First
of all my apologies for not attending this meeting. I am knee-deep in Fund
Drive, being at the station from 6 am everyday, helping on-air and off-air,
answering phones and performing general duties that are required in all
departments during this busy time. I am also meeting with Bob Fass as we speak.
I have tried to organize a meeting with Bob for weeks and I did not want to
postpone him anymore. And I am exhausted. Again, my apologies.
It’s
been a little over a month since I arrived at WBAI. It is still way too early
for me to provide any kind of comprehensive report on programming. I have spent
all of my time so far talking to every producer and program maker across the
grid. Talking to producers about their concerns about their shows, their
feelings, anxieties, problems, self-criticisms and scope for improvements. This
is taking a very long time. Most meetings scheduled take over an hour and I
still haven’t met everyone. I have also spent time coming in on weekends to
meet producers that don’t usually get to the office during the weekday hours,
which has been appreciated. My weekday hours begin at 9 am and I rarely leave
before 7 pm at night. My presence in the office at 9 am is a huge shock to a
lot of people; my impression is that it hasn’t happened in a while.
The
biggest complaint I have heard so far from the producers is that there hasn’t
been a dialogue with them for so long. Program Directors need to be present
physically in the office as much as possible, even if it’s for an informal chat
of 5 mins before or after one’s show. This makes a huge difference to producers
and I have noticed that so far they appreciate it. The News Department is also
appreciative of contact and dialogue; in fact, every department has had a sense
of purpose that hasn’t been evident for a long time. One of the many shocks
when I first arrived at WBAI was the lack of collegiality among departments;
the lack of community, lack of teamwork and communication, lack of regular
meetings to simply address the day-to-day and week-to-week goings on.
As
PD, my short term initiatives are to deal with programs that are the spine of
the station, such as Wake Up Call, Hugh Hamilton, Robert Knight etc. I have set
up regular meetings with Esther Armah, including general meetings with all her
producers and interns. I have even arrived at the station at 6 am to physically
see the show in action. We have implemented a few changes already, such as
setting up a 7 am segment where Esther and Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman
forward-promote what’s coming up on Democracy Now that day. This is an example
of the collegiality and cross-pollination of programs and producers that I wish
to implement across the station grid. The whole Wake Up Call daily and weekly
schedule is being assessed and critiqued, and we are trying to improve
segments, specials and interviews across the board to ensure a much wider
audience for our premier drive program. Esther is very keen to help and be directed.
The
same is being done with Hugh Hamilton’s program. Extensive talks and criticisms
with Hugh have already begun and, again, he is very keen to improve the
program. Hugh has many ideas he would like to implement, not just on his own
show but to organize some “town hall’ type thematic live broadcasts of his
program in all five boroughs and parts of New Jersey. They would possibly
involve a theme for each show and location, moderated discussion between
pre-eminent guests with a Q & A session from the audience. It is definitely
something we are keen to pursue.
Discussions
are happening with all programs, both formally and informally. Again, this is
taking up most of my time.
A
major initiative for me has been better and more regular communications with
the Operations Department. They have been dealing with perennial problems at
all levels of broadcasting at WBAI; everything from pure technical issues to
production problems of individual programs. All the daily frontline happenings
of what the station is involved in go through them and they are best placed to
ascertain station problems at a programmatic level, individually and overall.
They are not without criticism; they are also keenly aware that they themselves
need revamping and better communications with all departments. It’s an ongoing
process.
Another
major issue is the traffic situation at WBAI. I believe a proper traffic system
is essential for any station and my impression is that there have been several
attempts at setting one up from previous directors, all to no avail. I am in
discussions with the Operations team as to how best to implement this, it is so
long overdue. It’s not an issue of difficulty; it is one of wherewithal and
follow through. It needs to be devised and designed properly, implemented and
then maintained by all producers and managers at a consistent, professional
level.
The
News Department is another area that has welcomed regular meetings and
communication. We are working together to perhaps implement better and more
frequent news content across the station. This is especially difficult given
their lack of resources and staff, but they are very encouraged and
enthusiastic with this new approach and dialogue. Jose Santiago even has a
spring in his step lately.
So my initial month has been taken up by
implementing lines of communication that have been sorely neglected in the
past. Developing relationships of mutual respect and constructive criticism
with every producer, especially our core programmers. I believe that without
this initial establishment of mutual respect I cannot move forward and make
necessary changes to any area of programming. And in my first month I have
noticed many good and bad aspects to BAI, most of which will already be very
familiar to you.
Good things:
There
is a general goodwill amongst the listeners, staff, producers and volunteers
about the station. They all want it to succeed. They are all painfully aware of
the destructive history of internal politics, over decades, but what is striking
is that in spite of all this they continue to believe in WBAI. Listeners
continue to listen and give money. Producers sick and tired of the infighting
continue to give their time to do shows. Staff press on with unbearably long
and tedious fund drive organization, with serious threats of station
insolvency, often juggling four or five jobs at a time. Volunteers, who have
heard about and believe in the station, experience the bad atmosphere
first-hand yet still give their time regularly and often. Listeners especially
want the station to succeed, even the ones that criticize it the most. There is
a groundswell of hope, change and opportunity; enough people want the station
to be a certain way and are happy to work towards it.
