THE STORY
“In The Public Interest,” a documentary film designed as both a pilot for a four-part limited series and as a powerful stand-alone documentary, investigates the crucial importance of local radio ownership serving the public interest by focusing on the achievements and challenges of minority-owned, woman-led, WURD in Philadelphia.
“You can’t give everyone money, but you can give them a voice.”
With those words of advice, physician, businessman, and philanthropist Walter P. Lomax, Jr., M.D., decided to purchase a little 1000-watt AM station in Philadelphia in 2003, calling it WURD Radio. Although its broadcast signal reaches only 20 miles, its impact, aided by streaming programming online and via its app, grows steadily despite challenges that most owners could never surmount.
All broadcasters using the public’s airwaves have, since 1927, been legally obligated to serve the public interest of their listeners/viewers as a condition of maintaining their license, but, in the course of the ensuing decades, this obligation has grown virtually meaningless and that has had consequences for local communities and our very democracy.
Through interviews with WURD president and CEO Sara Lomax, general manager Ashanti Martin, on-air personalities Solomon Jones, Tonya Pendleton, Dr. James Peterson, media scholars and advocates, the story of how one locally-owned radio station dedicated to serving the public interest can affect positive change and make a difference in the community.
The story of WURD will inspire a new generation to fight for their public interest.
The airwaves belong to the people.
Join us in making “In The Public Interest.”
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