WXXI & The Little Theater Merger

[The Voice of Reason]

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111219/NEWS01/111219008/WXXI-Little-Theatre-merger

If one reads WXXI's website, it does not really provide in-depth details as to how this arraignment is going to work.

Personally I've never heard of a media organization teaming up with a small independent theater in the guise of promoting "culture" in a community. This idea may or may not work.

My opinion is that WXXI will now be able to get its hands on a list of Little Theater donors and use that list to solicit money from those people. Plus it appears that Silverstein is expanding his little empire even further.

Hopefully this merger will help the Little Theater which has, as I understand, gone through some tough times in recent years.

 

[Savage]

It's fine to have a movie theater which features art, foreign and alt-culture films, but it's difficult in a city of Rochester's size to make a living at it. The Little should become primarily what's called a "revival house" and feature old HIT movies as typical fare, and intersperse with occasional alternative art features (as above.) At a leading station where I once worked in a market even smaller than Rochester, this recipe worked really well. The station owned and operated an old 1920's movie palace and played marquee favorites from Bogey, Cagney, the Marx Brothers, Hitchcock and would add in art stuff. Instead of popcorn the refreshment stand had wine and brie and canapes served by uniformed attendants. The radio-film combo was a lot of fun. You've gotta be a "showman," and make going-to-the-movies a fun event primarily for mass audiences unless you're resigned to losing money perpetually.

Right now The Little is like a station which plays only B-sides. Not enough people are interested.

 

[Bob1370]

Actually if you want to liken the Little to a radio station, the best way to think of it is like a new-rock station, or maybe a AAA with emphasis on new artists and new music. Rochester's big enough, educated enough and upscale enough to carry it off, has been for years. It;s just a matter of who has the reach, and the breadth of clientele, to make the most of it. Personally I can see a lot of ways in which a theater programming new and experimental film, and a broadcast outlet that does the same for both fiction and nonfiction programming, can work together.

 

[aaronread]

While it's effectively operated by Hobart & William Smith College, legally The Smith Opera House (d/b/a Smith Center for the Arts) owns WHWS-LP down in Geneva. However, while I know very little of the Little, and not a whole lot more about WXXI, I would expect the differences between Rochester and Geneva to be substantial enough that trying to compare the two situations is not gonna work.

 

[Lee Rust]

Audience-wise, this seems like a good match. It gives WXXI a nice venue with a marquee in the 'cultural district' in which to stage film, video or live performance events that need a real auditorium setting. For the Little, it's a great promotional vehicle. Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

From the economic perspective of hard-pressed non-profit media, it could be perceived as a strategic circling of the wagons.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I heard from an unnamed Voice that it's part of a conspiracy for Norm Silverstein to take control of all not-for-profits in Greater Rochester. This merger means that he can add spinner wheels to his SUV.

 

[TheBigA]

My opinion is that WXXI will now be able to get its hands on a list of Little Theater donors and use that list to solicit money from those people.

I'd suggest WXXI's list is far greater than the theater. I'd say the theater will gain access to fundraising announcements on the WXXI stations, which, based on what I've seen elsewhere, will be huge for them.

It's not unusual for a public radio/TV station to be combined with a theater. WGUC Cincinnati is one that comes to mind. Same with Minnesota Public Broadcasting. This gives the station a potential site to originate local and national programming. Not knowing the condition of the theater, the facilities might need to be upgraded for this to work as a broadcast facility. The theater can also be used as a site for membership parties and special events, a way to involve and meet with the community at a site outside the actual station.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

My opinion is that WXXI will now be able to get its hands on a list of Little Theater donors and use that list to solicit money from those people.

I'd suggest WXXI's list is far greater than the theater. I'd say the theater will gain access to fundraising announcements on the WXXI stations, which, based on what I've seen elsewhere, will be huge for them.

It's not unusual for a public radio/TV station to be combined with a theater. WGUC Cincinnati is one that comes to mind. Same with Minnesota Public Broadcasting. This gives the station a potential site to originate local and national programming. Not knowing the condition of the theater, the facilities might need to be upgraded for this to work as a broadcast facility. The theater can also be used as a site for membership parties and special events, a way to involve and meet with the community at a site outside the actual station.

