[Imc] 1/22/01 Program Feedback

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Hello, everyone.

I listened to nearly all of last night's program on WEFT starting with the
middle of Sasha and Paul K.'s piece on Dave Johnson and his union troubles
through the end of the hour with Danielle's piece on the County Board.  I
forward my comments as an individual member of the WEFT Programming
Committee.  We promised to give feedback to folks who contributed special
programs when we approved your proposal.  Other members of the Committee may
also comment.

News of the Week:

Of the three IMC programs I've listened to so far, this was the most highly
produced, varied, and informative news segment I've heard.  The stories
(Dave Johnson/Union troubles, activists united to fight IP's proposal to
have free access to cutting trees, and rallies in support of abortion rights
and against Bush's inauguration) were all timely and informative.  It was
obvious to me that each reporter spent a good amount of time attending the
respective meetings/rallies, interviewing folks, and editing their stories.
In the case of Paul R.'s piece on the inauguration protests, it was great to
hear voices from DC, Worcester, MA, and Amsterdam all downloaded from the
Internet (what a great sharing of information between Independent Media
Centers!). We heard from the underdogs and activists in each story which
helped round out the coverage in our local and national mainstream media.  

Technically (sound quality, mixing, etc.), the pieces were flawless.

My only critique is a minor one with regard to coverage of the local
inauguration protests.  The synch sound (natural sound from the rally) was
introduced with words very similar to what was said on tape.  Paul
introduced the piece by saying something like it was an open mic format and
then we heard Mary Lee say basically the same thing on tape ("This is an
open mic, come up and say what you want to say").  Some listeners don't mind
this redundancy.  I would have preferred, instead, to hear more sound bites
from speakers at the rally.  

It was obvious that much time, effort, and thought were put into the news of
the week stories.  I liked that listeners were given information on how to
contact various local activists. Great job!

Feature on the Champaign County Board with Board Members Jenny Putnam, Tony
Fabri, and Mike Frerichs:

This piece focused on what the Board is, how it works, how it's funded, some
of the major issues facing the Board, and how the public can become
involved.  I liked the format of the piece:  Danielle asked questions and
the Board members answered.  It was a bit like an audio version of an
imaginary "County Board 101"  class only more interesting and engaging.  It
was a lesson in civics and an attempt to inform the average citizen about
the goings on of government so she or he can be a "citizen and not a
spectator" a "citizen and not a subject" (to borrow two lines from Bush's
inauguration speech).

I learned a lot.  The Board Members and the Board itself were demystified
and came across as accessible.  I learned a little more detail about some
issues I knew and care about - mass transit, the County Board of Public
Health (created recently and defunded by the Republicans just before they
left office), and the history of defeated attempts to add sexual orientation
and gender identity to the County Human Rights Ordinance. 

Very good.  Very informative.

I have a few suggestions:

I would have liked to have known that Jenny Putnam is a veteran Board member
who was re-elected for an X term and the number of years she's served on the
Board.  I would have liked to have known that Tony and Michael were newly
elected but have served on X committees and have run for office X times
before.  I think this context might be important to the listeners and can be
summarized rather briefly.

It was unclear to me who was talking about the failed attempts to add sexual
orientation to the County Human Rights Ordinance.  I assume it was Jenny
because she was the only female Board member in the piece but I was unsure
if it was her or someone else. The information was good, I just didn't know
who to attribute it to.

The explanation of the Champaign County Board of Health's history started
out strong and then sort of rambled on and was slowly faded out and music
faded in until Danielle came on the air and announced that because of a lack
of time left in the program, she would be moving on to another subject. We
then heard her on tape asking the three Board members a question about
sustainable development.  This was a very rough transition for me.  I was
left with the impression that this part of the discussion was being edited
live on air and once the Board of Health discussion felt like it ran too
long, another subject was substituted in its place.

Finally, the proposal for this program indicated that Patricia Avery, the
new Board Chairperson, was going to be a guest on the program. That's how
the program was being promoted on WEFT all week.  I understand that guests
sometimes change. When this happens, please inform the Programming Committee
so that we can correct the on-air promo.  This is the second time this has
happened.  Just a short email noting the changes is all I'm asking for.

These suggestions are ways I think our programming could be better.  They
are not meant to be discouraging.  I think everyone is doing a really
fantastic job and I appreciate all of your obvious hard work and everyone's
contributions.  

Sincerely,
Kimberlie