Treat WXXI fairly in state budget

[aaronread]

NPR affiliates have held their own thus far, but it's likely they will face serious declines in listener-membership drives this year. We can only hope not. Given the choice of being insulted by commercial talk radio stations or informed by NPR affililiates, I'd choose the latter.

So far many pubradio outlets...not all, but many...are reporting an increase in both the average amount a donor gives, AND the total number of donors (i.e. more new donors) in their fundraisers. I agree that come the spring fundraiser, and especially the fall fundraiser in a few months, we'll see if the rubber really hits the road with this recession. But I'm actually somewhat optimistic...pubradio largely draws an audience from a demo that can almost always afford to give a few bucks, even if it's just $25 or $50. And that same audience is likely to consider pubradio a priority in their lives.

The bigger concern is, and has been, the corporate underwriting. A lot of stations are seeing their underwriting take drop by 50, 60 even 80% (ouch!). And a lot of stations have their underwriting make up 40, 50, even 60 or 70% of their total budget (ouch! ouch!).

 

[cee]

What I also find interesting is the tactic WXXI is using, similar to school districts when its time to pass bloated budgets. "Its for the kids"; in this case referring to educational programming like Homework Hotline. As I understand Homework Hotline is funded in part by donations from the teacher's union.

So cancel Homework Hotline on TV. They have some interactive website....just send the kids there for help. That seems much better than a tv version. Have some teachers group run it and WXXI isn't involved anymore. I'm just sayin'

Taking in inflation, how much did it cost WNED to run it's operations from The Hotel Lafayette(is that the correct hotel?) back in the early days vs. their little palace nowadays. My mother took me their once for an open house tour - it seemed ok to me - so maybe it was a little cramped - bit deal. I worked in lots of small places - I lived to tell about it. The North Street studios of WEBR/WNED apparently needed remodeling - so remodel and you've got a great older home in a great older part of the city to operate out of. I'll take that over some modern McBuilding any day of the week.

Smaller staffs, smaller facilities. All this about a big underwriting department and big management group being necessary just to keep the transmitter going. Don't believe it for a minute. Just another case in this world of a small group of people having access to a money making racket and exploiting it for all it's worth. Public broadcasting was cool at one time.

 

[TheBigA]

Just another case in this world of a small group of people having access to a money making racket and exploiting it for all it's worth. Public broadcasting was cool at one time.

I hear what you're saying, but it's hard to get a rich person to donate money to a station operating out of a double-wide trailer. I speak from experience. I've worked at both types of public stations, and the checkbooks come out easier at the nicer facility. That also works for attracting better guests, and quality employees. I worked at one public station where the boiler died on the coldest day of the year, and we simply didn't have enough money to repair it. So we froze in our coats for a week until we raised enough money to fix it. I will tell you the staff was pretty demoralized after a couple of days of freezing. And several refused to come to work. The quality of the workplace can do a lot for employee morale and self-image.

My view is that public broadcasters need to consider a lot of the same NTR that commercial stations are looking at. The FCC says public stations can't advertise on their frequency. But they don't say anything about advertising on web sites or other non-broadcast outlets. Just as long as you don't make a profit.

 

[Mark Giardina]

No amount of advertising in another medium is going to make up for the loss of national and local underwriting for public radio stations.

People are just not spending money, mostly out of fear of losing their jobs, and because of the loss of their 401k's in the stock market. Because of that fear companies have cut back on their advertising budgets.

Let's put the cards on the table here shall we? Despite what many of us think of the so-called rating system, advertisers will most likely spend money on a station that can prove it has listeners.....and plenty of them.

While public radio has a loyal audience, ratings, at least in Buffalo and Rochester, have shown that these stations average around 2 to 3 share of the listening audience while some of their commercial counterparts have between 9 or even 10 share.

Also remember that Madison Avenue is going after a certain age group. While it would make sense to go after people who can actually afford to purchase items, the mindset is to go after younger people who either depend on their parents for money, or are paying off college loans and mortgages.

