WDET Redux
The numbers are out. WDET didn’t raise enough money during the funddrive but they have gained listeners. (link). Today, it was also announced that Michael Coleman has pleaded no contest, dragging the embezzlement issue into another month (link).
In a previous post on WDET’s changes, the comments have provided an ongoing discussion board with some former WDET-ers joining the fun. Apparently in the past few weeks, WDET has laid-off six employees and reduced the times of others. I know I’ve noticed voices missing but it is hard to tell when someone is on vacation.
But if this is all true, can someone tell me if the Noah Ovshinsky is related to WDET advisor Harvey Ovshinsky? It is a very common name so I’d think so, but then why is he still around when the veterans are gone?
It has been recommended someone file a FOIA to get the whole story behind the WDET saga, especially since WDET seems to have no intentions of directly addresses anything. Thoughts?
The comment by the WSU vp at the end of the Coleman story is absolutely bizarre. Successfully resolved??? Continuing the momentum??? Coleman’s momentum is taking DET straight to the dumpster, buddy.
Noah is Harvey’s son. One thing Michael Coleman likes is a BIG NAME and he considers Ovshinsky a BIG NAME. Part of the reason I believe I was let go is because Coleman and Harvey Ovshinsky would rather have a position in the WDET newsroom go to Noah than to me. I was perceived as competition for their golden boy. Competition that had already proven my chops to my colleagues in the newsroom.
I don’t believe Joan Silvi or Jerome Vaughn (WDET’s News Director and Assistant News Director, respectively) or Program Director Allen Mazurek played any role in this, though I suspect Noah himself is a willing conspirator.
One former colleague (a non on-air person) suggested to me that anything said in front of Noah made its way back to Michael Coleman. I didn’t believe that at the time but looking back upon a few instances I think my former co-worker may have been onto something.
JW
Well Lori, I find your comments to be totally misinformed without any basis in the historical facts of what’s been happening here. First off your comments about people only verbally supporting the station, but not finacially, totally ignores the fact that WDET historically, for the last 30 years, had successful fundraisers and had a loyal following of supporters who put their money where their mouth was. In fact, according to the story on Wayne State’s own Public Relations website at http://www.media.wayne.edu/release.php?id=1949 the Spring 2005 fundraiser was very successful, raising over $600,000 and adding over 2000 first time pledgers.
What happened after that? I believe that the fall fundraiser 2005 fell short primarily because of the worsening economic conditions in Detroit we are all familiar with like lay offs & impending lay offs from the big 3. It also didn’t help that the station had just lost it’s long time successful manager & hired an apparently incompetent new one. When the fall fundraiser fell short, it seems as though Michael Coleman, not knowing much about the station or what might really be causing the problem, panicked and made some ill advised & rash decisions. In a nut shell what he did was replace some fantastically skilled and reasonably paid local DJ’s with much more expensive NPR programs. I’m no economics expert, but looking at the pure economics of this decision anyone can see that increasing your overhead cost is not what you want to do when you are struggling for money. The other part of this decision was that he must have felt that WDET listeners would prefer news and talk over the existing music format. This belief could have only come out of his total lack of understanding of how supportive the listeners have been of the music programming over the years. In other words, he didn’t do his homework. He didn’t care enough about finding the real cause of why financial support had dropped off just that one time in the fall of 2005. So as a result he alienated many of the stations strongest financial supporters and now the situation is extremely dire.
Now about your comment that we must be “totally out of touch to think that area business owners and those with high qualitative levels(whatever that is) won’t support a news/talk format”… The proof is right there in front of you Lori. Even though WDET management has tried to hide the facts behind their trumpeting of their slight increase of Arbitron ratings, this springs fund raiser fell almost $200,000 short of the $600,000 goal, which unfortunately led to immediate lay offs of more people. Where is the financial support for the news/talk format? Who is really out of touch here Lori?
Michael Coleman has put WDET into a tailspin and there seems little hope of pulling out. Certainly he is not the leader to do it. He has lost all credibility on any level, especially considering his recent embezzlement conviction.
