Ah, Souperwoman. How DO you do it? The videographer arrives from Frisco, the producer from Portsmouth, and the local guy connecting them with Knox County fishermen squires them to Lobsterman Art Johnson for a satisfying go-round in his backyeard amid his still-homeported trap gear. Then to the fish pier, where connector-man checks in with the Western Sea, Plan B, Double Eagle and other boats, all alive with spring-cleaning. He motions them on down to the end: Captain Fill of the ' Sea is willing to talk. They amble down, quick words along the way with the Live Lobster folk and the bait people.
We are all there at end of the fishpier, finally and the good Captain has allotted some time from his busy schedule, sitting relaxed on dock, while his crew works around him, grinning in anticipation of being video'd for national news distribution. The producer begins her low key language dance, working out the psycholinguistics for a good interview.
WHEN IN POPS A VILLAGE SOUP REPORTER
...stepping into the documentary space between the interviewer and her camera shooter, and Capt Fill. "Wait!" she announces, and the camera lowers, pulls back "Me first."
Danny Fill raises an eyebrow at the producer. She shrugs. The reporter demands the Captain's name, inquires as to his business (he tips his head toward the Western Sea, the steel herring seiner rising and falling in the Gulf of Maine swell behind him.) Meanwhile the interviewer, videographer trade glances with the local producer. He clears his throat. The Soupie stops (she is snapping photos of Capt Fill now) and then, recollecting that there ARE other people here, steps back, and Meg the producer restarts to her colloquoy with Danny Fill.
tend to modify the observed, a privilege that is reserved to the documentarians and their subject.
Or should be. Souperwoman stays inside the frame, for all the world as if this were a press conference.
Eventually the interview is over, and as the captain returns to working on his boat, we shift to a lobster smacker, back from transporting lobsters from island fishermen to the mainland. He is interested but declines, politely but firmly, to be interviewed. He does agree to talk off camera and Meg quizzes him about healthcare. The Village Soup reporter again inserts herself into the frame with her own questions and photography. The local producer moves up the pier, considering the next interviewees. They head to the North End Shipyard, where the wooden masts of half a dozen windjammers rake the sky.
Captain Brenda Thomas of the schooner Isaac Evans is nowhere to be found, but the Souper proves useful and finds him the boat's phone #. He calls and reaches her husband, who listens to the proposition of being interviewed. Shortly he walks up through the shipyard. An interview with he, (much Soup insertion, of course). Finally Captain Walker shows, agrees to be interviewed, too, and take camera crew aboard her schooner, clambering across another to reach the Isaac Evans. Only a bit of Soup this time, as the quarters aboard are rather tight for captain and documentary crew AND soup reporter.
Things come to an end. The footage is shot, the words are all in the can. A quick stop to get a release signature from Lobsterman Artie Johnson Local Producer, the the documentary crew a share a round at the Black Bull, and all go their seperate ways. Meg got what she came for. Consumers Union will have its health care story. Village Soup will have its story "the making of a documentary".
And when it duly is published, the local producer reads it and sighs. He's not in the "making of" story at all. A casual reader would think the Souper Reporter had done it all on her ownsome.
He jots her a quick email subject lined with a "Thanks for the coverage of the health care video crew" to fan her ego, but with this message in the body: "...And a hearty middle finger for leaving me entirely out of it."
Childish, but one must observe the proprieties.
Showing posts with label Rockland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rockland. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
WRFR- Station mgr deletes programmers' files without warning
WRFR's station manager Cathy McGuinness does it again.
This morning McG discovered that one of the station's pc computers' memory was only a few hundred megabytes from being full. Did she notify the station staff via her one-way-list serve (having shut down the two way one last month) and request they remove their info from the computer by some deadline, or at least download the offending data onto a CD, for program hosts to access later? While basic professionalism would augur for such simple courtesy, t'was not to be so. McG simply cleared it off and notified the staff and programmers after the fact.
"I don't think I deleted anything crucial to anyone's existance" she wrote, " but I do apologize if I deleted something that was important to you!"
Thanks a LOT, Cathy....
Sigh....
This morning McG discovered that one of the station's pc computers' memory was only a few hundred megabytes from being full. Did she notify the station staff via her one-way-list serve (having shut down the two way one last month) and request they remove their info from the computer by some deadline, or at least download the offending data onto a CD, for program hosts to access later? While basic professionalism would augur for such simple courtesy, t'was not to be so. McG simply cleared it off and notified the staff and programmers after the fact.
"I don't think I deleted anything crucial to anyone's existance" she wrote, " but I do apologize if I deleted something that was important to you!"
Thanks a LOT, Cathy....
Sigh....