Until we manage to get out of this recession, the key to survival is curbing spending, no raises, and even pay cuts across the board. It's great to write about more listeners pitching in $25 or $50 dollars, but that isn't going to make a dent in the loss of state aid.

The plain and simple fact is that some people are going to lose their jobs. But anyone who chose broadcasting as a career should be familiar with that scenario by now. In the over 30 years I was in the business I lost my job three times; two of them because the position I held was eliminated, which is one reason I chose to change careers.

People can write about "palaces" and large paychecks for top management but it's the regular everyday workers that are going to be hurt by events they have no control over.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

From the March 12, 2009 Democrat & Chronicle Newspaper:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090312/NEWS01/903120357&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

During an Editorial Board meeting at the Democrat and Chronicle, Governor Paterson called the behavior of special interests vying for favor in the budget process "an orgy of self-centered conduct that shows no appreciation for a budget deficit."

That should give Mr. Silverstein the answer to his recent editorial.....IF the governor follows through with his statement.


[EDIT-Link added by Radio-Info as a courtesy]

 

[aaronread]

The Daily Show lampooned Lindsay Graham on how he's totally against earmarks, except for the ones in his district, by playing a clip of the late great George Carlin's famous line: "You ever notice that their stuff is sh*t and your sh*t is stuff?!?" It's very true, when it's for yourself, it's not pork or earmarks, it's a valuable contribution to the community.

And that's really the shame here; it's easy to heap scorn on a lot of "pet projects" by legislators but many of them provide real value, real jobs and would have a real impact if they went away. It's kinda like the auto industry...if ever there was an industry that has completely screwed itself over multiple decades, it's automakers. Yet if you want the easiest, fastest, most cost-efficient stimulus package that will preserve good-paying jobs? You guessed it - just keep bailing out the automakers. The "trickle down" effect is quite noticeable with all the parts suppliers, dealerships, etc. Not unlike hacking off a limb to prevent gangrene from spreading...it's gonna suck to lose that limb, but it beats dying outright.

Granted, even my "sunny outlook" here has to die a withering death of shame when looking at the pig trough that is more commonly referred to as "Albany". There does indeed need to be a lot of pain, and it will be a vicious bloody process to fight over the remaining scraps. I don't blame Mr. Silverstein for using every weapon as his disposal...he's probably gonna need it to keep the lights on at WXXI, much less avoid a cut to his salary.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I don't blame Mr. Silverstein for using every weapon as his disposal...he's probably gonna need it to keep the lights on at WXXI, much less avoid a cut to his salary.

First of all I doubt Norm Silverstein even wrote the newspaper article lamenting about the loss of state aid to WXXI. Secondly, when employees everywhere are being asked to take pay cuts and no raises are being handed out, I have little sympathy for six top executives at WXXI making close to one million dollars a year.
The lights could very easily stay on at WXXI if some of the "perks" were cut in the budget instead of resorting to threats of eliminating programs and jobs.
I'm sure Mr. Silverstein can get along just fine for another year of two with his 2008 SUV. As for shuttling potential donors around in his personal vehicle, the station has a fleet of minivans he could use that has plenty of room to seat seven people.
What would be a travesty is if federal stimulus money that is earmarked for education somehow finds its way to WXXI. I'm certain that is an angle the management at the station is trying to use with local state lawmakers. We need to keep qualified teachers in our schools versus having a few overpaid public broadcasting executives getting more money and bonuses.

 

[Element9]

The thinking is "no CEO, especially one considering writing a big check, wants to be shuttled around in a mini-van." If PubRadio demonstrated a new age-old school image of practicality, the underwriting might increase. Warren Buffet, depending on the source you're willing to accept, reportedly drives a 2001 Lincoln Town Car(which he's auctioning) or an Oldsmobile. Point is, he's one of the wealthiest guys in America and unlike CEOs in public and commercial radio, who look like pikers by comparision, Buffet isn't the least bit ostentatious. It's not the car, clothes or McMansion that make the make or woman. Buffet has said it's better to shine your shoes, wear a freshly pressed shirt, decent tie and modest suit and present a professional image.

