Austin City Limits

In 1973, Karen and I left the cozy environment of Oklahoma State University, where I’d been teaching broadcast news courses and serving as News Director for KOSU, the public radio station licensed to the university.

Our destination was Austin, Texas, about which we knew…….nothing. It was the capitol city, and the University of Texas was located there. Beyond that, I suspect we might have perceived that “Hook ‘em Horns” was an obscene gesture. I was reminded of our stint in Austin when I read about my friend Terry Lickona winning the Lifetime Achievement Award last week in Nashville at the Americana Music Association awards gathering.

My official job title in Austin was Director of News and Public Affairs for the University of Texas Communications Center; in broadcasting parlance, I was the News Director for KLRN-TV and KUT-FM. In those days, KLRN was licensed to the Southwest Texas Public Broadcasting Council and served both San Antonio and Austin from a transmitter near New Braunfels. Although KLRN had studios in San Antonio, the station was headquartered in Austin. Within months after my arrival, KLRN-TV and KUT-FM moved from the old Chemistry building at UT to a brand spankin’ new facility on Guadalupe Street, shown at left some 30 years after I was there, but apparently still holding up fairly well.

Our leader in those days was Bob Schenkkan, whose early contributions to public television are pretty well documented. Bob did a lot of traveling in the 1970s, and I seldom saw or visited with him. Day-to-day operations were left to Station Manager Harvey Herbst, with whom I got along just fine. Harvey was not a favorite with many at KLRN/KUT, but I always found him fair and supportive.

Perhaps in another posting I can share stories about the many colorful and talented people I came to know in Austin, including Cactus Pryor, Cyndi Allen, Larry White, Tom Dvorak, Dick Rizzo, Bink Williams, Bob Buckalew, Bruce Scafe, and Charles Akins, among others. This posting focuses upon the Austin environment – particularly the sounds that were captured as a part of Austin City Limits.

First, Karen and I were taken by the beauty of the Austin area. The lakes and nearby “Hill Country” afforded two Nebraska kids an opportunity to see aspects of the Lone Star state of which we were unaware. Great restaurants were plentiful. Zilker Park was gorgeous. And then there’s the music.

Karen and I occasionally joined friends in weekend forays to downtown Austin to take in the live performances of a wide array of musicians. To this day, I don’t recall the names of the places or artists, but I do remember that Austin was rich with a diversity of talented country musicians.

Paul Bosner, Bruce Scafe, and Billy Arhos were the KLRN colleagues who had an big itch for producing a live country and western music program. And they made it happen.

While I was responsible for producing and anchoring a nightly 30-minute news and public affairs program in one of our fourth floor studios, Austin City Limits was produced in one of the two massive 6th floor studios. The other 6th floor studio was reserved for production of a children’s bi-lingual program called Carrascolendas, which had been the recipient of major federal grants obtained under the leadership of Ida Barrera.

One of my most vivid recollections of Austin City Limits had to do with riding the elevators after musicians had just gone up to their studio. I always thought that the sweet aroma left behind in the elevator was a new blend of pipe tobacco; I think one of the news staff suggested that perhaps I’d never smelled quafts of marijuana. I couldn’t be absolutely certain, of course, but the story would be consistent with what I knew about many of the musicians. While I know that Paul, Billy and others had high hopes for Austin City Limits, few of us felt it would achieve the success that had been enjoyed by Carrascolendas. Little did we know that it would become a staple performance broadcast for PBS and retain a strong following around the nation three decades after it was launched!

By late 1974, we were expanding our News and Public Affairs staff, and I hired a “walk-on” candidate from New York named Terry Lickona. I thought he could help us breathe life into the rather stagnant public affairs programming on KUT-FM. Terry was a thoughtful, low-key, but thorough producer with an excellent on-air radio presence. He did a fine job. But I was surprised a few months later when he approached me about moving into television. There were some sticky personnel issues that made him uncomfortable, and he wanted out of radio. We made the switch, and Terry became a regular part of our Newsroom Nine evening television broadcast.

