Re: More news on WJUL

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 06:52 PM 8/7/2003, rogerkirk wrote:
>Aaron Read wrote:
>
> >Might I add that building a satellite studio is (probably) a very dumb
> >idea.  It worses the already-bad "us vs. them" mentality at WJUL and I
>(snip)
>Where did you get the term "Satellite?"  I didn't see that in the article.

I'm mixing metaphors....by "satellite" I just mean a small studio not 
directly connected to the main studios.  It was not a reference to any 
program delivery mechanism.


>It would make perfect sense to build a satellite studio in the Lowell Sun 
>Building (Lowell's Greatest Newspaper - 15 Kearny Square - Paul Sullivan) 
>if (as previously suggested) their (hidden) agenda was the Lowell Sun 
>having their own radio station.  That way, when full-time  control of a 
>station becomes theirs, the studio is right where they want it.  It also 
>would allow the Sun to provide news-related resources just a few footsteps 
>away from the studio.

That is a good point for the ranting-ravers to remember.


>"Dunlap points out that the new show's proposed editorial board will have 
>only one place for a Sun representative. The remaining seven positions 
>allow for five university representatives and two students, one from the 
>student government and one (to be named) from among the WJUL volunteers."
>
>This sounds just a little lop-sided, to me.


Not really, Roger...that's pretty standard for review boards.  The five 
university reps are probably Christine Dunlap herself, another person from 
Dunlap's marketing office, someone from student activities (the director or 
an assistant director), someone from the provost's office, and someone from 
athletics (possibly Dana Skinner).  The provost office might be replaced 
with a rep from alumni relations instead.   Student Senate is routinely 
just one rep, and the WJUL person will likely be whoever the student 
equivalent of General Manager is (if they hire a professional GM - which 
it's not entirely clear that a GM is what they're hiring).

I'm generalizing those terms for offices above a bit, but that sort of mix 
is what I usually see in advisory boards when I see them.  The only thing 
the WJUL board seems to lack is an actual WJUL alumnus who is NOT part of 
the station but instead works in the broadcast industry.  It's possible no 
such person exists, or more likely no such person is available in a 
practical sense.


WARNING - LONGER DISCOURSE BELOW!  :-)


No doubt WJUL sees this a lopsided, too...but the point is to force WJUL to 
be more organized by default.  It's not the review board's job to organize 
the student/volunteer position(s) on various topics while at the 
meetings.  That's WJUL's responsibility BEFORE the meeting.  Then their rep 
presents that position.   Same rules for the University departments (it's 
not like athletics is going to have the same cares and positions as student 
activities, for example) The Sun and Student Gov't.

To bring the point out of the abstract and into reality...while I was 
unable to attend the big Univ/Sun/WJUL meeting a week or so ago; everything 
I've read about it indicates that a lot of what was coming from the WJUL 
side was high on emotion and low on organization, cohesiveness, and 
logic.  A bit of a slam, perhaps, but it's certainly not unusual.  And 
frankly the University hadn't expected it to be that way, they should 
have.  Why would it be any other way?  WJUL hasn't been given much in the 
way of training or resources to do it any other way.   To be fair to WJUL 
as well, their argument is a losing one if you base it on logic and 
figures; that way definitely gives the advantage to the Sun and University.

Which brings me to (again) what the real problem here is: WJUL likely had 
unrealistic expectations of what authority they had and the University 
likely abused those unrealistic expectations.  As such, you've got a lot of 
people on one side who are now completely disinclined to see the very real 
positive benefits a relationship like this CAN have if all sides work together.

I find it very disappointing that all the press about the WJUL side of 
things seems to indicate that they are completely unwilling to work with 
this process and instead are concentrating on fighting it.  But I take 
comfort from knowing that extremism is what makes it into the news, not 
reasonable discourse :-)   So perhaps cooler heads are prevailing behind 
the scenes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA