Terry Green Blogs About KUSP

A while back I lauded the insight of Rob Paterson, an organizational consultant who hails from Prince Edward Island and has rendered conspicuous service to NPR and all of public radio over the past couple of years by helping us think more constructively about our future.

In his blog today he interviews Michael Skoler of American Public Media Group (whose arms include Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio) about “Public Insight Journalism” – a concept that has a lot of resonance for us at KUSP, though as an organization we are a lot smaller than any of the stations and groups that have picked up on the idea.

As we work on KUSP’s future plans, I wonder what you think about the relevance of this idea to us. Go see Rob’s interview, follow some of the links therein, and share your thoughts here, if you would…

Today’s Monterey Herald reports that KAZU General Manager Duncan Lively will leave the station in May to manage KVCR-FM, the NPR station in the Riverside-San Bernardino radio market.

KVCR is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District, and they operate both a public radio and a public television station. The stations are growing swiftly, as is the population of the Inland Empire that they serve. Larry Ciecalone, who is the General Manager of their whole public broadcasting organization, has done a remarkable job of positioning the stations for this growth, and they’ll be moving into new studios soon… so overall, Duncan’s stepping into a great opportunity, and I’m certainly happy for him on that score.

I’m also sorry to see him leave our area. We collaborated very closely while developing the proposal to bring KAZU and KUSP together last year, an experience which only deepened my appreciation for his understanding of all aspects of public radio and his commitment to public service through public media. The fact that the plan we worked on did not move ahead doesn’t diminish my regard for Duncan one whit.

Duncan’s level of commitment to KAZU has been exceptional, even among public radio managers – who are, by and large, an incredibly dedicated lot. KAZU’s staff is very small given the complexity of its operation, and Duncan played many roles above and beyond that of chief executive. Few people in my experience have his combination of ability and versatility, something that has been crucial for KAZU these past few years.

The Monterey Bay area’s loss will be the Inland Empire’s gain. Congratulations to Larry and the KVCR team, and good luck in the new gig, Duncan…

A couple of additional notes in connection with next week’s special This American Life live event:

∙ Tickets are still available by following this link!
∙ Ira Glass is scheduled to be on “The Late Show” with David Letterman this Friday, April 25.
∙ The second season of “This American Life (the TV show)” debuts Sunday, May 4, on Showtime.

Hope to see you at the Century Cinemas in Monterey at our live event next Thursday, May 1…

On Tuesday 4/22 KUSP will pre-empt our regular 6:00 PM broadcast of Fresh Air to carry NPR’s coverage of the Pennsylvania primary. The coverage will actually start as part of All Things Considered earlier in the evening, then continue into the Fresh Air time slot. NPR expects that things will be pretty much wrapped up by 7:00, when Musica della Sera is scheduled to begin.

I’m happy to announce that KUSP is teaming up with This American Life for a special event on Thursday, May 1, at the Century Cinemas at the Del Monte Center in Monterey.

You might know that This American Life ventured into television last year with a six-episode series that aired on Showtime. Ira Glass and co. are now going to try a one-time live special performance of This American Life that will be beamed into theaters via satellite. As far as we can tell, the Century Cinemas in Monterey are the only theaters in our area equipped with the special satellite and digital projection equipment you need to do this, and we’re really glad the Century Cinemas and This American Life wanted us to be their partner for the event!

You can get tickets and find out more about the show by following this link. We’ll have some KUSP folks out at the theater that night, do some giveaways, and generally have a good time. Please join us!

This Friday night, 4/4, will be the final live performance of the Planet Cruz Comedy Hour before the program takes a summer break. Showtime at Kuumbwa Jazz Center is 8:00 PM. Here’s the link to the Planet Cruz website.

This project has been just about the most inspiring thing I’ve been involved with at KUSP in the past year — it represents the kind of creativity that local public radio stations foster when they’re at their best. Richard Stockton and his team have been wonderful partners for us radio station folk since the project was hatched last year.

The radio show will continue on KUSP about one Saturday a month; this Friday’s live show airs on the radio at 5:00 PM on April 26. The broadcast schedule is on this page of kusp.org. While the live show is on its break over the summer we’ll reprise some of the earlier broadcasts, in case you missed them.

Finally, Wallace Baine did a great article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about the show — it’s linked here.

If you can get a ticket, go visit Planet Cruz this week!

Broadcaster and blogger Bruce Bratton hosts “University Grapevine” on KZSC 88.1 FM Thursdays at 4:00 PM. Bruce has invited me to be his guest today to discuss the state of public radio in the Monterey Bay area and beyond.

Posting this prompts me to belatedly thank everyone who attended Media Day at the Museum of Art and History last Saturday (3/29). Bruce put together this event, which was sponsored by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. He invited me to appear on his electronic media panel with people from Community TV of Santa Cruz County, Cruzio, and Santa Cruz Indymedia. The attendees I spoke with that day seemed to think it was time well spent, and I know Bruce is hoping to offer additional events along these lines in the future.

Much of KUSP’s service area is in California’s 17th Congressional District, represented by Sam Farr. Sam is an uncommitted superdelegate to the upcoming Democratic National Convention. John McChesney of NPR News did a story about Sam, and being an uncommitted superdelegate these days on today’s Morning Edition… if you didn’t hear it live, here is the link to it on npr.org.