In the mid-1970s, we decided to examine key current issues through a different format. It was a live courtroom-style television program based upon an old WGBH Boston series called The Advocates. Local Austin Judge Mary Pearl Williams was moderator. Our first program – and I don’t remember others – was a real challenge. One of our “advocates” was the fiery Mayor of Austin, Jeff Friedman. Minutes before the program was to go live, Friedman contested the ground rules for the program and threatened to walk out. Terry interceded. My recollection is that – with the help of Mary Pearl Williams – the program was saved.

Within two years after Karen and I left Austin, Terry became a part of the Austin City Limits staff, and eventually took over as Producer, a role he has held ever since. ACL holds something of a record in American television as the longest-running musical performance program series, and Terry Lickona has produced over 800 of those programs.

Terry and I have crossed paths a few times over the years. In the late 1990s, I invited him to Jackson, Mississippi for a visit. I was Executive Director for the statewide public broadcasting network and was interested in our producing a pilot performance program on the Blues, which had its birth in the Mississippi delta. Terry had the experience with ACL and could have given this initiative a real boost. My enthusiasm for the project was not shared by some of my senior managers, so the project never got launched. I still think we missed a real opportunity, and I regret that I didn’t push harder to make it happen.

I’ve enjoyed watching Terry Lickona’s career blossom. During the few years I worked with Terry in Austin, I gained a real appreciation for his professionalism, and I’ve been not at all surprised by his success. Congratulations, Terry, on the Lifetime Achievement Award with the AMA. Well done!

Jack McBride (1926-2008)

One of the great broadcasters of our time has passed away. Jack McBride, the gentle man from Lincoln, died on Monday, July 28th. He was largely responsible for envisioning and building the statewide public radio and television network in Nebraska, but he was also a recognized pioneer and leader in public broadcasting across the country and around the world.

It was my great pleasure to have known and worked with Jack a bit, largely through our dealings in an organization known as the Organization of State Broadcast Executives.

Jack’s commitment to the educational value of television was solid. From the early days of what is now known as Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, until long after his “retirement” in 1996. Jack McBride remained a visionary about what television and other emerging technologies could do to enhance learning. Steve Behrens wrote this obituary in Current, a public broadcasting newspaper.

And he had a sense of humor. I still remember receiving my commission as an “Admiral” in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska during a public broadcasting meeting in Lincoln many years ago. The “recruiter” for our hitch in the land-locked Navy was Jack McBride.

Viewers and listeners of the public radio and television networks in Nebraska saw and heard little of this energetic fellow, but his legacy to all Nebraskans – and to public broadcasting across the country – was huge.

May there be "fair winds and following seas” for our friend Jack McBride.

A great Mississippian

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Note: This gentleman had significant impact upon public broadcasting in Mississippi through his oversight role as Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

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Grey Ferris has died. I didn’t learn about it until yesterday, when I was surfing the internet and came across his obituary. He was only 62 years old – a victim of cancer – and passed away June 13, 2008, at his home near Vicksburg, Mississippi.
But you need to know more about Grey Ferris. He was one of the most thoughtful and genuinely respectful people I’ve known. I first met Grey after moving to Mississippi in 1993 to head the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (ETV). Grey had just been elected to a four-year term in the Mississippi State Senate from Warren and Issaquena counties.

Our ETV budget was shaped largely by the House and Senate Education Committees. In the House, that was a committee led by the fiery Billy McCoy of Rienzi, one of the hardest-working legislators I’ve ever known. He later was tapped as Speaker of the House – a post he still holds.

In the Senate, the Education Committee was chaired by the soon-to-be Governor Ronnie Musgrove. The Vice-Chairman was a quiet and rather studious Grey Ferris from Vicksburg. During his second term in office, Senator Ferris would serve as Chairman.

Grey’s grandfather, E. B. Ferris, was credited with founding Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Stations, and in 1918 he bought the land east of Vicksburg that became known as “Ferris Farm.” In 1935, his son, Bill, graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson and was soon back on the farm with his wife, Shelby, raising their five children – one of whom was Grey.