I have one hair brained idea that just might save WDET. I know this would be a huge gamble but no more of one than the ones already taken. The idea is that Michael Coleman could publicly admit his mistakes and apologize to all concerned and then return WDET to the very successful music programming that has been paying the bills all these years. I, for one, would gladly accept his apology and be ready to immeditely back it up with cash and I know there are many other loyal listeners out there willing to do the same. Come on Michael, if you make nice with us, we’ll make nice with you. It’s worth the gamble and besides, there is no other way out of this.
“First off your comments about people only verbally supporting the station, but not financially, totally ignores the fact that WDET historically, for the last 30 years, had successful fundraisers and had a loyal following of supporters who put their money where their mouth was. In fact, according to the story on Wayne State’s own Public Relations website at http://www.media.wayne.edu/release.php?id=1949 the Spring 2005 fundraiser was very successful, raising over $600,000 and adding over 2000 first time pledgers.”
Actually Tom, you too have been duped by a Wayne State lie. The Spring 2005 fundraiser was a disaster. I know I was there. Judy Adams ordered large chunks of the pledge goal to be removed from amount left to raise as the pledge week went along. About $150,000 of that $600,000 raised came directly out of WDET’s cash reserves. All this was done to improve Judy Adams’ chances at being named permanent General Manager. It was purely smoke and mirrors. WDET spent it’s rainy day fund to make the fundraiser look like a success when it failed. By doing this we also shut down the pledge drive early potentially costing the station money!
WDET has been fairly successful with individual donors. About 70% of the station’s budget comes from pledge drive donors. That’s part of the problem. Most major market public stations rely on individual donors for around 40% of their budget. They usually have bigger budgets, bigger staffs (particularly in the news department), and highly produced local programming.
WDET never made an effort to go after major dollar grants under the previous Development Director. Coleman broomed him out but never replaced him. That’s been (aside from being a criminal) Coleman’s biggest fault as GM. Hard to raise money when you don’t have anybody in charge of raising money.
The programming needed to be changed. Martin Bandyke was a crook and had to go. Props to the whistle blowers for taking Bandyke down. It’s too bad Coleman has hurt those same whistle blowers in the recent round of staff cuts.
And Judy Adams was a waste of airtime. About five minutes before she went on-air, she would grab some long, smooth jazz/Pat Methany crap track play that and use that time to figure out what the hell she was going to do the rest of her air-shift. It was mailed in radio five days a week and her ratings and pledge drive totals proved that.
For the record, WDET’s ratings have actually gone up slightly since the change. It takes time to re-build an audience; half of WDET’s listeners went away after the Fall ’04 programming change, that’s no lie.
If the station’s programming staff is allowed the resources to compliment the NPR/PRI programming with high-quality local news and music shows as was initially the plan then you will see WDET become one of the finest public radio station’s in the country, on par with KCRW and WBEZ and the like. Unfortunately, Coleman and Wayne State don’t seem to think it is worth making the promised investment. Clear Channel Public Radio seems to be their plan.
I describe the WDET situation like this. Michael Coleman is like Matt Millen. A complete and utter failure but that doesn’t mean we need to go back to Wayne Fontes (i.e. Judy Adams) either.
“First off your comments about people only verbally supporting the station, but not financially, totally ignores the fact that WDET historically, for the last 30 years, had successful fundraisers and had a loyal following of supporters who put their money where their mouth was. In fact, according to the story on Wayne State’s own Public Relations website at http://www.media.wayne.edu/release.php?id=1949 the Spring 2005 fundraiser was very successful, raising over $600,000 and adding over 2000 first time pledgers.”
Actually Tom, you too have been duped by a Wayne State lie. The Spring 2005 fundraiser was a disaster. I know I was there. Judy Adams ordered large chunks of the pledge goal to be removed from amount left to raise as the pledge week went along. About $150,000 of that $600,000 raised came directly out of WDET’s cash reserves. All this was done to improve Judy Adams’ chances at being named permanent General Manager. It was purely smoke and mirrors. WDET spent it’s rainy day fund to make the fundraiser look like a success when it failed. By doing this we also shut down the pledge drive early potentially costing the station money!