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Village Soup - thin broth on railroad fumes
The Village Soup/Knox County Times editorial against regulating Maine Eastern Railroad's diesel fumes is a remarkable exercise in transforming a column of smoke into a tower of humbug. It being unsigned, let us give VS's anonymous editorial writer(s) the politically correct moniker Souperhuman
The basic premises of Souperhuman's opposition to regulating the MER's aged diesel engines are that, (1) trains being generally interstate commerce, regulation of their pollution discharges is the province of the federal government; (2) railroad interests would sue the city of Rockland; and (3) Can't prove its the train's pollution making the air in a Rockland neighborhood noxious.
Interstate Commerce. While this may be true in limited cases for interstate trains involved in interstate commerce, Maine Eastern's reoute begins in Rockland and peters out in Brunswick Maine, about 70 miles from the Maine border. Not crossing state lines, it does not fit into the category of interstate commerce. The feds have shrugged off enforcement of air pollution to the states; these have in large measure, fobbed off what they could to municipalities. Especially revealing was the admission at a recent city council meeting that MER's half century old diesels would not be allowed to operate in New York state because of their pollution discharges. Helloooo? Souperhuman?
SLAPPing Rockland. Railroad interests have threatened the city of Rockland with a SLAPP suit. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation work by threatening opponents of a polluter with costly lawsuits, that, regardless of outcome, will require expenditure on legal fees, filing costs and the other minutiae of litigation. But litigation is how we Americans defend and improve our republic. Without lawsuits,
As to the relative toxicity of the train's fumes, Souperman quotes a letter to the its editor from a local oil burner mechanic, who raises the 'diesel-engines-are-omnipresent-so-how-can-you- prove-it's-the-train-stinking-out-your-home?' argument. This claim, beloved of polluters everywhere, from cigarette makers to paper mills to construction debris incinerators, attempts a smokescreenian blurring of responsibility. If everyone's guilty, nobody's guilty!
But Maine's most important environmental law, the site location of development act, gives Maine regulators the authority to examine just that-- the cumulative impact of new additions to an area's air pollution load. No business may "adversely affect existing uses, scenic character, air quality, water quality..." in Maine. Even international shipping can have to meet local air pollution requirements while running their diesels while docked. This rather obvious applies to a diesel train running its engines while stationary at a terminal as well.
Stir the pot, Souperhuman! A bit of you-know-what has risen to your editorial surface.
The basic premises of Souperhuman's opposition to regulating the MER's aged diesel engines are that, (1) trains being generally interstate commerce, regulation of their pollution discharges is the province of the federal government; (2) railroad interests would sue the city of Rockland; and (3) Can't prove its the train's pollution making the air in a Rockland neighborhood noxious.
Interstate Commerce. While this may be true in limited cases for interstate trains involved in interstate commerce, Maine Eastern's reoute begins in Rockland and peters out in Brunswick Maine, about 70 miles from the Maine border. Not crossing state lines, it does not fit into the category of interstate commerce. The feds have shrugged off enforcement of air pollution to the states; these have in large measure, fobbed off what they could to municipalities. Especially revealing was the admission at a recent city council meeting that MER's half century old diesels would not be allowed to operate in New York state because of their pollution discharges. Helloooo? Souperhuman?
SLAPPing Rockland. Railroad interests have threatened the city of Rockland with a SLAPP suit. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation work by threatening opponents of a polluter with costly lawsuits, that, regardless of outcome, will require expenditure on legal fees, filing costs and the other minutiae of litigation. But litigation is how we Americans defend and improve our republic. Without lawsuits,
As to the relative toxicity of the train's fumes, Souperman quotes a letter to the its editor from a local oil burner mechanic, who raises the 'diesel-engines-are-omnipresent-so-how-can-you- prove-it's-the-train-stinking-out-your-home?' argument. This claim, beloved of polluters everywhere, from cigarette makers to paper mills to construction debris incinerators, attempts a smokescreenian blurring of responsibility. If everyone's guilty, nobody's guilty!
But Maine's most important environmental law, the site location of development act, gives Maine regulators the authority to examine just that-- the cumulative impact of new additions to an area's air pollution load. No business may "adversely affect existing uses, scenic character, air quality, water quality..." in Maine. Even international shipping can have to meet local air pollution requirements while running their diesels while docked. This rather obvious applies to a diesel train running its engines while stationary at a terminal as well.
Stir the pot, Souperhuman! A bit of you-know-what has risen to your editorial surface.
WRFR - station manager orders staff listserve shut down
WRFR's feisty 'google group' list serve, which let more than three dozen programmers and staff pass information between themselves and freely discuss station policies, has been ordered shut down by the new station mgr, who declared that programmers were using it to "vent their hostilities"
But, VENTING is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing. Rather than bottle up issues with station policies , with other programmers, staff or anything else , the google group's private internet forum let's the programmers exchange their differences of opinion in the semi-privacy that characterizes present day e-speech.