There
is evidence that the various departments at BAI are physically happier. The
News Dept is happier and are being used across the station more. During the
recent SCOTUS Health Care decision, we featured Jose delivering an up to the
minute report on Delphine’s Thursday morning show seconds after the decision
was handed down. Delphine had a great professional 10 minute dialogue with Jose
about the decision, and both forward promoted all the programs that would be
dealing with post-decision discussion through the day, mentioning Hugh
Hamilton, Robert Knight, and focusing on the 6 pm in-depth BAI News Bulletin
analysis that evening. Delphine even featured a discussion with Health Styles
producer Barbara Glickstein later on her show talking about the decision, and
of course forward promoting the Health Styles show later. This
cross-pollination, cross-promotion of shows was welcome and all
enthusiastically administered, something that I notice BAI hardly does anymore.
To see it happening during a big news day was good for everyone.
Station
community and collegiality seems to be returning, slowly. It is being rebuilt,
as in the Esther/Amy cross-promote, and there is a groundswell of enthusiasm
amongst the producers for more of the same. Again, this seems to have been
neglected over many years. Hopefully this will translate to more listeners.
Bad things:
You
all probably know this all too well. I don’t have to mention to you the chronic
institutional inertia and memory that exists at BAI, and has done so for
20-plus years. No amount of goodwill can change this unless there is constant
and meticulous work done by all administrations at every level of the
organization. Most of my communication with producers and departments has been
taken up by individual and collective venting of problems, psychological and
physical. It needs to be acknowledged at the very least so we can move forward.
But I am overwhelmed by the beating producers have taken over the years, and
they are all letting it out. My concern is the radio, first and foremost, so
the welfare of producers and operations is paramount. That’s why I have been
part new PD and mostly psychiatrist to people over this last month.
My
concern is that this inertia, this atrophy, cannot be changed even with the
best intentions. There is a fear and anxiety amongst the station that hangs
over everyone, rightly or wrongly. Fear of insolvency, fear of cutbacks to an
already threadbare staff, fear of too much bad history that has prevented us
from solving even a few of these problems. This affects us on-air, especially
during the current fund drive. I am concentrating on the air we deliver and I
am trying to make it better, but these pre-existing situations make it very
difficult to do that.
From
a general programming point of view, it is still way to early to seriously
assess the grid. But some initial impressions suggest an overall dated and
stale sound. We sometimes sound like a station still broadcasting in the 70s.
Many programs can adapt and change with help and critical production
techniques, but many programs have to seriously be reconsidered. Some
programming hasn’t changed in decades. I’m not suggesting a slash and burn
approach, but the feeling is that even the slightest change will be slow,
painful and full of political ramifications.
Our audience is old, too. This
isn’t news to us. I’m not being age-ist, but we need to attract a larger,
younger demographic. This isn’t at the exclusion of older listeners, but we
certainly aren’t including any younger ones. And by young I mean at the very
least 30s or 40s.
Our fundraising is problematic in that we are deriving
funds solely from one source: our listeners. And that source is ever
diminishing. Also, by the sound of our fund driving, we are targeting aging
hypochondriacs, an ever-decreasing market. Not healthy (irony alert).
There
are already some obvious deficiencies in structure and production staff. The
regular weekly shows, Wake Up Call, Hugh Hamilton, Robert Knight etc., are in
serious need of content/line producer staff. Wake Up call needs a proper
in-studio/ content producer. So does Hugh Hamilton. We can’t rely on interns,
as enthusiastic as they are. We need a serious commitment from producers if we
are to have a seriously produced daily show in either drive slots.
The
News Department is also short-staffed by maybe 2 or 3 journalists. We don’t
have a morning drive live news bulletin of any sort. In a perfect world, or
even half-perfect, we’d have a live person reading a 5 minute or so news
bulletin at a given half-hour or hour. I know Esther and Hugh would love this
to happen. I seriously do not know how we can address this, given our fiscal
problems. But, again, interns are not the answer.
---------
I
have only touched on a very small number of the many issues that I have
encountered so far. We all know that dealing with just one of these issues is a
10-hour argument. But I have also encountered enough people involved at the
station that are willing to work hard to fix them. I am encouraged by the
desire and enthusiasm of producers and staff that, in spite of all our ongoing
problems and checkered history, are still excited about making good radio. They
are wanting to be directed to produce quality, relevant and compelling content.
Support staff are keenly aware of our deficiencies in all areas of
administration and they want to be guided and involved in rejuvenating those
areas.
The
listeners are out there. They want us to succeed. We need to get them back.
Earn their respect. In this internet/blog/DIY world, a programmatically
well-curated radio station is still a unique entity in an increasingly media
consolidating landscape.
I’ve
spent a lot of time trying to re-instill a sense of community, a sense of
collegiality at the station that, ironically, USED TO EXIST. The horror stories
I have heard so far did include some encouraging history of teamwork and
togetherness that did occur in all areas of administration. I am trying to
rekindle that. It is going to take a long time.
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