TOPIC ONE: PACIFICA
FOUNDATION IS “OVER GOVERNED & FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE”
Our
coverage of Executive Director Maxie Jackson’s comments at the January 31,
2019, meeting of the Pacifica Foundation’s National Board [link] brought over
1,000 page views and several comments. Readers had mixed reactions:
 |
| Gregg McVicar |
• Gregg McVicar, the host of UnderCurrents [link] and a digital audio
pioneer said he supports Jackson’s proposed changes in Pacifica’s system or
governance:
McVicar:
Maxie (and you) nailed it with the
Pacifica assessment. Likewise, I have the utmost respect for Maxie who
totally knows what he’s doing, and it shows.
• A major market
programmer
and former PRPD board member who requested confidentiality wrote:
Confidential: Enjoyed your piece today on Maxie speaking truth to power – but I would have liked to have gotten some sense as to how people reacted to what he was saying on that conference call. He is absolutely correct that the governance set up is crazy and needs to be changed – but I can’t imagine this board accepting that it is failing. What a mess.
• An anonymous reader told us:
Anonymous: Jackson’s “analysis of the situation” is not that impressive. It’s been
obvious for a long time - but is also not the full story. While there’s no
dispute for me that the boards, who do have ultimate authority, have been
overwhelmingly destructive since 2002, the flip side is that the stations’
management is not blameless for the damage they’ve done. Getting “talented”
people on the boards is not as easy as it sounds. There have been good people
but they are driven away by the various bad actors.
The stations’ were also
enabled by the poor financial controls at the national management level. who
have gotten inside
 |
| Steve Robinson |
• Steve Robinson, former GM of WFMT, Chicago and longtime system manager was skeptical about Pacifica’s willingness to change:
Robinson: “...Pacifica
must change its system of governance. “
That’s hilarious.
TOPIC TWO: PRAISE FOR ALAN CHARTOCK
On
January 23rd we posted a story about Linda Stowe, an unsung hero who
guided Spokane Public Radio’s finances for three decades. Stowe recently passed
away [link]. We asked readers to praise other “heroes” of public radio. An
anonymous reader sent this tribute to Alan Chartock, CEO of WAMC in Albany:
Alan is a character, to
put it mildly. I don’t always agree with him but I never think he is anything
less than thoughtful, if not a genius, in everything he says. And his smarts,
charisma, and sheer radio talent have propelled WAMC to amazing heights.
Problem is, he is 77
years old. I don’t know that he will ever retire. I hope WAMC can handle it
after he is gone.
KEN
SAYS: We agree with this reader’s praise
for Alan Chartock. He is a member of public radio’s Greatest Generation – the
men and woman who created the public radio system. We are excited that new
leaders are taking over many organizations. We are confident that new leaders will keep public
media growing and remain sustainable.
TOPIC THREE: FLUCTUATIONS IN
SMALL MARKET NIELSEN RATINGS
Earlier
this week we posted Nielsen Audio Fall 2018 ratings for Cedar Rapids [link] and
three other Iowa markets. The data show a large decrease in estimated weekly
listeners to Iowa Public Radio’s (IPR) news stations.
 |
| Kevin Trueblood |
Trueblood
wrote:
Inexplicable significant
rises and drops are pretty typical for diary small markets like Cedar Rapids.
This is true for commercial radio stations as well. You get one household whose
16 year old fills out all 4 diaries and you see a 2-point drop, even though you
did nothing wrong. I wouldn’t put a lot of consideration until I saw the back
to back book trends.
KEN SAYS: Kevin is correct. Sometimes in Nielsen’s
Diary markets like Cedar Rapids, one or two respondents can rogue and screw up
results for the entire small sample.
In
the case of Cedar Rapids, we also looked three other Nielsen rated Diary
markets and found similar decreases two other markets. Also, we contacted IPR
and made certain there were no other factors such as stations off the air.
In
a related development, their apparently is disagreement between RRC and Nielsen
about Diary market sample size. In an email to us Carl Nelson of RRC said:
Nelson: This will be the last survey RRC will provide public topline estimates
because Nielsen reporting changes are forcing us to provide incomplete topline
data.
So,
this may also be a factor. Since RRC says they will no longer distribute
Nielsen’s Diary data, we have made arrangements to get future information
directly from Nielsen.
