All Eyes on WYPR April 15 Board Meeting
April 13, 2008
WYPR’s board meeting open to the public is finally approaching. WYPR “public” radio already canceled the meeting once in March–most likely because they wanted tensions over their firing of Marc Steiner to first simmer down. The board meeting is scheduled for April 15, 2008 at 3 p.m. (a slightly inconvenient time) at the Church of the Redeemer. This church is located at 5603 N. Charles Street in Baltimore.
The Bring Back Marc Steiner movement plans to meet at the church beginning at 2:00 p.m., and hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m., before attending the meeting. This movement mostly is comprised of not just former WYPR listeners, but long-time donors. It seems WYPR management has yet to meet with them, and prefers to listen to their own closed coterie of opinions. Furthermore, WYPR’s Community Advisory Board plans to recommend the station invite Marc Steiner back at the April 15 board meeting.
WYPR President Tony Brandon may be planning to reformat WYPR as a statewide radio station, one that is more bland so as to attract a wider array of listeners, some interested in issues, more just in background jabber and entertainment. This might be the main motivation behind removing Steiner. For Steiner’s show has been replaced with a host who might cover Iraq, but most days talks about ice cream sales at ice skating rings, what happens to old cell phones, and other sundry topics.
In addition over 1,000 people have signed an online petition calling for restatement of the show. Click here to see that.
How will all this is discussed–or not–at the April 15 board meeting, we’ll find out.
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1.
Stephen Bingham | April 14, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I would like to see WYPR saved but am having comments rejected. I am wondering why.
2.
saveWYPR | April 14, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I don’t exactly know where you’re comments are being rejected from. If they are rejected from here, saveWYPR will look into it. For I doubt you are being blocked by the editors here, since no one has been blocked to date I believe. Maybe you are not hitting the “submit” button, or making some other snafu.
3.
saveWYPR | April 14, 2008 at 8:59 pm
This blog just double-checked, and to date no comments filed by you with us have been rejected. Thanks. If questions, email soswypr [at] gmail.com. Otherwise, comment here.
4.
Stephen Bingham | April 15, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I was trying to respond to Deborah’s comment on the April 8th post. Don’t know why my comment was rejected yesterday. I tried again today and save the text. It appears to have worked. I am inserting my comment here also since it has a lot of relevance for today’s board meeting.
Deborah,
It would be much more informative if one had a breakdown for the 1.3 million. How much was raised during the three on-air drives? How much was raised in response to renewal letters? How much was raised during the pre-drive shorten the drive appeals? 178,000 times 3 equals 534,000 If one divides that by the 33 station employees, one ends up with approximately 16,000. Unless a lot of member support is coming in from somewhere else, it really isn’t fair to call WYPR a member supported station and, if it isn’t a member supported station what is it?
5.
Disappointed | April 15, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Perhaps someone from the “movement” would like to address the vandalism of the sign outside wypr at the board meeting.
Maybe explain perhaps why that was a “cool” idea and gives your “movement” credibility to help decide the future direction of the station.
That is just childish. How do you expect to be taken seriously?
6.
helen | April 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Dear Disappointed,
Please do not assume someone from the Bring Back Steiner Movement did it. I am not part of the movement but I know the people who are, and they would NEVER condone anything like that. So please do not make that assumption. It is unfair. These are seasoned activists who understand that destructive behavior like that hurts a cause instead of helping it. I think you owe an apology to the movement for saying that they are responsible for the vandalism.
7.
Karl | April 15, 2008 at 3:13 pm
How do you become part of the “Bring Back Steiner Movement”?
Do you fill out an application? Do you get a membership card?
And who ensures that the “seasoned activists” of the BBSM play fair?
8.
Warthog | April 15, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Personally, I see “Save WYPR” and “Bring Back Steiner” as two very different things. I miss Marc, but had his exit been handled in a professional manner, I could live with it. For me, the issues that stir me are that first, the board and the station lied to me (and the entire listening audience) by the sham of saying it was about ratings. And when caught in that lie, they had the nerve to send that letter to members essentially saying “Yep, we lied, but keep the money coming anyway.”
They lied, and they took me for granted. Two things I don’t tolerate very well.
That said, I agree with those who say that bringing Mr. Steiner back would be a bad idea. If he were to return, it would create an ongoing civil war within the station. Should he have been canned? Probably not. But given that it has happened, I don’t think one can make things right by simply bringing him back and pretending it never happened.
I also agree with those who say that *some* of those who are backing Mr. Steiner’s cause are doing more harm than good to the cause that I feel is more important – saving WYPR.
Just my $.02…
9.
sj | April 16, 2008 at 12:40 pm
For any cause, there’s always going to be someone who, in the name of that cause, goes over the line. Without any sort of instigation of the vandalism by persons connected with BBMS, I don’t think there’s any justification for holding BBMS responsible.