Director of operations and stations manager Debra Fraser out at KUHF

[ChuckTiller]

Director of operations and stations manager Debra Fraser, who joined KUHF in 1988, given notice after 25 years of service. Her position, along with director of communication Emily Binetti's, was eliminated at the suggestion of a consultant!

Details:
http://houston.culturemap.com/news/...ity-given-notice-after-25-years-of-service-1/

 

[FilioScotia]

Thanks for posting this Chuck. I retired from KUHF three years ago after 17 of the greatest years of my life. Debra Fraser hired me in 1993 as a news anchor and reporter, and it soon became clear to me that I was working for a lady with more ability in her little finger than anyone in Houston Public Media, especially the person now sitting in the Executive office. Of course that person was just following the advice from the idiot consultant who recommended cutting Debra's job. "Idiot" is the nicest word I could think of.

Debra built the finest news department in Houston and one of the finest and most respected in the NPR universe, and she did it with a "soft glove" management style that inspired the undying love and respect of her employees. The entire broadcasting industry would do well to emulate that style.

Think about it. It makes zero sense for a great and highly respected organization to fire the very person who made it great and highly respected. Is this the kind of thinking we can expect from the powers-that-be at Houston Public Media? If it is, I have serious fears for KUHF's future. It does not bode well.

I don't know how the most recent on-air campaign turned out, but I'm guessing that they didn't make their goal of a million dollars. After all, the campaigns now have to support three operations -- 2 radio stations and 1 TV station.

I don't think future campaigns will meet goals either, so I fear that Debra and Emily won't be the last to be shown the door. KUHF's best days are in the past, and that's a shame. A real shame.

 

[AndyWaldrop]

I don't know how the most recent on-air campaign turned out, but I'm guessing that they didn't make their goal of a million dollars.

KUHF exceeded their million dollar goal.

 

[FilioScotia]

Really? Color me embarrassed for not keeping up from my safe distance of 130 miles.

It appears that with three stations now dividing up the campaign income KUHF's share doesn't pay all the bills, so the consultant tells them to fire a couple of people.

Don't you just love consultants?

 

[AndyWaldrop]

It appears that with three stations now dividing up the campaign income KUHF's share doesn't pay all the bills, so the consultant tells them to fire a couple of people.

I believe that KUHA did well with their own fund drive and I believe KUHT did well, as usual, with theirs. I'm not sure of this, but I don't believe KUHA (or KUHT) rely on any of the funding that KUHF receives via their on-air fund drives. I believe KUHA's "take" this time around was over $250,000.

 

[FilioScotia]

Thanks for setting me straight Andy.

But my understanding is that one of the major reasons for merging the three stations and their management into Houston Public Media was to also merge their separate fund-raising.

KUHT had been trying for years to get into KUHF's money because KUHT's fund-raising almost never made goals. That's why TV had to lay off so many people. With KUHA now in the mix, it doesn't make sense for it to have a separate fund-raising program.

Irrespective of all that, to reiterate my original point, firing one of the best public radio managers in the country to save money makes no sense. It makes me wonder if there is more to this than we've been told.

Debra has more radio experience and managerial expertise in her little finger than Lisa Shumate will ever have. Her success as a manager and KUHF's successes made her very popular and highly respected in the UH hierarchy. Let's just say I'm suspicious.

 

[Jay Walker]

Don't you just love consultants?

The old saying I was always fond of is:
"Hire a consultant and go wrong with confidence"

 

[FilioScotia]

To paraphrase an old saying we all know: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, consult."

I have always believed that hiring a consultant to tell you how to run your station is a clear admission that you don't know how to do your job.

 

[Jay Walker]

To paraphrase an old saying we all know: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, consult."

I have always believed that hiring a consultant to tell you how to run your station is a clear admission that you don't know how to do your job.

Like when (mis)management hires a program consultant, that just screams confidence in your PD...not

I'd be willing to bet, the board wanted to get rid of some tenured (higher paid) employees, and to deflect public heat hired a "bad old consultant" to come in and "swing the bloody axe". It's a typical way gutless management types farm out the "dirty work"... This may or may not be the case with this situation, but I've seen this happen many times during my 40+ years in the swinging, whirling, twirling world of broadcasting.

 

[FilioScotia]

My theory is that the consultant recommended trimming the payroll, but left it to Lisa Shumate to decide who would be trimmed. So she fired the person at the top of the payroll and someone else close to the top.

Why would she fire the station manager who made KUHF one of the most successful public radio stations in the country? Could it be that she was eliminating a possible contender for HER job? Shumate knows that if Houston Public Media, which she was hired to manage, does not succeed, Debra Fraser would be a natural and logical choice to succeed her.

Hmmm.

 

[Jay Walker]

My theory is that the consultant recommended trimming the payroll, but left it to Lisa Shumate to decide who would be trimmed. So she fired the person at the top of the payroll and someone else close to the top.

Why would she fire the station manager who made KUHF one of the most successful public radio stations in the country? Could it be that she was eliminating a possible contender for HER job? Shumate knows that if Houston Public Media, which she was hired to manage, does not succeed, Debra Fraser would be a natural and logical choice to succeed her.

Hmmm.

While I don't know any details from the "inside" I'm willing to bet the motivation was money and as you mentioned, the elimination of a qualified person who was a perceived threat to the new GM's employment.

In this business of egos, many qualified people are given the old rubber key because management on the next upper rungs of the ladder have a lack of self confidence and are afraid of those with similar qualifications and talent...

Then of course there's the "Peter Principle" where "Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence."

 

[FilioScotia]

New top level executives frequently fire or transfer those just below them who are perceived as "threats" to their exalted position. It happens in corporate America all the time, and it's an ancient tradition.

In the days of absolute kings and queens, the first thing new monarchs did was order the killing of the previous monarch's entire family to eliminate potential pretenders and challengers. This mindset survives today in all levels of commerce and politics, and I would not be surprised to learn that this explains what's happening at Houston Public Media.