TOM RIELAND

By now, many of you interested in public radio and WOSU in particular have heard of WOSU’s acquisition of 101.1 FM. If not, access the WOSU Press Release for more information. This is about listening to our membership and having the rare opportunity to find a way to serve their desires. We know the performing arts in this community are under stress, but we are convinced a strong, locally based, talent filled classical music station that is 24/7 will not only serve the needs of listeners, but bring more people to local performances and build a greater appreciation for all the performing arts in Columbus — from the Opera to the Symphony to the Ballet to the Jazz Orchestra. And, we’ll not just be premiering Classical 101 FM in Columbus soon, but also bringing online an all classical station, WOSB in Marion at 91.1 FM to serve the northern part of the Columbus market.

We also believe a journalistically sound local and NPR news station that is 24/7 on the FM band can serve this community with international, national, state and local news better than any other radio station in central Ohio. Of course, we are doing that already on WOSU AM, but now more people will have access to WOSU’s news and talk programming at 89.7 FM.

A passionate team of folks at WOSU, Ohio State and the community, along with advisors from well outside this community, from Denver to D.C., made this historic purchase possible.

WOSU radio came into existence in 1922 as one of the first educational radio stations in America. FM came on the air in 1949, even though there were few FM radios until the 1960s. WOSU added regional stations in an impressive partnership with four Ohio communities in the early 1990s…and now, in 2010, a new station is part of our network.

More to come about our programming plans soon. So far, the reaction from listeners has been extremely positive and, since we have a few months before the switch to all news and all classical, we have time to work through any concerns.

Finally, my deepest thanks go to our leadership at WOSU and to President Gee, Tom Katzenmeyer and Geoffrey Chatas at Ohio State, who so believed in our plan that they supported it from day one! We believe the greater Columbus community will support these efforts as well. As WOSU supporter and local performing artist, Christine Mortine says “This is Wonderful…Lucky Columbus.”

WOSU and other stations in the Columbus market will soon be involved in a rollout of mobile digital television — that’s where you can watch over the air programming on your enabled smart phone without surfing the Internet. WOSU will use a portion of its digital broadcast signal to link our programming to your mobile device. The pilot tests in Washington are showing some positive results according to TV NewsCheck’s report:

Among the findings:

* Viewers say they are excited about the potential of mobile DTV. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being “not at all excited” and 10 being “extremely excited”), initial survey participants rate mobile DTV as 7.1.
* Most viewing is happening “on the go.” Nearly two-thirds of viewing (63%) is being done “on the go,” compared with 44% happening at work or at school, and one-third (33%) of viewers say they tune in from home.
* Viewers are tuning in multiple times a day. Just under half of viewers say they watch one or two times a day. Just under 30% of viewers say they watch three or more times a day.

The trial involves about 150 consumers and nine TV stations in DC broadcasting 23 channels with dozens of free programs on specially-equipped mobile DTV receiving devices. Public television programming is among the channels provided. The service also includes interactive advertising, electronic program guides, closed captioning and emergency alerts…it also bypasses the slow Internet and goes straight to your mobile device.

The trial started in May with consumers equipped with a specially-modified Samsung Moment phone. This week, prototypes of the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbooks with built-in mobile DTV receivers will be deployed. Mobile DTV-equipped DVD players from LG Electronics and Tivizen receivers from Valups are next up. We’ll keep you posted.

WOSU has a track record of some interesting fundraisers, but our fourth annual Chefs in the City fundraiser is unlike any in this community or in the country!  We had over 150 folks at our studios at WOSU@COSI on April 15th to experience some of the top chefs in central Ohio and special guest, Rick Bayless, who runs the Frontera Grill in Chicago and has a PBS cooking show, Mexico- One Plate at a Time. It was basically an eight course meal with the specialties cooked before your very eyes and then you eat each of them!  Rick was awesome as was our many partners for the evening.  We sold out quickly this year and should again next year….so if you see CHEFS IN THE CITY tickets for sale, snap them up!

Join the conversation and be a part of the studio audience as WOSU Public Media hosts a town hall forum, moderated by WOSU’s Ann Fisher, to discuss the issues that face one of our community’s most vibrant neighborhoods: The Short North.  The one-hour televised forum will be held on Thursday, April 22 at 6pm at the Battelle Studios at WOSU@COSI (333 W. Broad Street).

Before he ran for the Ohio Supreme Court over 24 years ago, Tom Moyer was a proud member of the WOSU Friends Board. He was a lifelong supporter of all things WOSU and most recently was excited to hear about our Columbus Neighborhoods documentary series. He was a history nut and once described for me in great detail the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. It’s due to Tom Moyer that we have television cameras in the Ohio Justice Center and you can watch Supreme Court proceedings on the WOSU Ohio channel. He believed the judicial process required transparency.

In a world of political partisanship and hyperbole, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer stood out as soft-spoken, humble, and gentlemanly. Every part of the WOSU family mourns his passing. 

