West Virginia Public Radio In Gazette

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Statehouse beat: Public radio botches a break
By Phil Kabler


Catching up on some items from when I was gone ...

Next week is the big Educational Broadcasting Authority "visionary committee" meeting where West Virginia Public Broadcasting head Dennis Adkins is to present an update on the financial issues facing state public broadcasting, along with his proposals to keep WVPB solvent long-term.

Meanwhile, I'm told employee morale at the headquarters on 600 Capitol St. is fading. (Then again, the only newsroom I've ever known of that had high employee morale was WJM-TV on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show.")

After the June 29 derecho, the management decision was made that West Virginia Public Radio lacked the manpower and resources to do extended coverage of the storm and the recovery efforts statewide.

As has been noted, one of the shortcomings of the state's recovery efforts was the inability to get communications out to the storm victims left without power for days on end.

While some public radio towers were knocked off the air by the storm, some staffers and others believe public radio botched an opportunity to be the statewide clearinghouse for storm recovery information.

Apparently that included the governor's office, which reportedly dispatched Education and the Arts Secretary Kay Goodwin to meet with Adkins and James Muhammad, director of radio services, to express those concerns.

Also, there was more recent employee consternation that Bill Acker, director of broadcasting, obtained the call letters of WWHA (for William H. Acker) for the new public radio affiliate in Webster Springs.

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WWHA could stand for "Webster,Harker Valley and Addison"
Acker has some enemies on staff.
Public Broadcasting never did do a very good job on breaking news.
You might have to leave the building, Talk on the phone, or stay past 4:30.

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Leading up to the meeting of the "Visionary Committee":

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201208050070

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http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201208220291

This was the best that the "Visionary Committee" could come up with.