TOPIC FOUR: IS COLLEGE
RADIO “ALMOST PUBLIC RADIO”?
 |
| Jennifer Waits |
In
her commentary, Waits called our analysis of WNYU “provocative” and said our opinions “diminish college radio’s radio history and inherent strengths.”
Waits
said we are missing the point about College Radio by focusing on small budgets
and programming that is of interest to very few people. She said we fail to
acknowledge that college radio is “fun
and educational” for students and “many
of them [offer] creative freedom, student control and adventurous programming.”
KEN SAYS: We like Jennifer Waits
writing and frequently read her posts. To our knowledge, she is the only
reporter covering college radio fulltime and we appreciate her work.
It
appears to us that Waits and Spark News
both like college radio but approach it from different perspectives. We focus
on college radio’s self-imposed smallness, tiny budgets, lack of long-term
planning and lack of impact. Waits focuses on the college radio "experience" and the feel-good vibe for participating students.
We
had the same conversation with Waits a few years ago when she interviewed us
for a Radio Survivor podcast.
Apparently this podcast is now not available on the Radio Survivor website. This
is too bad because it contains an important discussion about college radio from
two different perspectives. We hope that Waits we repost that podcast.
+++++++++JENNIFER WAITS POST ON RADIO
SURVIVOR+++
College
Radio Watch: Is College Radio ‘Almost Public Radio’? and More News
By Jennifer Waits on February 1, 2019 in College Radio, College Radio Survivor, Public Radio
In the
provocative piece, WNYU, New
York is “Almost Public Radio,” radio veteran Ken Mills posits that
college radio station WNYU at New York University
(see my 2008
tour) falls into the category of “almost public radio.”
Mills argues
that stations in this category “copy public radio’s style, represent themselves
as a public trust and/or are staffed by people who, frankly, would rather be
working in public radio.”
I’m struck
by his assertion that college radio stations like WNYU have public radio
aspirations and somehow see their stations as lesser than public radio. This is
a bold assumption that works to diminish college radio’s history and inherent
strengths.
Of course
there may be college radio participants with public radio dreams or commercial
radio dreams or community radio dreams, but there are many who are focused on
the day-to-day work, fun, and educational aspects of college radio.
Student-run
college radio stations existed prior to public radio and a hallmark of many of
them is creative freedom, student control, and adventurous programming.
College
radio stations pioneered many technological and programming innovations (with
limited budgets and mainly volunteer staffs) that were later adopted by public
radio stations, such as online streaming (credit to WXYC and WREK – see my tour)
and international live remote broadcasts (shout out to KFJC, where I volunteer).
Many music-oriented public radio stations took cues from their college radio
forebears and some air underground music that first got airplay on college
radio stations.
While there
is crossover, with some public radio stations incorporating student staff (as I
saw during my tour of
Fordham University’s WFUV) and some college radio stations seeking
out public funding; for the most part I see college radio as one category of
stations and public radio as another.
A huge
difference is budget and staffing. Despite a lower budget and smaller staff
than public radio stations, Mills critiques WNYU for its small listening
audience relative to its FM signal strength, saying, “Despite this capacity,
WNYU has only a few thousand estimated weekly listeners.
Except for
the students who work there, the station is unknown to most people who live in
the city.”
He
speculates that, “In general, college stations have the smallest budgets of any
noncommercial media type. This limits the opportunities for participating
students.”
While small
budgets can lead to numerous challenges, I’m continually amazed by what college
radio stations accomplish. Creativity often flourishes in the absence of
monetary resources, with volunteer DJs and staff putting in countless hours
(sometimes putting grades and graduation in jeopardy) for the love of radio.
Mills goes
on to critique WNYU’s programming, stating that,
Another
factor that may be limiting WNYU’s potential is their programming. To use a
common phrase, WNYU is ‘too hip for the room.’ When the ‘room’ is New York
City, there will be difficulty drawing a substantial audience. The good news is
that WNYU is programmed 100% by students. The bad news is these students are
probably the only listeners.
Ouch. Mills
points to some intriguing programming, but dismisses it as having “very limited
interest.”
I think that
it’s wonderful to have a range of non-commercial radio stations on the dial,
including well-funded (and not-so-well funded) public radio stations,
grassroots community stations, tiny low power FM stations, high school radio in
many forms, and the wide range of college radio stations.
There is a
place for unusual and niche programming on college radio. And that’s what keeps
me glued to my FM dial.
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