After high school in Mississippi and college at Tulane, where he was president of the student body, Grey practiced law for a while, but then returned to the farm. Reportedly, a move to consolidate county school districts rekindled his interest in government and public service. He served six years on the local consolidated school board and then ran for the legislature. It was shortly after that when I met Grey Ferris.

Politics anywhere can be dirty and deceitful, and it’s easy to become disenchanted with government officials. I was fortunate to cross paths with at least two politicians who made me realize that politics need not be bad. That public service is a public trust. And that there are some honest and honorable people who serve. For me, one such person was U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. The other was Mississippi State Senator Grey Ferris.

As a newcomer to Mississippi government – worse, as a “Yankee” – I found there were a few folks who would take advantage of my northern ways. For the most part, however, I found folks agreeable – even helpful – as I stumbled through the legislative process on behalf of public radio and television. No one was more helpful than Grey Ferris. He was adept at resolving conflicts and bringing people together to solve problems. When you visited with Grey, it was as if the rest of the world had been silenced, and he was listening only to you. And he was.

Of course, public broadcasting was a very small part of the over-all education budget, and Grey’s focus was on the big picture – trying to improve the quality of life in Mississippi through public education. He and Senator Hob Bryan (who made even Billy McCoy pale by comparison when considering “colorful” and “fiery” legislators) were among the key folks who pushed through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program in the late 1990s. Understandably, it was one of Grey’s proudest moments.

As an aside, I once had the privilege of sitting at a banquet table with Grey and his brother Bill, also a talented individual (and later head of the National Endowment of the Humanities), and their mother, Shelby Flowers Ferris. It was a rare treat watching the two siblings – both achievers – good-naturedly spar verbally under the watchful and loving eye of their mother.

In 1999, Senator Grey Ferris decided to run for lieutenant-governor. A Democrat, he was given a good shot at winning the post. However, when his 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, died after battling an eating disorder and depression, Grey, understandably, didn’t seem to have his heart in the race. He lost his bid for lieutenant-governor and left the Mississippi Senate at the end of his term.
He returned to Ferris Farm, and news accounts attributed to his wife Jann, indicate that he loved being back on the home place -- 6,000 acres of converted cropland running some 1,000 cows. Much of the farm is bottomland hardwood along the Big Black River. It boasts some historic Native American mounds and was also a site of passage by General Grant’s army during the siege of Vicksburg in the Civil War.

And then, a few short years after leaving Jackson to focus on his family and Ferris Farm, cancer struck. His valiant struggle – surrounded by loving family and friends – was poignantly detailed on the website Ferris Farm.

I was surprised to learn that Grey was only 62 when he died. To the many of us who leaned on him for advice and direction – his quiet wisdom and strength of character made him seem older than his years.

Perhaps it’s human nature. Perhaps it’s just the rush of life, but most of us don’t take the time to reach out while we can to communicate with those who’ve significantly touched our lives. In the seven years since leaving Jackson, I’ve often thought about the warmth Karen and I found in Mississippi. So many close personal friends – many of whom we still see occasionally. But too many others – many folks with whom we worked and did business, like Grey Ferris, fade too soon from our lives.

Grey Ferris made Mississippi – and this earth – a better place. God bless Grey and his family.

FCC makes a Sirius mistake

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The Federal Communications Commission approved the XM-Sirius merger last Friday (7/25), bringing to an end a 16-month battle over whether or not such a move would be in the public interest.

South Dakotan Jonathan Adelstein was one of the dissenting Commissioners in the 3-2 decision, hailed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as a move that will give consumers greater choice and greater flexibility.

Sirius and XM are the only satellite radio companies, and they concede that the $3.5 billion "merger" -- really a buyout of XM by Sirius -- will save them lots of money.

