Friday, June 29, 2007

Diaspora Blues

A Pittsburgh expatriate residing in Florida misses home:

I’m sitting here in Naples listening to WDVE — a radio station from Pittsburgh where I’m from — and it hit me: What a difference in broadcasting!

I think this is one of the reasons we all long to move back to where we’re from and why a lot of us don’t feel the “hometown” feeling here.

I mean the lack of a connection with the places where we grew up, where families get together once a week and towns where there’s plenty to do, from arts festivals to regattas, museum openings and Major League Baseball — not to mention Steelers game tailgating!

The point of Barb Bekich's letter to the Naples Daily News is that the local flavor of Naples is lacking, at least on the radio. I can see the Florida natives rolling their eyes. They are tired of Pittsburghers telling them about what is lacking and how the Burgh Diaspora misses its city.

I know that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette panders to its displaced readership, but what about streaming radio such as WDVE? I listen to WYEP quite often via the internet. I wonder about such things thanks to Ms. Bekich's comment concerning the hometown feel of WDVE. Maybe that's part of the Burgh mystique, but it also does a great job of scratching the itch of all the Pittsburghers who left town.

Perhaps if there was a large and strong Naples Diaspora, the radio stations there in Florida would provide more local flavor.

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