And that's one of the sad aspects of the merger of WBFO and WNED. WBFO has long had a 130-seat auditorium on the first floor of UB's Allen Hall. We've used it for jazz concerts, classical music and, most recently, the "On the Border" concerts. Plus, we held community forums there, as well as membership parties. The presence of such a hall in our building made WBFO truly unique among all radio stations in Buffalo. Gee, I'll have to ask. Does WNED get the mini grand piano?

 

[SirRoxalot]

WNED does have the biggest studio space in town. It dwarfs what any of the other TV stations has. If they can present Mark Russell (how long's it been since THAT happened), they can do "On the Border" or something similar if they choose to. Heck, they could even webcast the video along with the stereo presentation OTA so you could get decent sound quality to go with the video without killing the bandwidth.

 

[uncamark]

WNED does have the biggest studio space in town. It dwarfs what any of the other TV stations has. If they can present Mark Russell (how long's it been since THAT happened), they can do "On the Border" or something similar if they choose to. Heck, they could even webcast the video along with the stereo presentation OTA so you could get decent sound quality to go with the video without killing the bandwidth.

Didn't the Mark Russell specials originate from a college theater in Buffalo and not from WNED's studios? Could it have been on the UB campus?

 

[therealjm12]

I really appreciate the Little Theatre and go there often. I really don't see what advantages it gives WXXI facility wise. For those out of towners: The original building is a small theatre (maybe 200 seats) built in the late 1920's. It's located on East Ave., a main drag, just out of what's left of downtown Rochester. From what I know, the original concept was to be anti-grand theatres that were being built in the day. About 20 years ago they bought the building next door, which I believe was a warehouse and built four additional small auditoriums for a total of five screens.
They have added a small restaurant which sells trendy sandwiches, coffees, & soft drinks at pretty hefty prices and sometimes has live jazz type entertainment. The surroundings are not high scale by any means. None of the theatres have stadium seating, and the seats are not high backed or very comfortable. The screens are well maintained and the sound systems are at least adequate. I don't see any real space in any of the theatres for much activity other than the showing of movies. No stages or spaces behind the screens.
Again, I think the Little is a GREAT asset to the Rochester community, but certainly could use an influx of capital to improve the facility. At this point, I don't see what is in it for WXXI, but I do hope it all works for both concerns.

 

[Lee Rust]

The Little Theater was one of the original performance venues for the Jazz Festival. It has a small stage and plenty of floor space in front of the seats. Scheduling around the film showings is a problem, but it's been done before.

 

[Element9]

One wonders if, under WXXI's administration, entertainers and promoters access to The Little Theater will be "inclusive," or as Clear Channel Entertainment attempted years ago with its venues, "exclusive."

 

[aaronread]

It's not unusual for a public radio/TV station to be combined with a theater. WGUC Cincinnati is one that comes to mind. Same with Minnesota Public Broadcasting. This gives the station a potential site to originate local and national programming. Not knowing the condition of the theater, the facilities might need to be upgraded for this to work as a broadcast facility.

While I don't want to add to Bob Smith's workload, I have argued for years that public radio call-in talkshows can...and should...work as-well-or-better as shows done in front of a live audience, with questions from the audience as well. Certainly Talk of the Nation did well during it's run of "Wednesdays at the Newseum", and both On Point and Science Friday draw big crowds whenever they do it live with an audience. (although those both tend to be one-off events; doing a show every day with an audience might be tough.)

Added benefit - you can charge five bucks per ticket (or $20 if the guest is a big name) and earn a little profit off having that audience, too.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

It's not unusual for a public radio/TV station to be combined with a theater. WGUC Cincinnati is one that comes to mind. Same with Minnesota Public Broadcasting. This gives the station a potential site to originate local and national programming. Not knowing the condition of the theater, the facilities might need to be upgraded for this to work as a broadcast facility.