 

[aaronread]

The lights could very easily stay on at WXXI if some of the "perks" were cut in the budget instead of resorting to threats of eliminating programs and jobs.

We discussed this earlier in the thread: even if you slashed all of the top wage-earners' salaries by 50%, WXXI would still have a six-figure shortfall in its budget from the proposed cuts in state aid. It's a nice populist dream to argue that Norm & company make "too much money" and that's the sole source of all of WXXI's budget woes. And granted, it may well come to the point where management at WXXI does have to take steep pay cuts...and layoffs...but that alone would not solve WXXI's problems.

The thinking is "no CEO, especially one considering writing a big check, wants to be shuttled around in a mini-van." If PubRadio demonstrated a new age-old school image of practicality, the underwriting might increase.

The research demonstrates otherwise. The image of success breeds actual success.

Granted, in today's economy right now, a temporary (six- to 12-months) shift to "practicality" might win over some underwriters, but I doubt it. I'm giving armchair psychology here, but those underwriters who would be impressed by such things probably don't buy in to the "intangible" nature of pubradio advertising; they're going to put more weight on "practical" things like "hard" ratings on commercial stations (I snorted laughing a lot as I wrote that) and the fact that on commercial radio you can say anything you want, whereas on pubradio there are content restrictions.

 

[dampier]

I don't blame Mr. Silverstein for using every weapon as his disposal...he's probably gonna need it to keep the lights on at WXXI, much less avoid a cut to his salary.

What would be a travesty is if federal stimulus money that is earmarked for education somehow finds its way to WXXI. I'm certain that is an angle the management at the station is trying to use with local state lawmakers. We need to keep qualified teachers in our schools versus having a few overpaid public broadcasting executives getting more money and bonuses.

At the risk of driving this topic into a ditch, there are some very major problems in wasteful spending and bloat in the larger school districts in this state as well, particularly in the amount of resources sustaining administration and logistics vs. front line teachers.

I have been the president of a non-profit corporation in the recent past and have spent time with a lot of other local non-profits. There are some very good, hands-on organizations, often smaller and medium-sized who treat their limited resources with sober and careful attention. Then there are others that embark on programs based on available grants regardless of actual need, spend an enormous percentage of their resources on fundraising, are at war with other non-profits over turf and resources, and often devote a suspiciously large amount of their time trying to justify their continued staffing, salaries, and existence. What makes that particularly discouraging is that those larger bad actors often have the ability and connections to devour the dwindling amount of financial resources and attention for their own benefit while shutting out organizations that do far more with much less.

Non-profit or for-profit, no organization should ever be granted automatic sainthood status. Each should be measured by their priorities, successes, and failures.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

According to an article about non profits in the March 22nd edition of the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper, Norm Silverstein's salary is now $291,091. That's a increase of $13,491 dollars from the $277,600 he received in salary alone according to the federal tax forms filed with the federal government that
is on WXXI's website. This latest figure does not include other benefits and perks he receives which puts him way over making $300,000 a year.
If Silverstein received such a huge salary increase I'm sure the other top executives did so as well, which brings me back to my original question how much pledge dollars raised goes towards programming, or into the pockets of Silverstein and a small handful of executives at WXXI?
Sorry to disagree with the gentleman who runs the public radio station in Geneva but the salaries paid out to the executives at WXXI are excessively high, especially when these same people go on both radio and television warning their listeners and viewers that local programming maybe impacted unless more money is raised, plus saying that taking a pay cut wouldn't make a difference. Yes it would: It would show employees at everyone at the station is willing to make sacrifices.
Perhaps Silverstein and Company should take a lesson from the President of the University of Rochester who is not only getting a raise this year, but is giving back 10% of his salary to the college to help out during these tough financial times. Will it resolve the U of R's fiscal problems? No! But at least it's a sincere gesture. I don't read or hear where Silverstein and his top managers are willing to cut their salaries and refuse to take a bonus to help WXXI out of its fiscal dilemma, however by now I'm sure they've drawn up their "hit list" of employees that will be fired in order to balance the budget.
Anyone want to make a friendly bet that top executives and middle managers get to keep their jobs while those who actually do the hard work lose theirs?

