December 2004. Two full-time workers and one part-time worker put in over 2,000 manpower hours and were challenged by time and budget.
- WOSU Public Media hosted its second annual Chefs in the City—A Gourmet Auction Event, providing an incredible gourmet experience for members of the Columbus community. It was held at the North Market in the Dispatch kitchen and hosted by Bill Schiffman, the host of In The Know on WOSU TV, along with celebrity chef Joanne Weir, of PBS fame.
- Also in 2008, in what was one of the most unique partnerships in the country, WOSU joined with LifeCare Alliance and the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging to reach thousands of local elderly whose only television reception is from an over-the-air signal on an analog TV set. Community members were encouraged to donate unused DTV coupons to WOSU, so that we could help purchase boxes for the at-risk elderly in the community. The three partners trained social workers and volunteers to help install the boxes.
- WOSU Public Media has been collecting bits of oral history as part of its Ohio War Stories project. With some special assistance, WOSU recorded more than 35 additional stories at the Longaberger Foundation in Newark. From Buckeye Lake, Ohio to Denmark, the tales of valor, friendship, and humanity were captured for posterity and posted to ohiowarstories.org. The videotaping was organized by WOSU and carried out by high school students from C-TEC and the Newark High School Advanced Video Production class.
- WOSU TV and PBS offered voters a slate of programs that provide in-depth information and insight into the issues and candidates for Election 2008. Both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention was covered by “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” offering the only complete broadcast coverage made available by a U.S. broadcast television network.
- The crew of NPR’s Talk of the Nation returned to Columbus in October. Partnering with The Columbus Metropolitan Club, we opened our studios at WOSU@COSI for a live broadcast of the program, coupled with a presidential debate-watching party, a discussion with the show’s host, Neal Conan, and a live-call-in show.
- WOSU’s news director Mike Thompson served as moderator for two congressional debates at WOSU@COSI; the first allowed the candidates for Ohio’s 15th District to discuss issues, the second allowed the 12th District nominees to do the same.
- In late 2008, WOSU TV and WOSU HD began simulcasting in preparation for the digital transition in February 2009. This was our first step toward a full broadcast digital service on TV.
Looking Forward: 2009 at WOSU Public Media
As we look forward to 2009, WOSU Public Media is excited about the prospects of expanding our services to different audiences and premiering an ambitious new project.
The early part of the year will focus on the shutdown of analog broadcasting, including TV34, which has served Columbus since 1956. Our high-definition channel, WOSU HD, will officially become our primary TV channel on February 17. We are committed to helping everyone with over-the-air televisions make the transition to digital. WOSU will have three channels (HD, PLUS, and OHIO) on all Columbus cable systems and over-the-air, with plans to add a fourth channel by the end of the year.
We’re also adding another digital channel to our HD Radio offerings at 89.7 FM. If you have an HD Radio at home or in your car, you’re already hearing the difference in quality and enjoying 24-hour classical music on our second channel. In 2009, WOSU will add a third channel of programming for HD Radio listeners and online. We’ll be announcing that service by summer.
Finally, WOSU will premiere the first of a series of television documentaries, radio specials, and an interactive web site with the theme of Columbus Neighborhoods. This four-year project will culminate with the Columbus bicentennial in 2012. It is the most ambitious local programming project in our history, and you’ll hear much more next year.
We thank you for your continued support and are pleased to provide even more choices in quality noncommercial programming
in 2009!
—Tom Rieland, General Manager
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WOSU Digital Scoop
What You Might Not Know About Digital Radio You’ve probably heard a lot more about digital television than digital radio, so here’s your chance to expand your knowledge. The new technology will dramatically change your experience of listening to the radio!
Digital radio is a revolutionary advancement in the AM and FM broadcasting industry. Digital broadcasting produces the highest quality audio available, delivering crystal clear reception and offering CD sound quality. For consumers with HD Radio™ equipment, advantages are immediately evident. A fundamental benefit of the new technology is that noise, interference, and fades commonly heard on traditional analog radios are effectively eliminated with HD Radio digital broadcasting.
Like digital television, an FM digital radio signal can be broken into multiple channels. This allow us to provide you with a second channel of audio programming (and maybe more), as well as a variety of program information and other data services. AM digital stations won’t have additional channels, but will provide other enhancements in addition to a strikingly clear sound. WOSU was a national leader in testing all of these new services.
Another key feature, quite a boon for audiophiles and especially for classical music lovers, is that the digital technology is capable of delivering true 5.1 digital surround sound—an exciting enhancement and major improvement above traditional two-channel stereo sound. HD Radio™ receivers were first widely available toward the end of 2004, and several automobile manufacturers are expected to provide mobile receivers with select new model cars.
Several years ago, WOSU FM 89.7 installed the equipment necessary to broadcast digital signals, in addition to our regular analog signal. Essentially, this allows us to have multiple signals in the "space" it takes for one. On your HD Radio, these channels are still found at FM 89.7 on the dial.
- WOSU FM 89.7: This is our flagship channel that you can hear on standard FM radios.
- WOSU HD-2: In early 2008, we introduced our all-classical service on WOSU HD-2, which includes our local hosts. TABLE OF CONTENTS
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