Besides, intermingled with these occasoinal purgative interpersonal staff encounters are more general concerns about station policies and their implementation, its finances, website, publications, equipment maintenance and all the other critical information flows and infrastructure. It can include goring of the station's sacred cows) and criticism of the station manager's style of executing her position
Regrettably Manager McGuiness seems to take fright at such evidence of genuine discourse among equals and has had the group shut down. While she may not even be aware of it, her latest action is one more in a series of essentially anti-democracy initiatives since her taking on the job. Reminiscent of the US foreign policy of dividing occupiedIraq into separate camps, the station's debating sides are to be protected from each others ideas and opinions.
But quashing collective discussion of or disagreement with her management schema, ending weekly decisionmaking staff meetings, replacing them with a host of committees whose every decision is subject to her veto; continuing a pocket veto of efforts by programmers to review station's finances; a seeming disinclination to notify certain "loose cannon" (her phrase) programmers when meeting times and agendas change; and the assumption of final authority to grant or deny new programmers slots on the "community radio" station's schedule--which is nearly bare of local community-related programming--none of these are appropriate for a community radio station.
McGuiness once explained her fundamental governance philosophy to me. WRFR's programmers are, inthe main, "sheep", I was informed, incapable of competent collective action, and must needs be herded about by the "strong" personalities among the station crew. There's something positively Ayn Rand-ish, Jack London-ish about that point of view, something I find to be ...incongruent with my notion of Community.
What I am encountering of course, is simply a radically different weltbild , or world view, in action. A hierarchic one, vertically integrating the station, its staff and programmers into a Quite a valid way of being, it is nevertheless nearly the opposite of my own more horizontally integrated metaphysic of give and take and innovation.
Coupled with her perception of the station's former use of weekly staff meetings to consider issues and make decisions, as a "quagmire", Ms McGuiness appears to have a bit of a fa_c_st tendency, perhaps appropriate in this "Lost Age" that the residents of planet earth are stumbling through at present
Vertical and horizontal organization are both perfectly legitimate ways of being in the world, but the former is, alas, turning out at WRFR to be very unforgiving of dissent or disputation with the established order, no matter how recently that order has been established. While this might be useful, necessary even, in the armed services, our community radio station is not a platoon; our community is not a war zone.
In fact, the sole host whose shows focus on local community issues (Penobscot Bay and Maine State Prison) may himself be at risk of being booted out for publicly criticizing the pace and priorities the manager has chosen, and for promoting shows apparently not consistent with her wishes. Uh oh...that 'sole host' is me! Here! Now!
Sigh. Watch this space.
But, VENTING is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing. Rather than bottle up issues with station policies , with other programmers, staff or anything else , the google group's private internet forum let's the programmers exchange their differences of opinion in the semi-privacy that characterizes present day e-speech.
Besides, intermingled with these occasoinal purgative interpersonal staff encounters are more general concerns about station policies and their implementation, its finances, website, publications, equipment maintenance and all the other critical information flows and infrastructure. It can include goring of the station's sacred cows) and criticism of the station manager's style of executing her position
Regrettably Manager McGuiness seems to take fright at such evidence of genuine discourse among equals and has had the group shut down. While she may not even be aware of it, her latest action is one more in a series of essentially anti-democracy initiatives since her taking on the job. Reminiscent of the US foreign policy of dividing occupiedIraq into separate camps, the station's debating sides are to be protected from each others ideas and opinions.
But quashing collective discussion of or disagreement with her management schema, ending weekly decisionmaking staff meetings, replacing them with a host of committees whose every decision is subject to her veto; continuing a pocket veto of efforts by programmers to review station's finances; a seeming disinclination to notify certain "loose cannon" (her phrase) programmers when meeting times and agendas change; and the assumption of final authority to grant or deny new programmers slots on the "community radio" station's schedule--which is nearly bare of local community-related programming--none of these are appropriate for a community radio station.
McGuiness once explained her fundamental governance philosophy to me. WRFR's programmers are, inthe main, "sheep", I was informed, incapable of competent collective action, and must needs be herded about by the "strong" personalities among the station crew. There's something positively Ayn Rand-ish, Jack London-ish about that point of view, something I find to be ...incongruent with my notion of Community.
What I am encountering of course, is simply a radically different weltbild , or world view, in action. A hierarchic one, vertically integrating the station, its staff and programmers into a Quite a valid way of being, it is nevertheless nearly the opposite of my own more horizontally integrated metaphysic of give and take and innovation.
Coupled with her perception of the station's former use of weekly staff meetings to consider issues and make decisions, as a "quagmire", Ms McGuiness appears to have a bit of a fa_c_st tendency, perhaps appropriate in this "Lost Age" that the residents of planet earth are stumbling through at present
Vertical and horizontal organization are both perfectly legitimate ways of being in the world, but the former is, alas, turning out at WRFR to be very unforgiving of dissent or disputation with the established order, no matter how recently that order has been established. While this might be useful, necessary even, in the armed services, our community radio station is not a platoon; our community is not a war zone.
