Local Media Critique: WLUW-FM
After several months of deliberation and numerous rewrites, I've finally completed my analysis and critique of one of the city's most popular community radio stations, WLUW-FM (88.7).
The project came about after I was asked to leave the organization last April (2004) after almost four years of dedicated volunteer service. Besides being abruptly terminated from the organization without warning or appeal, I also was refused any type of written documentation explaining exactly how and why the verdict was reached. Initially, I tried to get some press coverage about my situation, but my efforts were futile. Finally, I decided to take matters into my own hands and proceeded to document the entire story myself and post it to the Internet.
So, here it is...the story of how I was "fired" from a community radio station and my inside analysis of the behind the scenes operations at Chicago's Independent Community Radio:
www.fearchannel.blogspot.com
(also, don't forget to check out the "Prologue" and "Links" sections in the right hand column for additional coverage)
posted by Brad K at 1/26/2005 02:00:00 PM
6 Comments:
wow, dude, that's totally f-ed up. i know wfmu has a paid staff and it obviously worked out for them . . . how'd it get to be so bad with luw? where i work, there might be a lot of disorganization and a little drama every once in while, but never this . . . sorry man, that sucks.
you should get a show up here.
mike
wnur jazz music director
I read your account with interest and, I admit, some dismay. I have known Craig Kois for 13 years and found your description of him unrecognizable. In my experience, he is one of the gentlest, least autocratic people I've ever had the fortune to meet.
I can't speak to many of the particulars of your account, but I can speak to some of them, since I was involved in the transformation of WLUW into a university-community station in the mid-'90s and was intimately involved in the events leading to the agreement with WBEZ.
First, retaining a paid, full-time station manager and a paid, full-time program director is required by the agreement between Loyola (the owner of the station) and WBEZ. This is so for several reasons, not least of which is that the license holder needs confidence that the station will be run in a manner that accords with FCC requirements. Another reason is that some of us lobbied -- successfully, happily -- for this requirement to assure that the hard work that has gone into making WLUW such a valuable community resource would not go to waste. The quality of the station is a product not only of the hard work and talents of the many student and community volunteers who have worked there since the format change, but also to the vision of Craig and, in more recent years, Shawn. Craig transformed a commercialized dance station with virtually no student involvement and absolutely no community involvement or programming into a station swarming with volunteers and filled with some of the most diverse programming you'll find anywhere. The Department of Communication, which -- until the agreement -- had oversight over the station, had tried to shift the programming and staffing of the station under two previous station managers without any real success. Craig was the person who made it work and made the station a welcoming environment to both students and community members.
Second, as for the percentage of the station budget that goes to staff salaries and benefits, the same was true before the university decided that the station should be self-supporting. The budget figures for WZRD and WNUR -- neither of which is self-sufficient (nor should they be; WLUW shouldn't either, but that was the university president's decision) -- are somewhat misleading as a basis for comparison. I'm going on memory from several years ago here, so I can't be precise -- part of the true costs for staffing those stations is in their respective university's academic budgets, since faculty are (or were) involved in oversight of the station, training of student personnel, etc. This ought to be true of WLUW as well, since a significant part of the jobs done by Craig and Shawn involves training (i.e., teaching) students how to do various radio-related work. The education of many Loyola students would be significantly diminished if they did not have the learning opportunities afforded by working at the station under Craig and Shawn's guidance. As for whether there is a need for two full-time staff members, consider that there are over 150 volunteers working at the station. Someone needs to oversee the work of those volunteers, coordinate, train, etc. That's more than one person could do. You are correct that the staff costs are going up this year. That's because the station now employs a fund-raiser: Craig and Shawn had been handling those duties in addition to the jobs they had held previously, when the station was funded by the university. The presence of the third paid staff member is intended to relieve some of that burden on Craig and Shawn so they can concentrate on their real jobs, the ones they were hired to do.
Finally, with no criticism intended of either WNUR or WZRD, I don't believe that they do offer all that WLUW does. They are fine stations, but neither one has the number or diversity of locally-produced programs that WLUW has. I think that's a prime reason why WLUW consistently has the largest audience in Chicago among non-NPR stations on the left end of the dial.
I'm sorry your time at WLUW ended so bitterly for you, and I hope this clarifies why so much of the budget goes to staff.
Mark P.
In response to Mark's comments:
This is exactly the type of response I received from many after I started to criticize WLUW's budget and the management's lack of disclosure.
"I have known Craig Kois for 13 years and found your description of him unrecognizable. In my experience, he is one of the gentlest, least autocratic people I've ever had the fortune to meet."
1. To be honest, I thought this about Craig as well. I'd worked with him indirectly around the station for about 4 years and he seemed like one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet...that's what made my situation so bizarre.
2. My critique is not intended to badmouth any individuals here. Kois, Campbell and Malatia are all probably great people in their own right...but two facts remain:
a. There was no effort whatsoever to work things
out with me or address criticisms that I
made AND I was kicked out of
WLUW without any chance of appeal
b. Terms of the WLUW's budget and the operating
agreement between Loyola and WBEZ still have
NOT been adequately disclosed to the
listeners, donors and volunteers of the
WLUW.
Mark, if you are a friend of Kois and he has the integrity that you say he has...then I would ask you to please encourage Kois to fully disclose the complete facts about WLUW's budget, its management structure and the specific terms of the WBEZ/Loyola agreement to the listeners, donors and volunteers of the station.
The fact that this information has not been voluntarily distributed and the fact that I was so abruptly kicked out for making criticisms about these issues makes it look like station management is trying to hide something. Maybe this is not the case, but unfortunately there has not been any evidence to prove otherwise.
It truly is a shame that someone could hold such bitterness for such a long time and not be able to move on in their life.
Oh come on . . . I don't want this to distract from the real problem here, but all WNUR does is locally-produced programs. As far as diversity goes, that's where I think LUW could use improvement. I fully support LUW, probably more than most of the people I work with up here, and that's why I can say that whatever path WLUW is apparently currently following, it doesn't seem right. El Radio Libre! give it back to the kids. --mike, wnur jazz
mark wrote:
>>Finally, with no criticism intended of either WNUR or WZRD, I don't believe that they do offer all that WLUW does. They are fine stations, but neither one has the number or diversity of locally-produced programs that WLUW has.>>
mark totally misrepresents the history of wluw. No student involvement - no community shows. Bullsh#t. Totally self serving crap, and really beneath you. Go with the truth next timw Mark, it's easier.
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