WDET has been fairly successful with individual donors. About 70% of the station’s budget comes from pledge drive donors. That’s part of the problem. Most major market public stations rely on individual donors for around 40% of their budget. They usually have bigger budgets, bigger staffs (particularly in the news department), and highly produced local programming.
WDET never made an effort to go after major dollar grants under the previous Development Director. Coleman broomed him out but never replaced him. That’s been (aside from being a criminal) Coleman’s biggest fault as GM. Hard to raise money when you don’t have anybody in charge of raising money.
The programming needed to be changed. Martin Bandyke was a crook and had to go. Props to the whistle blowers for taking Bandyke down. It’s too bad Coleman has hurt those same whistle blowers in the recent round of staff cuts.
And Judy Adams was a waste of airtime. About five minutes before she went on-air, she would grab some long, smooth jazz/Pat Methany crap track play that and use that time to figure out what the hell she was going to do the rest of her air-shift. It was mailed in radio five days a week and her ratings and pledge drive totals proved that.
For the record, WDET’s ratings have actually gone up slightly since the change. It takes time to re-build an audience; half of WDET’s listeners went away after the Fall ’04 programming change, that’s no lie.
If the station’s programming staff is allowed the resources to compliment the NPR/PRI programming with high-quality local news and music shows as was initially the plan then you will see WDET become one of the finest public radio station’s in the country, on par with KCRW and WBEZ and the like. Unfortunately, Coleman and Wayne State don’t seem to think it is worth making the promised investment. Clear Channel Public Radio seems to be their plan.
I describe the WDET situation like this. Michael Coleman is like Matt Millen. A complete and utter failure but that doesn’t mean we need to go back to Wayne Fontes (i.e. Judy Adams) either.
Well Jeff(former deter), the plot apparently thickens. It is quite possible that your version of what happened at the spring 2005 fundraiser is correct & that Judy Adams planned & participated in a conspiracy to defraud Wayne State University & the public in an attempt to grab supreme power. On the other hand, it is just as possible that you have stopped taking your medication and have gone totally paranoid on us. Or that you are a disgruntled former Deter who hated Judy Adams for some personal reason & is taking this opportunity to extract his revenge.
If your story is true than there must be many other people who saw what happened, including volunteers at the pledge drive, & certainly it couldn’t have been kept a secret all this time from upper management & government prosecutors. Legal actions would have been taken a long time ago. If you have some factual proof to back up what you claim then I suggest you do your civic duty for the good of the public and help put those responsible in jail. Until that happens, all of us will have to accept the facts of record found on Wayne State’s web page that I referenced earlier. Those are the only proven facts.
It really is too bad that people keep trying to fix a pledge drive shortage by getting rid of music programming at WDET. AS you mentioned,half of WDET’s listeners went away after the fall ’04 programming change which involved eliminating some very popular music shows, some of which have now been brought back. So you would think they would learn their lesson after that, but apparently not.
As for Martin Bandyke being a crook, as far as I know he got caught receiving free CD’s and concert tickets and as someone already pointed out to you on a previous thread, that was against WSU’s policies but is not against the law. In fact it is common practice in the music business for DJ’s to receive these kinds of perks all the time. Calling him a crook is a little harsh!
On the other hand, receiving expensive gifts like pool tables & sprinkler systems for your home is illegal & Michael Coleman has plead “no contest” to those charges in order to avoid a full trial & receive a reduced sentence. He cut a deal to save his ass and he is definitely a crook and if WDET doesn’t cut him loose he will take the whole ship down with him!
