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The radio station's employees and their loyal audience are shaken by the thought of losing "The voice of Berks County."
Reading, PA –
Mike Faust could not believe what he was reading.
He was sitting in the WEEU 830 AM booth, about an hour after the start of his daily "Feedback" radio show. He had been given a newspaper, a report showing the latest update of the Reading Eagle Company bankruptcy.
Faust had heard rumblings, had heard of a court document filed the previous night. But sitting behind his microphone a few moments before resuming the waves, everything was specified.
MediaNews Group, the national media channel owned by a hedge fund buying the assets of Reading Eagle Company, has no interest in running a radio station.
At the end of the sale, WEEU will be silenced.
"It was so difficult," Faust said Wednesday afternoon, five hours after hearing the news. "I am an optimistic and positive person, but it was difficult to keep my emotions under control. But I had to do it, I was in the middle of a three hour show. "
When he returned to the antenna at 10:06, Faust repeated the story that had just been told when updating local news.
"It's terrible to read those words on the air," he said. "It's like a dream. But the show must continue. We find a way. "
He was addressing other issues – Tuesday's primary, the fifth anniversary of a hailstorm that ravaged parts of Berks County – but he told the callers that they could talk about WEEU's fate if they wanted to. .
"I looked and it was a full board," he said. "And each of them were long-time listeners."
Faust spent an hour answering every call, the voices on the other end of the line repeating the same chorus: You can not go away. We need WEEU. You are a beloved piece of this community.
After signing, Faust checked his email and voicemail. They were flooded.
There was Lorie in Sinking Spring, who said, "WEEU should stay on the air." A woman asked if she could create a GoFundMe page to raise money and buy the station.
People were shaken, they were shocked. But many also had a desperate hope, insisting that an answer would be found to save WEEU.
Reading Eagle Company is seeking to sell the WEEU FCC license and court documents indicate that a buyer could use the tower, antenna and transmitter for up to five years or until MediaNews Group sells them.
"We still have hope, we are always optimistic," Faust said, noting that auditors and employees were hoping to find a buyer. "We hope calmer waters before us. But for the moment, we are still on a rough sea. "
WEEU started its activities in 1931. As Faust points out, it's been an institution at Berks for decades.
He grabbed a framed photo of Frank Sinatra in the corner of his office, explaining how it was taken when Sinatra was in the studio for a news show. Then he took another picture from a shelf, that of the famous pre-eminent Taylor Swift singing into a WEEU microphone. It was taken just before she headed to Tennessee and a path leading to mega-celebrity.
"Getting rid of WEEU would be like getting rid of the pagoda," he said. "You feel it's part of the landscape and it's always going to be there."
And for Faust, it has always been there.
He made his debut at the station as a trainee in 1993. On the night of his graduation at Albright College, he was offered a full-time concert at the station.
He has spent his entire professional career at WEEU, from his night shifts to being a reinforcement animator in "Feedback" to taking charge of the venerable full-time show in 2001.
He was appointed director of the program in 2012 and, since 2014, he is director of operations for the station.
In 25 years, WEEU has become much more than a job for Faust.
"I know it's a cliché, but it's like an extended family," he said.
And on Wednesday morning, this family was there for him. The motto of the station is "The voice of Berks County" and, overall, the county uses its voice to thank and encourage.
"I felt really good," Faust said of countless calls and emails. "People were coming to call, and you just felt the support."
Peter D. Barbey, President and CEO of Reading Eagle Company, said the potential closure of WEEU is devastating news.
"WEEU, for the men and women who work there, is more than just a job. It's a way of life, an identity, a family, "said Barbey. "To say that it is difficult does not do justice to the word" difficult "."
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