Despite deep budget cuts, and reductions in staff, the future of WBGU-TV at Bowling Green State
University is secure.
As the public television station at Bowling Green State University celebrated 50 years of existence
earlier this month, some people privately wondered about the station’s prospects.
But Robin Gerrow, the university’s chief communication officer who oversees the station, said that WBGU
provides essential services.
Every semester about 50 students in telecommunications, film and marketing work for the station getting
valuable training, Gerrow said.
"That’s a huge educational component," she said. "For that the university needs the
station."
Those students provide the workforce needed to get the programs produced in house, on the air. That
includes editing the nationally distributed "American Woodshop." That’s a great entry on that
student’s resume, she said.
At the ceremony marking the station’s anniversary, students spoke so often about the value of their
experience at the station, that Tony Short, general manager for production, engineering and educational
services, assured President Mary Ellen Mazey that station personnel do tell students that their classes
were important, too.
The station, Gerrow said, has other roles. For the public, it involves a full range of programming that
goes from- "Scenic Stops," which profiles people and attractions within the station’s
19-county area, to the blockbuster "Downton Abbey."
The station is also called on to create videos for Marketing and Communications presentations, Gerrow
said. This saves the university money and provides work experience for students.
The station operates the multimedia classroom in Olscamp, harking back to its roots of taping lectures.

The station helps boost the university’s profile. "The Northwest Journal," a public affairs
program, frequently features BGSU faculty.
"It gives our faculty great exposure in their areas of expertise," Gerrow said.
Those programs are aired not only by WBGU but by the other seven stations in the state.
But, as with other units on campus, WBGU has faced stiff cuts. The most recent round calls for $250,000
out of this year’s $3 million operating budget.
"We’re trying to absorb that with the least impact," Gerrow said.
One position at the station has been eliminated. The person in the position has been hired to fill
another vacancy in the Marketing and Communications office.
The station is also switching to use the same system to track donors as the university as a whole, she
said. This streamlining of the donor database, which also involves the university’s foundation, was
proposed late last year by the consultants from Accenture.
The station will also cut back on some of its marketing activities.
"Right now it looks like we’ll be able to continue the same level of local programming," Gerrow
said.
That program relies on local support that’s sometimes is hard to get in the station’s sprawling but
"sparsely populated" service area.
"We’re looking for more underwriting for local programming," she said.
The station brings in more than $980,000 in underwriting, private contributions and memberships. It
raised about $100,000 in its last on-air pledge campaign.
"We have to increase our corporate and business underwriting. That’s something we’ve been working
on," she said.
Gerrow said she wants to work on increasing the station’s endowment. "That would be a way to
stabilize the budget."