Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Interim GM speaks with audience on KWMU

Interim GM Mike Dunn did something today on the air of KWMU that we're not sure Patty ever did: he had a conversation (instead of a guilt-ridden, horn-honking rant during a pledge drive) and lived up to the station's promise of 'intelligent talk.'

Mr. Dunn did very well to keep the healing going Wednesday with his cool, calm demeanor on KWMU's "St. Louis on the Air." Many callers voiced their hesitancy to pledge during Patty's reign, if for no other reason than her condescending aura when she spoke on air during the pledge drives.

You can listen to Mr. Dunn on the show here.

Also:
* - The public radio newspaper Current came out with a follow-up article, where Patty again defends herself -- read that article here.
* - If you haven't yet read Mr. Dunn's letter to the community on the KWMU website, you can do so here.
* - Chad Garrison, the RFT writer who broke the Wente story, blogged about the recent discussion of KWMU on Donnybrook - read that blog post here. (Go Chad!)
* - The RFT printed some of its letters to the editor in response to Patty's firing.
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Monday, June 9, 2008

UM President supports Wente firing


University of Missouri President Gary Foresee (left) stands by UMSL's decision to fire Patty, as noted towards the end of this Post-Dispatch article.

Also, the old-timers at Donnybrook discussed the firing on their June 5th show, starting at about the 13th minute.
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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Delusions of innocence

After her firing this week, Patty made an extremely predictable move: Try to appear as the victim. New articles appear today in the Post-Dispatch and Business-Journal.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, we hear the new interim GM is already making rational and necessary decisions and changes that should have been made years ago.
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Statement from UMSL

UNIVERSITY REPLACES GENERAL MANAGER

University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George today terminated the employment of longtime KWMU (90.7 FM) general manager Patricia Wente. The action followed a review of financial and management issues raised by current and past employees and outside auditors.

“KWMU is a St. Louis treasure,” George said. “This action is being taken to protect that treasure for the university and the community.”

KWMU is a National Public Radio affiliate with a 100,000-watt signal. The station is housed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and licensed to The Curators of the University of Missouri.

George said that he has asked that KBIA (91.3 FM) General Manager Mike Dunn serve as interim general manager. Dunn has been the general manager of the public radio station on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus for 22 years.

“It is not unique that one UM campus loan expertise during times of transition and I’m thankful to MU for their cooperation,” George said. “I know that our award-winning radio staff here will work well with Mike as he oversees daily operations, as well as continues to review the station’s financial and management policies. We want to ensure that the proper checks and balances are in place to maintain our fiscal integrity and highest standards of professional behavior.”