The St. Louis Business Journal has a new article today about the KWMU crisis, with information about the ongoing capital campaign. The article confirms that the $12 million bid for a building is also part of the university's investigation.
For many people at KWMU, the capital campaign has never passed the smell test. The numbers just weren't adding up. They only seem to barely raise enough money each month to cover the consulting fees of Mr. Ostroff.
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7 comments:
Has anyone looked into the re-hiring of Robert Peterson, her former PD and enabler?
Suddenly, he's back on the payroll, in a position that didn't previously exist. Did this happen AFTER the post was made public and publicized with an eye toward minority recruitment as required by University, FCC, CPB and EEOC guidelines?
So many questions there.
The St. Louis Business Journal article that I just read (5/19/08) certainly has some teeth to it! I have been out of the country for the past month and I am not surprised at all by the claims made in the RFT as well. Absolutely I am appalled at the actions of the General Manager and it appears her time is running out.
In my 15-year career, I have been part of several lead investigations and would like to remind everyone that they need to remain focus on the #1 person under the microscope: Patty Wente. I have seen this all this way too often where other staff members get tossed into the fray and the investigation goes off-track and loses steam. So I would encourage those to stay focused on the main issue- the General Manager. I don't know this Peterson guy but be aware of tossing in other employees who are not part of the investigation. That is not fair to them and they are the ones who have to put up with the GM's nonsense. Trust me: you will lose focus on the main objective which is the $12M capital campaign, Ms. Wente and this consultant, according to the Business Journal.
P.S. I am reducing my donation to $50 a year from a much much higher amount. I refuse to punish those who work hard below this soon-to-be-ousted dictator.
Robert Peterson (Programming Director) was rehired from WUSF in Florida after no one else would apply for the job, draw whatever conclusions you like from that…
Mike Schrand, who formerly assisted with the production of live programming was made the PD but was not up to the task, hence Peterson's rehiring.
The problem is -if rumours are correct- that Schrand is still being paid $50,000 a year -more than most employees make at the station (he seems to have no real job other than voicing the occasional underwriting, helping with pledge drives and filling-in for program hosts) and Peterson is being paid $85,000 a year.
Wente also found a job at the university for Peterson's wife. According to some sources, station staff are unsure what it is that Peterson actually does at the station; apparently he cannot even send out an email to the staff without Wente’s approval.
I’m still trying to get my mind around the fact that the ‘consultant’ is being paid nearly $20,000 a month to raise capital for the new facility… with little in the way of results.
Has anyone else seen the DVD for the KWMU capital campaign? The station is deserving of annual support and does a great job of broadcasting its' signature "in-depth news and intelligent talk" brand. However, I wonder what local business, philanthropists and government leaders seen giving their endorsement to the capital campaign think today. I remember that video because I viewed it a few months ago and my guess it was produced around the Holiday season in 2007 because one or two of the gentlemen on the video are wearing holiday ties.
Let's see:
$7.7 million in pledges
$2 million on hand
-$800,000 in capital campaign expenses
You can be smarter than a 5th grader because that equals $1.2 million. Also, forget the pledge number: how does KWMU/UMSL figure on collecting the other $5M pledged after this nonsense.
I recommend reading the following article re: the abuses that took place at The United Way and subsequent failures of it's board of directors to take any action:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/
mi_m1316/is_n5_v24/ai_12247613
I have been finally forced to cancel my financial support to the station -after over thirteen years as a member. I simply realized that the values espoused to me through National Public Radio bare no resemblance to what is reflected by KWMU.
I have identified a problem in public radio stations that could loosely be termed 'not-for-profit' syndrome whereby the normal accountability that would be in place at a proper (i.e.; corporate) organization is almost non-existent.
The most recent example of this is The United Way with its abuses of donations under the direction of William Aramony.
In public radio affiliate stations, like at KWMU and I suspect in other smaller not-for-profits there is a danger that limited oversight leads to complacency as to the quality of management. A relative that works in corporate America at the executive level has mentioned the frequency with which she must undergo management-training classes. Perhaps university-run NPR affiliates should mandate a similar policy rather than the apparent policy of benign indifference practiced by those in positions of oversight at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
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