In fact, the sole host whose shows focus on local community issues (Penobscot Bay and Maine State Prison) may himself be at risk of being booted out for publicly criticizing the pace and priorities the manager has chosen, and for promoting shows apparently not consistent with her wishes. Uh oh...that 'sole host' is me! Here! Now!
Sigh. Watch this space.
Monday, July 23, 2007
WRFR Community Radio under new management. New owner next?
Five years into broadcasting live local radio to coastal Knox County,Maine, low power FM community radio WRFR lpfm 93.3 Rockland/99.3 Camden takes on its third station manager on August 1, 2007.
Cathy McGuinness takes the helm August 1st. Her tasks are twofold - coordinate fundraising and simultaneously guide WRFR's low power FM license to a new non-profit home. The transition comes as the station's dynamic and charismatic founder Joe Steinberger (on left in photo) moves on to pursue other interests, and his interim replacement Emily Sapienza moves to a reporter's job at VillageSoup Times .
A group of programmers are looking to form a nonprofit organization to host the radio station.
WRFR LPFM broadcasts from studios in Rockland, with repeater station W257BI in Rockport. The station's volunteer programmers produce a diverse mix of country, classical, folk, rock, jazz, Christian, pop and other music.
WRFR also boasts a spectrum-spanning spoken-word show mix, ranging from news and comment to improving life skills, oversight of Maine state prison, military history, bible discussions, poetry and science fiction readings, book reviews, commercial fisheries news, Penobscot Bay area environmental news, and more. See station schedule.
WRFR's 100 watt transmitter in Rockland is licensed to the Penobscot School, the 150 watt repeater antenna in Rockport is licensed to the Community School in Camden.
WRFR began broadcasting on Valentine’s Day in 2002. Rockland attorney Joseph L. Steinberger founded the station in frustration at the limits on public access to the airwaves in the Knox County area. Steinberger describes these beginnings in a recent column.
A respected public defender representing indigent defendants before the District and Superior Courts in Rockland, Steinberger successfully applied to the FCC during the first round of licensing, making Rockland on of the first cities in America with a low power fm community radio license.
"I wanted it to be something that could be embraced by the whole community, and not have it be a very left- or right-oriented thing," said Steinberger in a Bangor Daily News article. "Not an elite thing. It is to be a medium for local discussion and talent. It’s not about being an alternative. It’s about being local."
About low power FM Radio:
* FCC's LPFM webpage
* Wikipedia on LPFM
* Prometheus Radio Project
To Contact WRFR:
WRFR 93.3 LPFM
20 Gay Street,
Rockland, Maine 04841
www.wrfr.org
(207) 594-0721
wrfr@wrfr.org
Cathy McGuinness takes the helm August 1st. Her tasks are twofold - coordinate fundraising and simultaneously guide WRFR's low power FM license to a new non-profit home. The transition comes as the station's dynamic and charismatic founder Joe Steinberger (on left in photo) moves on to pursue other interests, and his interim replacement Emily Sapienza moves to a reporter's job at VillageSoup Times .
A group of programmers are looking to form a nonprofit organization to host the radio station.
WRFR LPFM broadcasts from studios in Rockland, with repeater station W257BI in Rockport. The station's volunteer programmers produce a diverse mix of country, classical, folk, rock, jazz, Christian, pop and other music.
WRFR also boasts a spectrum-spanning spoken-word show mix, ranging from news and comment to improving life skills, oversight of Maine state prison, military history, bible discussions, poetry and science fiction readings, book reviews, commercial fisheries news, Penobscot Bay area environmental news, and more. See station schedule.
WRFR's 100 watt transmitter in Rockland is licensed to the Penobscot School, the 150 watt repeater antenna in Rockport is licensed to the Community School in Camden.
WRFR began broadcasting on Valentine’s Day in 2002. Rockland attorney Joseph L. Steinberger founded the station in frustration at the limits on public access to the airwaves in the Knox County area. Steinberger describes these beginnings in a recent column.
A respected public defender representing indigent defendants before the District and Superior Courts in Rockland, Steinberger successfully applied to the FCC during the first round of licensing, making Rockland on of the first cities in America with a low power fm community radio license.
"I wanted it to be something that could be embraced by the whole community, and not have it be a very left- or right-oriented thing," said Steinberger in a Bangor Daily News article. "Not an elite thing. It is to be a medium for local discussion and talent. It’s not about being an alternative. It’s about being local."
About low power FM Radio:
* FCC's LPFM webpage
* Wikipedia on LPFM
* Prometheus Radio Project
To Contact WRFR:
WRFR 93.3 LPFM
20 Gay Street,
Rockland, Maine 04841
www.wrfr.org
(207) 594-0721
wrfr@wrfr.org
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