For the 18-million of us who are satellite radio subscribers, don't look for a rate reduction any time soon. The deal would freeze basic subscription increases, but you can rest assured the new company will find ways to get around that inconvenience. There were some compromises, but nothing that keeps it from falling into the category of a really bad public policy decision by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC can spell m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y, but they don't understand its meaning.

For more background on this deal, read these articles from Broadcasting & Cable and the New York Times.

Still a handsome fellow!

Life is full of surprises. And in the last few months, two events have given me a bit of serendipitous enjoyment.

First was my rediscovery of Lions. In the late 1940s and early 50s, I played on a kid’s baseball team in Chadron, Nebraska, sponsored by the local Lions club. Some 30 years later, I became a Lion in Vermillion, South Dakota and remained an active member for several years. Alas, somewhere along the way, as we moved to Mississippi and I took on one of the most challenging jobs of my career, I slipped away from the Lions. Now that I’m retired, I’ve rejoined, and in the few short months I’ve been a member of the Belle Fourche (SD) Lions, I’ve found it helping me scratch an itch for public service. It’s been extremely gratifying and most enjoyable.

Then, while thumbing through the May 2008 issue of The Lion magazine, I was pleasantly surprised to see a photograph of friend Charles Akins, a charter member of the Austin (TX) Capital City Lions, the first African-American Lions club. The story helps celebrate four decades of outstanding service by the Austin group. That’s Texas State Representative Dawnna Dukes with Charles in the photo above.

A long-time and highly-respected educator, Charles Akins – when I knew him back in the 1970s – was also an avid sports fan. And so it was that he landed a second job as the sportscaster on what was then KLRN-TV, the public television station serving Austin and San Antonio. In his “real life,” Charles was a school principal in Austin. He has long since retired. I was KLRN News Director and news anchor, and I had the good fortune to work with Charles for nearly three years. He was one of the most easy-going people I’ve ever known. Always amiable and extremely professional, Charles’ love for sports – and people – shown through brightly. I’ve always regretted not being able to keep in touch with Charles over the years, and by this posting I am committed to contacting him and adding my congratulations to him and the Capital City Lions Club.

After finding an old 1976 KLRN news staff roster a few minutes ago, I dialed Charles’ home phone number and – he still has the same phone number! Not surprisingly, he wasn’t at home, he was at a track meet! Did I mention that Charles was a real sports fan?

Seeing Charles’ picture has also spurred me to explore some of my old files from those days in Austin. While I’ve kept in loose touch with Terry Lickona, who continues his involvement with Austin City Limits, other staffers are more elusive. Folks like Cyndy Allen, Bob Buckalew, Dot Chaloupka, Roy Faires, Howard James, Gary Witt and others.

So many memories…….blurring a bit with the passage of time, but still fondly held!

Disappointing Interview

After watching the Bill Moyers interview with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright tonight on PBS, I was reminded what a real gentleman Bill Moyers is. He is gracious to a fault in person and on the air.

Reverend Wright, you’ll remember, is the black minister whose “damning” of America from the pulpit several weeks ago caught media attention, particularly because Wright is the pastor of Senator Barak Obama’s home church in Chicago.

The hour-long interview on Bill Moyers Journal demonstrated what we all should have known anyway, that Reverend Wright – like all of us – is more complex than can be reflected in a 30-second sound bite.

Nonetheless, I was sorely disappointed tonight by the lack of incisive questioning from Bill Moyers. Not so much over Wright’s “damning” of America statement, but his vitriolic statements about an unfeeling America that has killed innocent people in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

That innocents died – on both sides in these wars – is undeniable. That our troops, our government, and our nation did so as a matter of policy and with no feeling is blatantly untrue. Why did Bill Moyers not challenge Reverend Wright on this point?

Reverend Wright’s snipped comment about God “damning” America made national news, and Senator Obama promptly distanced himself from his old pastor. How, Moyers asked, did Reverend Wright feel about that?

In fresh candor, Reverend Wright acknowledged that Senator Obama is “a politician” and must say to his audience what is necessary; and as a pastor, he (Reverend Wright) must say to his audience what is necessary. Wright speaks at the National Press Club next week. I think I smell a book in the writing.

