Congress has public radio twisting its dials for dollars.

• Author: Hill, Sheridan
• Position: Competition for sources of funding increases between North Carolina's National Public Radio stations

With federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on the chopping block, North Carolina's National Public Radio stations are not only cutting costs but taking a slice of each other's sponsors and listeners.

Competition has come to the public airwaves, especially in the Piedmont, where signals and markets overlap. Both WFDD (88.5 FM) in Winston-Salem and WFAE (90.7) in Charlotte have boosted their signals. And WNCW (88.7) in Spindale has gained at least a toe-hold in parts of five states.

Each station has a different musical format, but all share the same National Public Radio news programming - and the same need to get inside the pockets and purses of NPR listeners.

WFDD, based at Wake Forest University, has broadcast classical music since it came on the air in 1961. It gets about 21% of its $670,000 annual cash budget from CPB. "We would be in a crisis situation," Station Manager Cleve Callison says, if that source were to dry up. The rest of the money comes from listeners (51%), businesses (14%), the university (12%) and miscellaneous sources.

WFAE, which has been playing "smooth jazz" since switching from classical music in 1987, would make up the difference with more corporate sponsors. With a budget of $1.1 million, WFAE gets 47% of its money from listeners, 36% from businesses and 17% from CPB. In 1993, WFAE cut financial ties with UNC Charlotte to become more entrepreneurial and independent.

In Spindale, where the Piedmont turns mountainous, newcomer WNCW is shaping up as a tough little challenger, given its expansion in only five years of operation. Listeners in places such as Asheville, Hickory, Knoxville, Tenn., and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., have welcomed WNCW's hip, AAA (adult alternative album) format. "Our programming is eclectic," Program Director Greg Hils says. "We play everything from hard-core punk to Celtic harp. We were playing Counting Crows months before anyone else."

A typical week's playlist ranges from the obscure - the Uppity Blues Women and Sapphire - to the well-known - folk singer Joni Mitchell and country favorite Mary Chapin Carpenter. "As soon as we get something new and exciting, we put it on the air," Hils says. "If people seem to be digging it, we jack up the rotation."

Though 90% of public-radio listeners don't give a dime, they've got great demographics - college-educated, 25-54 years old and more than 40% (compared with 27% of all adults) with homes valued at more than $100,000...