It seems to me that what is going on here for some people, & perhaps you Jeff, is that you didn’t like certain music hosts taste in music & wanted to see them gone. Do you seriously like the talk & news that’s been put in their place? If you are any kind of a music fan I can’t see how you would. The great thing about WDET has always been that there was plenty of room for all kinds of music at different hours of the day & night. Even though I didn’t like all of it I respected the other people’s right to listen to it & they respected mine. That is what public radio is all about!
Lately it seems as though WDET’s listening audience & even some of the staff have been splintered into a lot of little self serving, self interest groups. The result of all this in-fighting has not been in anyone’s favor and is destroying a great station that took over 30 years to build. If we are going to save this station we all have to unite behind the idea that it is more music programming that will do the job and that Michael Coleman is not the man for that job. And then we need to put the full force of cash behind that idea.
Between the fall ’04 and fall ’05 WDET did not use volunteers for the pledge drives. A calls were routed to a call center.
And actually Martin Bandyke didn’t receive a few concert tickets and CD’s. He was receiving hundreds of copies of brand new CD’s for free in exchange for giving record companies selected tracks airplay (ie PAYOLA) and then re-selling them at his former employer (Car City) for a tidy profit and in violation of all kinds of copyright, licensing, and royality laws. This had been going on for ten years or so and netted him an estimated profit of $100,000-$200,000.
It is a shame Wayne State was too gutless to go after him with the full force of the law so everyone can see what had been going on.
Believe me or don’t believe me, I don’t give a shit. Everything I said can be found in documents an easy FOIA request away.
It’s interesting to see who Wayne State will support and who Wayne State does not support. Once again, as I said in the previous blog, no one is running WDET.
As an ex-employee I can totally testify to all of the above. I worked there for five long years. The payola was rampant.
Noah Ovshinsky is a volunteer reporter. He works for free.
Ex-Deter wrote:
“Part of the reason I believe I was let go is because Coleman and Harvey Ovshinsky would rather have a position in the WDET newsroom go to Noah than to me.”
Noah isn’t a permanent staff member in the WDET newsroom. Why are you so mad at him???
“Noah isn’t a permanent staff member in the WDET newsroom. Why are you so mad at him???”
He isn’t yet. I have no doubt that his daddy and Coleman have a plan in the works. Several current and former WDET employees tell me that I’m probably correct.
I also have no doubt he violated the sanctity of the newsroom. For the three and half years I was at WDET, it was understood that what was discussed in the newsroom stayed there. Based upon overhearing a couple interactions between Noah and Coleman, I believe Noah passed along some of our conversations to Coleman.
Besides, to a listener, it is not obvious who is a staff reporter and who is a volunteer. To be honest, I assumed Noah was a paid staff member and I know I am not the only person who thinks that.
It is sad that WDET/WSU simply refuses to openly address the issue. Would it really be worse if they simply issued a press release stating that due to declines in pledges, they were forced to lay off certain staff members and then identify those staff members? Many people are wondering what happened to Craig Fahle, Jon Moshier, Jeff Wattrick, etc…
To answer your question…
I, Craig Fahle, left WDET in April for a NEW position in Charlotte, NC.
I left on my own for an opportunity to try my skills at a management position there.
I was not forced out, pushed out, or pressured to leave in any way.
I left on my own terms for a better position.
For what its worth, I value each and every day I spent at WDET, and thank them for the opportunities my time there provided for me. I had a good run, but eventually, the body tires of waking up at 3:00 every morning.
I genuinely hope that WDET finds its footing, and rebounds from its current situation. THE INSTITUTION is worth saving.
I hope that clears up any confusion.
Sincerely,
Craig Fahle
Assistant News Director
WFAE, Charlotte Public Radio
Craig, thank you for clearing that up. I am one who misses your voice in the morning.
No problem, and thanks for the kind words. Who knows, I may be back that way someday. It’s hard to leave one’s hometown.
Sorry Lori.. But the Fall 2005 pledge drive WAS designed to fail from the start.. It was not broadcast throught out the day and short lived. Then MC SELF DECLARED F A I L U R E and the cuts were made.. I appears it was predestined and MC was only the hatchet man.