How unfortunate that Bill Moyers did not do what HIS audience expected: ask insightful questions and challenge the guest. Instead, it was kind of a “good ol’ pastors discussion down at the seminary.” Giving Reverend Wright 60 minutes to paint his own portrait on C-SPAN would have been equally revealing.

Bill Moyers has done some great interviews. This was not one of them.

Turned off by the TV turn off

There was a time when I thought participating in a national “Turn Off the TV” campaign was a pretty cool thing to do. No longer.

Part of my disillusionment with letting the tube go dark has to do with its effectiveness, or lack thereof. It fits right in with the notion that – if we all don’t buy gasoline on a certain day – we can change the behavior of the big oil companies. Pardon me if I play the skeptic.

Expecting that a one-week TV turnoff may “prime the pump” to a lifetime of reduced television watching is, to my mind, disingenuous.

All of this is not to say I’m opposed to the concept. Spending 29-34 hours a week plopped in front of the tube – as the average American does – is probably too much. And it detracts from doing more productive things, especially if the viewer is consumed by reality shows and “shock” television. That's the cheaper fare that helps television production companies and the networks turn a better profit. Quality costs. Junk is cheaper.

Better, I think, however, to focus on the quality of television that is produced and watched. That’s a tougher row to hoe, but its outcome would have far greater impact.

It’s easy to be absolutely cynical about the prospects of television transforming itself and offering better quality programs. I suspect there’ll always be a market for shock television and pornography. I must confess that even until very recently, I didn’t believe there was any way to stem the decline of television programming into an abyss of self-absorbing muck.

But my cynicism has given way to a flicker of optimism for the future. It has been fueled mostly by the high quality programs of public television and a handful of cable channels (History Channel, C-SPAN, and a few others).

But the real clincher was to see veteran smut peddler HBO launch its seven-part historical series on John Adams. A superb series that stands head and shoulders above an earlier tripe-cast called “Deadwood” (with apologies to a few of my South Dakota friends who believe that distorted history is better than no story at all).

Turn off the TV this week? I don’t think so. But it would be a good idea to start pushing the industry for better programming and supporting those offerings with our viewership. Admittedly, really good television programs are few and far between – but they can be found. They and their sponsors should be supported.

"...Without the Rap!"

Part of the mystery has been solved about a new Rapid City radio station. Connoisseur Media’s new FM station at 102.7 played Christmas music for several weeks – becoming something of a curiosity, and leading some folks to wonder what music format the station would eventually adopt.

Well, the cat is out of the bag, and KXMZ/102.7 (Box Elder-Rapid City) bills itself as “Hits 102.7, Today’s Best Hits Without the Rap.” They’re streaming commercial-free music on their web site with a format that is clearly aimed at teens and young adults. We understand that Connoisseur picked up the 50,000-watt station in an FCC auction for just over $1 million. It’s one of 18 radio stations in the Rapid City market.

The more intriguing parts of the mystery remain: 1) When will they start generating some advertising revenue? 2) How successful will they be? And, perhaps most important to many of us: 3) just how much local service will 102.7 provide?

Memories of Biography

I became a Mike Wallace fan back in the early 1960s when I was Program Manager of WGBY-TV, the Armed Forces Radio & Television outlet on the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Those were the days before satellite broadcasts. Each week, we’d received air shipments of kinescopes from the mainland, including a wide variety of popular programs from all of the broadcast networks.
That’s when I was first exposed to a documentary film series entitled Biography, produced by David Wolper -- pictured here -- and hosted by Mike Wallace. Documentaries in those days were few and far between, and I was impressed with Wolper’s effective use of archival film footage and still photographs. These were well before the days of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (who would have still been in elementary school). Of course, Mike’s narration added significantly to the authoritativeness of the Biography programs.

