A friendly buyer for the building, but WCAI is moving anyway

WGBH refuses an offer to stay five years, rent-free. How does that make sense?

“A service of WGBH”

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“WE DID IT!” announced the Woods Hole Community Association, meaning the village non-profit raised $1.8 million to purchase the Captain Davis House, long-time home of WCAI public radio, from CAI’s parent, WGBH in Boston.

Papers passed January 16. More than 350 donors stepped up, the smallest at $5, the largest the Community Association at $370,000, and the Woods Hole Foundation (another non-profit) at $335,600.

This is beyond well and good far as community organizing, but the remarkable intervention did not accomplish a key goal; ensure that CAI, public radio on the Cape and Islands, remains in the historic building.

Partial failure is no fault of the Community Association, which sweetened a deal for WGBH by offering five years rent-free for CAI to stick around.

GBH rejected the offer, informing CAI staff they will vacate. There has been no public notice of where and when, nor persuasive explanation why it makes sense to uproot the station, requiring what would be an expensive studio and infrastructure rebuild plus new monthly rent, to maintain a comparable presence.

Conjecture about GBH’s motivation includes the possibility that the long-term plan is to downsize CAI, making a handsome home unnecessary. GBH says this is not the case.

Also possible; the Boston powerhouse’s management mentality includes a need to “save face” and avoid further appearance that it bungled the whole situation. Backtracking to stay in Captain Davis House could be construed as yet more proof.

The Falmouth Enterprise, a bulwark of local journalism, expressed prevailing sentiment in an editorial on January 24 headlined, “Why Not Stay?” The concluding paragraph:

“GBH should scrap its plans to move CAI out of the Davis House and use a big chunk of the money it received from the sale, and some of the money it will be saving on rent, and — as it has continually said it is committed to doing throughout the Davis House saga — invest it in local journalism.”

GBH’s bewildering position is exacerbated (or perhaps created) by what presents as arrogance; station management has refused to share strategic thinking or financials that would shed light on CAI’s operations.

Now a broad opening salvo at public broadcasting has been fired by the returning Trump administration — an investigation into underwriting practices, according to the new head of the Federal Communications Commission. His stated goal is to justify eliminating federal funding for public television and radio.

In this national context, GBH’s decision to turn its back on profound grassroots support becomes even more mystifying, and troubling.

Multiple requests to GBH to be more transparent have been rebuffed or ignored. Here’s the latest example, an email sent January 26 to director of marketing Tina Cassidy, their point person:

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Greetings Tina Cassidy,

Now that WGBH has sold its Woods Hole real estate to a community non-profit for $1.8 million, and received an offer for five years rent-free occupancy for WCAI at that attractive location, there is no apparent reason to continue to refuse to answer basic questions about GBH’s relationship to the Cape community, financial and otherwise – if reasons ever existed.

Despite this generous, supportive community offer, apparently WGBH still plans for CAI to vacate the Captain Davis House, with justification that more parking, a conference space, and a revamped broadcast studio are required.

No location is perfect. Renting or purchasing another site with what likely would be very expensive moving, renovation, and infrastructure requirements, versus working rent-free in an iconic Woods Hole building, is a difficult decision to comprehend.

People conjecture a longer term rationale; that WGBH is interested in downsizing its Cape presence, reducing staff and news coverage, so a landmark “footprint” would not be necessary.

Will GBH commit to maintaining present staffing levels at CAI for the next five years — the term now offered for rent-free occupancy — regardless of the station’s physical location?

Of even more import, GBH has refused to release financial information about any aspect of CAI’s operation, any specifics that would provide a transparent picture of CAI’s fiscal standing under the GBH umbrella.

There is no conceivable public-service justification for this.

On the contrary, there is an affirmative public interest in providing a detailed accounting of this relationship. Continued failure to do so raises fundamental questions about GBH’s accountability and conduct, which can only undermine underwriting, memberships, donations, and confidence.

Please refer to previous correspondence, Questions WGBH should answer about WCAI -- for Cape Cod, for specifics and reconsider your position which can only be interpreted as indicating that the public does not have a right to know this information.

Please acknowledge receipt, preferably with a short timeline to receive a detailed response. Of course I am available for a conversation as well.

Thank you,

Seth Rolbein

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Their response, once again: Crickets.

That’s the sound we expect from an anonymous corporate entity. To hear it from the nation’s flagship non-profit public television and radio station, whose mission is public service, whose motto is “What Matters to You,” whose tagline is “Trusted. Local. News,” is a condescending insult verging into public betrayal.

That said, there’s still opportunity to turn this around. That should be “what matters” to WGBH.

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