Did you not notice how the spring 2006 drive was extended and how they HAMMERED during the day and night AND then they claimed sucess by exceeding their REDUCED goals. Both WUOM AND WRJC exceeded their expectatations, while WDET (which had sucessful past drives lost its base due to the events posted here….
Further Lori… Well if these NEWS craving people stepped up to the plate and put their $$ where their mouth is maybe they might have raised enought funds to keep pace with WUOM and WRJC..
This station was defined AS a music station. It was supported for decades that way. You can’t just KICK the music fans out and not expect us to express our dissatisfaction…
Further…. Sorry but I don’t download music (like everyoone else) Sorry I don’t have sattalite dish on my car and WDET has a GREAT HD terristial signal (supported by Music fans for decades) and we feel like we we ripped off to have this station RE FOCUSED they way it was…
Further Lori if you think the quality of the “talk” is meaningful then I do feel for you. Really…. I found it generally useless. I would say thay when I did try to listen to it perhaps 20% had substance…. Maybe 20%.. We live in a world where we are bombarded with “talk” Sorry But I am quite able to conclude many things without outside inputs.. Sometimes I might collect additional facts to round out my opnions Like WDET is sometimes capable of doing but generally I find their talk to be of little use..
The MUSIC was an oasis for us to find some peace and turn off the wheels in our heads.
I find people who must have “Talk.. News.. Opnions… Discussions.. Always…. on going in their lives… to be running from their own thoughts… Do you really find 2 year old interviews on WDET to be truly meaningful ?? How about that 1/2 hour discussion on chlorostrol ??? Which was re broadcast on a Sat Night when it’s time to party ??? Or maybe Ed’s morning show that MUST find an Afro Centric Reason in EVERYTHING…. Please… Did you notice how recently the DSO show was moved away from its long time broadcast slot On Sunday prime time replaced with Deep River…. Look and maybe you’ll see……
Hey.. Here is something I found regarding WDET’s claim that their listener numbers are up… Oh Yea.. Sure .. .. After all one of the reasons they said they lost listenership in 2005 was due to audience fragmentation… Well they have really sliced and diced their listerership further and now MC claims he has the station moving in the right direction… Real Genius’ Eh !!
OK check this out.. I found this doing a web search
But the big queston is: Is WDET-FM Better as a music Station with news in the Mix or a News Station with with little or no music, according to a story in yesterday Detroit News The station have More listern then in the Fall 2005 book(Oct,Nov,Dec) by 12,000 listeners (161,000 WB06 vs 149,000 FB05) also what they did not tell you that the Super Bowl was in town in feburay and not only it increse Nuberburs at DET, But also WJR-AM(760),WWJ-TV(950), and the two all sports stationWDFN-AM(1130) and WXYT-AM(1270)
What has happened to the station is awful. I was exposed to new music on a continual basis. If it is true that Martin broke the rules/law, then he should have been fired, but replacing him with the talk radio we have now is just not working. News and Notes with Ed is further fragmenting the situation by providing an afro-centric position. I’m sorry, but not everyone who listens to WDET is interested in an afro-centric point of view. This show fragments the former audience, it does not provide a benefit. The ‘BBC world have your say’ program is total crap, they can’t even find a way to mix the audio properly to hear half of whats said. On top of this, the station pays more for this obviously inferior programming. What a completely idiotic management desicion it was to change the format. Now I listen to WJR and actually have learned to enjoy Rush Limbaugh. Before I was exposed to great music and culture and now I get right-winged propoganda shoved down my throat with commercials. I will not donate to the station anymore and to be honest I won’t miss it much when it’s gone with the exception of Liz Copeland and Ed Love.
If you are a Martin Bandyke fans from his WDET days like I am… He now has a show on WQKL in Anna Arbor, 107.1 Monday through Friday 6:00 AM until 10:00 AM Monday through Friday and Sunday 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM. The station also streams world wide over the internet at: http://2005.annarbors107one.com/pages/streaming.html