Now we know where WCAI is going -- physically
Yet still nothing from WGBH about station finances, or how local support plays out
There are good things to say about where WCAI, the Cape and Islands public radio station, will soon call home:
Still in Falmouth about four miles from Woods Hole in the “Newton wing” of Cape Cod Symphony’s satellite building (their main facility is in Barnstable).
In the fairy tale-ish realm of Highfield Hall and Gardens beside seasonal Falmouth Theatre Guild.
Abutting Falmouth’s revered conservation area, Beebe Woods.
With enough room to house staff and build a broadcast studio.
Beside a small recital hall that could host community events.
Facing plenty of parking.
Yet all the bad aspects of how WGBH, CAI’s parent and owner, handled this whole situation remain:
No heartfelt recognition of the remarkable outpouring that raised $1.8 million from non-profits and private donors to buy the historic Captain Davis house from GBH, a major goal being to keep CAI in the village. (A friendly buyer for the building, but CAI is moving anyway)
No good explanation for taking the money and then insisting on an expensive relocation, despite the buyer’s offer of free rent for five years.
No commitment to expand a local news-gathering organization.
No financial transparency about CAI’s operation, revenue, expenses, or relationship to its Boston parent, nor how and where Cape Cod financial support is applied. (Questions WGBH should answer about WCAI -- for Cape Cod)
For those who embrace the concept of feng shui, the traditional Chinese practice that harmonizes people and environment, optimizing good energy and vibes with spacial design, this whole situation is mystifying.
The feng shui of the Captain Davis house is conducive to creativity; historic, funky spaces on multiple floors that support eclectic spirits. Then there’s the feng shui of Woods Hole, still a village where you can walk for coffee or beer, rub elbows with world-class scientists (even if the federal government wishes otherwise), watch the water flow, run for a ferry, drum the driver’s wheel waiting for a drawbridge to close.
By contrast, the “campus” of CAI’s future is bucolic, removed, atop a hill above Depot Ave past Falmouth Academy and the local curling club. There is beauty there, old trees, marvelous landscaping, a former mansion now public resource, and parking. The summer theater (Cape Symphony also owns that building) bustles in season, but the area invokes detachment, old wealth, former entitlement versus the engagement a news organization craves.
The “Newton wing” is a low-slung addition to a nondescript building, home to a collection of rehearsal cubbyholes, and practice spaces down a central corridor, drop ceilings and fluorescent lights, no great architectural shakes.
But it’s good space with potential, and GBH is sending people over to take measurements for a major renovation (at major expense) in advance of a move in the fall. GBH will become a symphony tenant — no lease terms released.
There also will be technical challenges. Stations like CAI use a robust cable called a T-1 line to transmit to a broadcast tower (or elsewhere). Not cheap. These days microwave technology has improved and a landline might be replaceable, but again, not cheap. Additional radio infrastructure (including a studio) is sure to add significant expense on top of more conventional physical reno.
GBH should have strong interest in convincing the Cape community of the need and merits of this transition, to build support while an attack on the very idea and mission of public radio and television advances from Washington.
What has happened is the opposite. GBH’s community standing has been hurt. People agonize about this, they don’t want to damage CAI, but enthusiasm has dampened about sending money to GBH when there is no clear understanding of this decision nor how local support is applied locally.
We don’t know if anguish, even anger, might affect the latest on-air fundraiser that started on Wednesday, March 26, or impact donations and underwriting long-term. GBH will not reveal that. And so in the dark we remain.
There is one mitigating truth, however:
Even in the dark, radio can be appreciated.
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Ownership structure of WCAI should be reconsidered.
WGBH has lost its corporate freakin' mind. Perfectly good studios in Woods Hole in an ideal building that has been acoustically adapted to broadcast in the appropriate areas. Hey! Let's chuck all our assets there and move to another space and build from scratch. Not smart and not fiscally responsible. I miss the days when David Liroff and Henry Becton had oversight and kept the Cape and Islands operation 'reality based'. Thank you Jay, for sharing this.