 

[TheBigA]

According to an article about non profits in the March 22nd edition of the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper, Norm Silverstein's salary is now $291,091.

That's a 5% raise. Not out of line with normal state raises.

If you go back to page 1 of this thread, the state funding makes up a quarter of the station budget, and the governor is proposing a 50% cut. That comes to about $850,000. Salary cuts are not going to make up for that kind of shortfall. It is more likely that the shows that are dependent on the state funding will be hit. No reason for the membership money to replace funding for shows that they don't watch.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Instead of salary cuts why not have top paid executives work for just a dollar a year? In the case of WXXI not only would it make up for the loss in state aid, but the station would have $200,000 left over.
For years these people (Silverstein and top executives) have been getting more than the average salary increases on top of bonuses while their employees were lucky to get 2 or 3% raises. It's about time people at the top of the food chain started to share the pain a bit.
Also, as a taxpayer, I'm tired of having to foot the bill for executives making huge wages and bonuses while getting funding from both the state and federal governments.

 

[TheBigA]

Instead of salary cuts why not have top paid executives work for just a dollar a year?

That sounds like punishment for something. The executives didn't mishandle their station's funding. If they screwed up, I'd agree. But they would be asked to make up for the STATE'S mishandling of its finances, which isn't fair.

When I worked in public broadcasting, and the funding of a show was cut or lost, the show went away. That's the proper course of action here. What this guy is trying to do is prevent that from happening. His first step is to try and keep as much state funding as he can. His second step will be to seek replacement for the funding from other places. The federal government, PBS, CPB, other agencies or foundations, etc. The third step is to cut the budget at the affected shows. The fourth step is cancel the shows. They should not divert funding from their popular shows to these educational programs. Someone in this thread suggested to take the show off the air and simply run the web site. That's one approach.

WXXI is not a state-owned entity. It is owned by a community group. Salaries are determined by the Board of Trustees who oversee the station. I know his salary seems large to you, but it's not out of line with typical heads of public TV-radio operations around the country. The Board of Trustees knows that. And once again, the President didn't cause this shortfall. The state did. The President and the Board need to determine how important these shows are to the overall income of the stations. And it's possible that they may move to cancel the affected shows or slash the show budgets.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

WXXI is not a state-owned entity.

That's true WXXI is not a state-owned entity, but the station got over 1.7 million dollars from the state last year so it might as well be a state entity since this money comes from taxpayer dollars.

Salaries are determined by the Board of Trustees who oversee the station. I know his salary seems large to you, but it's not out of line with typical heads of public TV-radio operations around the country. The Board of Trustees knows that. And once again, the President didn't cause this shortfall. The state did. The President and the Board need to determine how important these shows are to the overall income of the stations. And it's possible that they may move to cancel the affected shows or slash the show budgets.

The Board of Directors are nothing but a group of people only interested in padding their resumes. This comes from a number of current and former employees of the station that I've talked too over the years. A budget is presented to them by the CEO and department heads. That's the board's only involvement in the budget process except rubber-stamping what the CEO suggests. You give the WXXI board more credit then they deserve.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Perhaps if local shows are cut, and there's a negative response from donors, the Board of Directors will sit up and take notice. Many BODs - both public and private - are rubber-stamps as long as things are going well. They can turn pretty quickly when a situation get ugly, and complaints start making them uncomfortable in public.

 

[aaronread]

Sorry to disagree with the gentleman who runs the public radio station in Geneva but the salaries paid out to the executives at WXXI are excessively high, especially when these same people go on both radio and television warning their listeners and viewers that local programming maybe impacted unless more money is raised, plus saying that taking a pay cut wouldn't make a difference. Yes it would: It would show employees at everyone at the station is willing to make sacrifices.

