[Imc-newsroom] Re: "alternative economics" on IMC radio show (fwd)

[Mark Enslin]

Hi Ben, 

Thanks for writing. After the news group meeting yesterday, I wrote a
headline based on the story you posted to the Urbana IMC site and gave it
to Molly Stentz, who is the producer of tonight's show (6-7pm on WEFT).
Because of her work schedule, she had requested that headlines be sent to
her yesterday afternoon. 

We have a rotation of producers of the news hour, and the distribution of
time to the different components of the show--intro, headlines, short
focus stories, half-hour id & public service announcements, and longer
feature story--varies with the different styles of the producers and the
amount and kind of material they have to work with for that week. Also,
some shows have been almost completely pre-recorded and some have been
alsmost completely live, with gradations between these extremes.

This evening's show turns out to be 50 minutes of prerecorded material,
leaving an unusually short time for headlines--so I'm not sure whether
Molly will fit in what I wrote, given that there were several people
contributing headlines. In case it's not broadcast tonight, I'll forward
this to the news group list for next week's producer to consider. 

As to the content and style of the item you wrote, it strikes me rather as
an advertisement or PSA. (And according to WEFT, we're supposed to include
at least 2 PSAs during the hour.) I attempted to put the event (the 100th
member) in a little bit of context of the food coop scene in CU, saying 
that it was a sign that the coop movement is growing, but what
I wrote didn't have much substance. Also we try to keep headline
stories to 50-100 words. 

I would rather look forward to a larger story on the general coop scene in
the CU, including Fruited Plain, COUCH, Common Ground, the design company
workers coop that's starting up, and others, perhaps as a report on
the coop fair that Brian was talking about. I could see that has a
platform for providing a better sense of what Fruited Plain is about, and
how it's part of the current development of economic alternatives. I
remember thta were people interested in starting an alternative currency
in CU several years ago; it might work well with such a piece to have some
report on how alternative currencies are faring in communities that have
had them for a while. 

How does this idea strike you? Do have an further suggestions?

thanks for the follow up,
Mark Enslin

On Mon, 2 Jul 2001, Benjamin J. Schaeffer wrote:

> 
> Hi Mark,
> 
> It was nice to meet you at the IMC the other day. Here's a news headline
> you guys might use for the radio show (see bttom of e-mail). Please let me
> know whether this is too short/too long (if you just wanted to read the
> first paragraph, that'd be OK). Also, could you send me an e-mail
> confirming that it actually got read? I'd like a little confirmation that
> I'm not tossing stuff down a black hole ;-)
> 
> As for the future, if you radio show folks like this kind of content,
> there's probably 1 or 2 "press releases" like this per month coming out of
> the C-U co-op world. I'd love to provide the info if you all are into it
> too. 
> 
> Thanks very much for your time... much appreciated!
> 
> Regards,
> Ben Schaeffer
> 
> *********************************************************
> 
> Fruited Plain Food Co-op Gets 100th Member
> 
> The Fruited Plain Cooperative Society was formed in Fall 1998 as an
> independent food co-op with a mission to serve the Champaign-Urbana
> area. The staff and volunteers of this new C-U economic institution have
> worked hard in the intervening time to spread the co-op message and can
> now celebrate an important milestone: their 100th member.
> 
> In accordance with the Roachdale Principles (the defining document of
> cooperative principles), membership is open to all. And beyond just being
> a great way to get your food, there are plenty of opportunities for
> activists to get their hands dirty building a real alternative economic
> institution. Please contact Susan Chi (suchihere at yahoo.com) for more
> information on how to join. Or check out www.co-op.champaign.il.us.
> 
> 
> 
>