While I can’t offer up a link to the old Biography series, I can steer you to a rich collection interviews done even earlier in a series called The Mike Wallace Interview. This series ended up at ABC, and the University of Texas has managed to persuade the 89-year-old Wallace – who owns the copyright – to allow UT to make 65 of the programs available on the internet. Another nice touch: transcripts of the programs are also on the site at the Harry Ransom Center on the UT campus in Austin.

Enjoy!

Couric to Leave CBS Evening News....Soon?

The media business is abuzz with much talk about Katie Couric possibly leaving her anchor job at CBS Evening News -- perhaps sooner rather than later. The New York Times offered up the story last week. It'll be interesting to see if the speculation of an early departure becomes reality. A key part of the Today show at NBC for many years, she's been unable to help CBS navigate its way out of third place in the evening network news competition.

Millage Goes Back to School

Long-time news executive Mark Millage is leaving broadcasting to head Kilian Community College in Sioux Falls. Millage has been with the KELO-land stations, based in Sioux Falls, for some 25 years, most of them as News Director.

KELO-TV is the flagship station for a network of transmitters that cover most of South Dakota. Millage was tapped from among more than 40 applicants to become President of the two-year school.

I don’t know a lot about Kilian Community College – or Mark Millage – but they both have good reputations. According to the news release posted by the college, the school was formed as a “joint venture” by Augustana College and two other institutions that used to be known as Sioux Falls College and the North American Baptist Seminary.

I met Tom Kilian in the 1980s when I was with South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He’s the long-time South Dakota educator for whom the institution is named. He is a class act.

Good luck to Mark Millage and Kilian Community College.

Here Comes Santa Claus? 102.7 FM

Radio listeners in the Black Hills who tune around the radio dial just for the fun of it discovered something a bit odd the other day. A time warp, right out of “The Twilight Zone.” What else could explain the gentle strains of Silent Night and Jingle Bells blasting from the radio in early April?

Perhaps someone at this station, 102.7 FM, forgot that Christmas is over for this season?

Maybe it’s a radio signal returning to earth after bouncing off of a distant galaxy.

It might be an April Fool’s prank.

Or….maybe it’s just a new radio station with a gimmick to get our attention. Well, it seems to be working.

102.7 FM is on the air from Connecticut, or wherever, blasting away at the Rapid City market with Christmas music. Clearly, it’s an effort that seems to be working. I first learned about it from Dan Daly's Rapid City Journal blog site. Dan reports that the station call sign will be KXZM and the city of license is Box Elder, while the transmitter is atop "M" hill in Rapid City. Who are these people and what do they want?

Well, it turns out they’re Yankees from Connecticut. The company is called Connoisseur Media, and it’s headed by Jeffrey D. Warshaw, a well-to-do businessman who says he’s a broadcaster. Mr. Warshaw sold his first Connoisseur company – a collection of 27 radio stations -- for a cool $258 million. The Connoisseur web site indicates their new operation is “characterized by well researched and targeted programming, intense training and development of its people, and dedicated local service.” They list 17 radio stations from Erie, Pennsylvania to Billings, Montana.

It’ll be fascinating to see just how many Connoisseur employees populate the Rapid City market. Even more interesting will be watching them scramble to provide a “dedicated local service.” That’s a refreshing concept that even many locally-owned broadcasters struggle to attain but seldom achieve.

My bet is that their local service is promotional hype…..that their local staff is comprised mostly of a few sales people – and perhaps a contract person to keep the satellite gear and transmitter operating.

In the end, I doubt that Mr. Warshaw is Santa Claus coming to town with a bag of local services for Rapid City and the surrounding area. I predict they’ll have a competitive music service – whatever that may be – with a strong promotion strategy, a local sales force, and a creative way of trying to “sound local.”

The measure of their local service will be how much they really become a part of the community. How many news staff will they have? How effectively will they report the weather? Just how much will they really become a part of the social fabric of the Black Hills? I doubt that “dedicated local service” is a big part of the holiday strategy unleashed by Connoisseur Media.

I could be wrong. I hope I am. Stay tuned.