While I don't want to add to Bob Smith's workload, I have argued for years that public radio call-in talkshows can...and should...work as-well-or-better as shows done in front of a live audience, with questions from the audience as well. Certainly Talk of the Nation did well during it's run of "Wednesdays at the Newseum", and both On Point and Science Friday draw big crowds whenever they do it live with an audience. (although those both tend to be one-off events; doing a show every day with an audience might be tough.)

I have a great story to tell about an on-air forum before a live audience that we once held on WBFO's Allen Hall stage. We had invited Ray Suarez, then host of NPR's Talk of the Nation, to Buffalo for an appearance. We asked him to moderate a discussion on Buffalo's economic struggles. I had sent him some background material. Now, it was my job to shadow him that day, making sure he got to where he needed to be. I kept asking if he had any questions or needed more information. He said he was okay. Still, I was getting a bit nervous. We're now an hour before airtime. And I had no idea how prepared he was. About 20 minutes before the show, he asked for a typewriter. Ray then walks into the hall a couple of minutes before showtime, introduces himself to the panel members and then proceeds to deliver an opening essay with such detail that one would thought he had lived here and had been covering the Buffalo economy his entire career. He nailed it. What a professional! Later that night, we took him back to his hotel room at the Marriott and stopped for a drink in the hotel lounge. He couldn't get over the fact that "townies" patronized a hotel nightclub on a Friday night. He just kept laughing about that. I guess that doesn't happen in Washington. In any event, I've always enjoyed moderating live on-air forums from our auditorium. So, you're right Aaron. This acquisition of the theater by WXXI opens the door for such programming.

Added benefit - you can charge five bucks per ticket (or $20 if the guest is a big name) and earn a little profit off having that audience, too.

 

[Element9]

Christmas shopping at the RF Dollar Store:

Rochester, New York’s WXXI expands further into the Finger Lakes, with the $1 purchase of a construction permit for a new Class A at 90.3 licensed to Auburn, at the top of Owasco Lake. (That's right - the price is $1.) The signal should reach the western part of the Syracuse metro and many miles of the New York State Thruway back toward Rochester. The WXXI Public Broadcasting Council tells the FCC it intends to use WVWA, Auburn as a satellite for its classical WXXI-FM, Rochester (91.5). It’s asking for (and will get) a waiver of the main studio rule, so it can keep the costs down. Seller of the construction permit is The Colleges of the Seneca, based in Geneva.

 

[Lee Rust]

Soon it will take a full minute to recite all the station IDs, just like North Country Public Radio. Regional networking seems to be the trend in public broadcasting. I'm not sure of the rules, but is there a practical limit to this kind of consolidation?

 

[TheBigA]

Soon it will take a full minute to recite all the station IDs, just like North Country Public Radio. Regional networking seems to be the trend in public broadcasting. I'm not sure of the rules, but is there a practical limit to this kind of consolidation?

Why would there be? KUSC LA expanded its Classical Radio Network to San Francisco this year with the purchase of KUSF.

 

[TheBigA]

He couldn't get over the fact that "townies" patronized a hotel nightclub on a Friday night. He just kept laughing about that. I guess that doesn't happen in Washington.

Depends on the part of Washington. The downtown hotels are mainly patronized by tourists and transients. Although White House staffers tend to drop by the Willard a lot. However, if you go out to the suburbs around Dulles, the only clean bars are the ones in hotels.

Nice story about Suarez. I never worked with him. My time at the network was spent with people like Noah Adams and Alex Chadwick, who had a similar ability to do their homework quickly, and win over local audiences. Absolute total professionals.

 

[umtrr-author]

Soon it will take a full minute to recite all the station IDs...

No, in the case of WVWA, they can just add...NINE!!!
;D

(For those who haven't seen/heard the reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsHYp4k7fFw )

But seriously, folks... I will be watching, cautiously optimistic that the "merger in all things but name" (from the City Newspaper article this week) doesn't change things except for the better than the Little, which clearly is not the "surviving company" here.

I also wouldn't be surprised if WXXI changes the call letters of WVWA, as it did with the Houghton station to WXXY.