Voice, I know you seem to feel you need to put words in my mouth (since your foot prevents them from getting out of yours) but get your facts straight:

I've never said specifically that the salaries of WXXI management are too high or too low. I've always said that's a separate debate...and for the record, it's not one I'm not going to pontificate on. Instead, what I've said is that you could slash all those salaries and it wouldn't make much of a dent in the fiscal situation WXXI may (emphasis on "may") find itself in if the proposed cuts in state aid for public broadcasting become a reality. The numbers just don't add up.

Whether or not WXXI management takes a pay cut would have the effect you describe is debatable. Yeah, it might show that they're willing to make sacrifices. It might even boost morale amongst employees. But it also might show potential major donors that the station is so dangerously low on funds that it's not worth giving any more money to...at all. Perception of finances is a very dicey thing to manage.

That's true WXXI is not a state-owned entity, but the station got over 1.7 million dollars from the state last year so it might as well be a state entity since this money comes from taxpayer dollars.

Dude, what kind of logic is this? By that logic dozens of professional sports teams are "state-owned entities" since they often get millions in tax subsidies to build the stadium. Also virtually every farmer is a "state-owned entities". So are most research scientists and their parent institutions. Public/private partnerships exist in dozens of facets of everyday life, not just in broadcasting, yet you don't hear people whining about it they way they do about pubcasting. Christ, how many millions in tax breaks and dodges did companies like Clear Channel manage to wrangle over the years? I'll bet it's a lot more than what CPB distributes. Does that make them "state-owned entities"?

You mind grinding that ax somewhere else? Some of us are trying to enjoy a quiet, peaceful weekend after being robbed of an NCAA ice hockey championship by lousy officiating (trust me, Hobart scored two goals...the refs just decided not to see them).

 

[TheBigA]

The Board of Directors are nothing but a group of people only interested in padding their resumes.

Oh please. I did a web search on the members of WXXI's Board. These people are bank presidents, business owners, college presidents, and other community leaders. They don't need a non-paying position as a Trustee to pad out their resume. They are doing it as a community service. And each one of them is there because they provide access to either funding or services that support the station. The Board of Trustees I worked with were all selfless givers who manned the phones during pledge week, wrote checks from their own personal accounts, and also provided connections that were invaluable in running a radio station. You know not what you speak. The WXXI Board of Trustees is larger than what I've seen at most public stations. I bet that when the going gets tough, the Board itself will be able to deliver at least half of the money previously provided by the state.

The fact is this $1.7 mil is a drop in the bucket for New York State. The annual coffee budget at the Capital is more than that. Your personal share is less than a dollar. That doesn't give you a lot of equity in the place, from what I can see.

 

[alw]

I bet that when the going gets tough, the Board itself will be able to deliver at least half of the money previously provided by the state.

They may be able to.....my guess is........they won't.

In my area {bflo} members of the "board class" sit on numerous boards. At this point, each and every non-profit board is facing the same situation as all the others. The board may be able to help out in some ways. Directly bailing out the company isn't in the cards.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

You know not what you speak. The WXXI Board of Trustees is larger than what I've seen at most public stations. I bet that when the going gets tough, the Board itself will be able to deliver at least half of the money previously provided by the state.

Dear Sir or Madame:
Do you honestly think that the WXXI Board of Trustees are about to hand over $450,000? If so then it is you that does not know what you speak. Maybe WXXI would get more support from the community if a press release was issued stating that the top executives at the station were taking a 10% pay cut to help ease the financial burden the station faces.

To Aaronread:
According to you my foot is in my mouth: But I rather have that then high-paid non profit CEO's putting their hands in my wallet. And please do not insult me by using the standard line that government funding towards public broadcasting has declined over the years. If one station received over $1.7 million dollars last year, how much tax dollars were dished out to the other public stations in New York State - 10- 15- 20 million ?

Someone else mentioned that a 5% raise is normal. Really? Did you also factor in the bonuses on top of that 5% raise? And when is the last time this, or any other poster on here received a 5% raise? I can tell you that it's been decades since I even came close to that....and I make a pretty good salary.

I did take Mr. Silverstein's suggestion and wrote to my state representative about funding WXXI. My letter said the governor is right to cut funding since the state is facing a multi-billion dollar deficit and there needs to be an effort to curb spending.