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Cold Wind for Maine Pubcasters

S

SirRoxalot

Tom Taylor reports:

Mark Vogelzang helped engineer the recent merger of public broadcasters in the Buffalo area, and now he’s found his next job, again in the Northeast. He’ll succeed the retiring Jim Dowe as President/CEO of Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

Don't be charmed by his smooth talk. This man is the ax man. Check out his past performance, and start getting your retirement accounts in order. Good luck.
 
Indeed he did. (I'm not unbiased on this count: I served as a consultant to VPR, helping to assemble the portfolio of stations that became VPR Classical, the second network there.)

I think Rox, whom I respect from his contributions to the Buffalo/Rochester board, is trying to read too much into the last two years of Mark's career, wherein he was hired by the University of Buffalo to do a specific job - keep WBFO operating while university officials proceeded with a plan to sell the station. I can't imagine it was much fun, but it was what he was brought on board to do.

In my experience working with Mark at VPR, "ax man" is about as far from an accurate description as I can imagine. Everything he did at VPR, at least while I was involved, was aimed at growing the service, not cutting it back. I expect his goal will be the same at MPBN.
 
Considering MPBN just shuffled the news department staffing around to add two new positions, I don't think the board of directors is hoping to scale back radio operations. If I was on the TV side, I might be a little worried - but the radio side has stellar ratings and strong support in both conservative and liberal demos. If I were to be a reporter in Maine - I'd want to be at MPBN.
 
Having worked at MPBN and still in contact with those still standing. Mark Vogelzang is a light years ahead of Jim Dowe who was given the CEO/President job after he was shown the door by Bangor Savings Bank. During his time at MPBN morale is at an all time low. Great employees were pushed out by Dowe and replaced by the FOJ's (Friend of Jim) all who had no broadcast experience.

Ask any remaining staff member about Dowe and friends and you will get a negative response. All are hoping that Vogelzang will clean house of the unqualified senior management team. Only two people have experience, one is good the other is Charles Beck and the staff want him gone also.

Mark, you have a big job ahead of you. Just don't let the board (who slept while Rome burned) get in your way.
 
I'm curious - MPBN is hiring a new Marketing Director. Did Lou Morin jump back to corporate relations? Is this the first post-Dow, Vogelzang staff shake-up?

Also: I enjoyed Vogelzang's recent state-of-the-station call-in show, except for the callers. They either need a better call-screener or a better timeslot. I can't imagine a more stereotypical stable of public radio listeners. Yikes!
 
I'm wondering if the problem facing many Public Radio networks will be addressed... Classical Music vs. News and Talk. MPB still is trying to serve both audiences, with Classical segments in late mornings and nights.

Meanwhile the fate of the commercial Classical network, W-Bach, is up in the air, as owner Nassau Broadcasting goes through bankruptcy proceedings. Will the three W-Bach stations in Maine (Kennebunk-Portland, Camden and Thomaston-Bar Harbor) as well as the two in NH (Merideth and Henniker) get sold and switched to another format? It seems the Maine and New Hampshire public broadcasting operations should do what's been done in New York, Boston and other places about to lose their commercial Classical stations and buy the W-Bach Network for operation as non-commercial listener-supported Classical outlets.

As mentioned above, Vermont recently set up a second network of Classical stations. Iowa Public Broadcasting did the same. It would be sad if Maine and New Hampshire lost its five commercial Classical outlets with no public stations to replace them on the dial.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
@ Gregg:
Maine and New Hampshire deserve Classical music. Why does everything have to be rock, country, oldies, talk and sports?
It's sad indeed. You want to know where things are heading? I was with some friends and their kids and the 12 year old girl said that she was taking violin in school.
This is her third year. I asked her what she thought of the Classical composers, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms etc. and she said she hated them.
So I asked her what they are teaching her to play in school and she said "Lady Gaga." They are dumbing down the music in school.
 
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