WOSU is proud to present the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) and the music of Louis Armstrong’s famous Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings broadcast this week  — Wednesday, March 24th at 9 pm — on WOSU TV in high definition.  This was a concert taped last month at the newly renovated Lincoln Theatre in Columbus.

The music of the Hot Five and the Hot Seven is considered by most critics to be among the finest recordings in jazz history.  The Hot Fives began in 1925 and the instrumentation included trumpet, clarinet, trombone, piano and guitar/banjo with the addition of drums and tuba in 1927 to make the Hot Sevens.  “With each single that Armstrong released during this era, musicians would wait with baited breath to hear what he was going to do, and then they’d try to emulate the style,” describes Byron Stripling, Artistic Director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. “He forever altered American music in three ways – rhythmically, melodically, and harmonically… and Armstrong was the first great soloist, with the trumpet being the lead voice in an ensemble… This era was truly Armstrong’s most creative.”

Byron talks more about the influence of Louis Armstrong on his career as part of the program, which is produced by Cindy Gaillard.  WOSU produced the program without any external funding to expose the community to more of our fine Jazz Orchestra and to experiment with using multiple robotic cameras at the Lincoln Theatre.  In this case, seven robotic cameras were used with an operatorsof the robotics and a director calling the camera shots in the basement production room at the Lincoln.  It was primarily a 2-3 person remote HD production, without the major costs that usually come with such a project.  Our overarching goal is drive down the cost of producing concerts like this one to allow WOSU to produce more local programming efficiently. More to come!

The first of six documentaries focused on telling the history of the core neighborhoods of Columbus airs this Monday night at 8 pm on WOSU TV. It is an amazing piece of work from WOSU producer Mary Rathke and our production team.  What is unique about this project is that anyone can be part of it. Simply go to www.columbusneighborhoods.org and contribute your story of growing up and living in central Ohio.  Pick one of 30 neighborhoods and upload video, images or just tell your story.  Create a gallery for all your stuff.  We’ve had an amazing reaction to this project across central Ohio and beyond:

The Columbus Dispatch featured a review of the Short North documentary.
The onCampus publication at Ohio State described the entire project well.
The Columbus publication 614 did a nice feature.

A public media “visionary” - Rob Patterson, who lives in Prince Edward Island described this innovative project as model for public stations across the country.

Tune in at 7:30 pm Monday for a half hour program about the entire project and at 8 pm for Columbus Neighborhoods: Short North.  Coming this fall, a profile of German Village! Let us know what you think.

Paul Kangas, who has been with NBR since its debut 30 years ago, retired Thursday. His successor, Tom Hudson, will take over tonight anchoring from Miami, where “Nightly Business Report” is produced by the public station WPBT. He will join the co-anchor Susie Gharib, who will continue to be based at the New York Stock Exchange. We understand the new Nightly Business Report will include cool sets, new graphics and music and a new roster of commentators.

The NY Times Sunday edition reported on the transition as follows:

Three decades ago, “Nightly Business Report” led the way in dedicated business coverage on television, but its turf was encroached upon by cable channels, including CNBC and Fox Business Network, public radio’s weekday “Marketplace” program and myriad Web sites and mobile apps that give consumers immediate access to financial data.

Ratings have been slipping but remain strong; Stuart Zuckerman, vice president for sales and marketing for “Nightly Business Report,” said the program in November drew an average 205,000 adult viewers ages 35 to 64 each night, putting it ahead of CNBC’s top-rated “Closing Bell.”

WOSU airs Nightly Business Report at 7 pm daily on WOSU HD.

Tom Hudson, new co-anchor of Nightly Business Report

WOSU is one of the community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. This past Tuesday, WOSU Public Media presented YOUNG@HEART at the Gerlach Center for Senior Health.

Prepare to be surprised, delighted and entertained by the inspiring members of the Young@Heart Chorus, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their renditions of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay.

Marcelita Haskins, Director of Educational Services for WOSU Public Media fills us in on the event:

Folks packed the room for the wonderful documentary, YOUNG@HEART, which airs on WOSU TV in January as part of the Independent Lens series.

A 90-year old woman opened the dialogue by telling the group that she’d had a very busy schedule the day before going from one meeting to another covering politics, theology and socialization. “The only thing I did not have time for was sex…but it was already 8:30 and I was tired.”

The discussion centered on the stereotypes associated with aging and how easily they can be broken and dispelled. Participants agreed that a sense of purpose drew the choir members together and strongly motivated them notwithstanding physical, health, and other problems.

The seeming contradiction between singers in their eighties (and older) and rock/punk music added much to the appeal of the documentary for our audience.

The film was affirming to the audience (many of whom are the age of the choir members). Many talked about engaging with the community and the continuing pursuit of activities they love including volunteering and helping others.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this event such a success.

We had what could easily become an annual tradition at WOSU today…the ugly holiday sweater contest. See for yourself. Note Ann Fisher’s reindeer and the sparkly Mike Thompson.

The WOSU Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest 2009 Finalists