WGBH pulls the building out from under WCAI

No warning, a “gag order," but community pressure may force a reversal

When a little Cape Cod public radio station called WCAI (as in Cape And Islands) launched in 2000, the first word transmitted, spoken by founder and prime mover Jay Allison, was this:

“Listen.”

It was a request but also advice, a clarion call, a reminder of something important.

Twenty-five years later, CAI’s owner and manager, WGBH in Boston, flagship of national public television and radio, would do well to take that idea to heart:

With no notice, on October 25, GBH announced that it was selling CAI’s home since birth, the historic Captain Davis building in Woods Hole. A private developer would evict CAI (with GBH’s blessing), and remove the building from community service. No new home for the station yet exists.

GBH must have known they were exploding a cultural grenade in the middle of Woods Hole, with plenty of peripheral damage to Cape Cod. They also directed CAI staff (GBH signs the paychecks) to make no public comments.

“A gag order?” mused Jay Allison, who decades ago put his credibility on the line to bring in WGBH to own the building and manage the licenses, with commitments to support local news and programming. “Everybody’s gagging on that.”

Allison is a national force in public radio, creator of shows like “The Moth Radio Hour” and “This I Believe,” his own media company also based in Woods Hole. This gives him credibility, and latitude.

“I see it as a betrayal of the staff and listeners in this community,” he said. “Yes, it’s a betrayal of me too, but so what? … If this was the cutthroat corporate world, I’d say yeah, they kicked my ass this time but you expect that behavior. With public radio you expect transparency, openness, honesty, decency.

“Instead, they’re behaving like a Colonial power.”

Jay Allison

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Within a few days, the home village that wasn’t included in GBH’s decision-making began to rally. Civic-minded, non-profit Woods Hole Community Association (formed in 1919) held an emergency meeting and upped the ante:

The Association would commit starter money of $300,000, “our money, our reserves” explained Association President Catherine Bumpus, then go into fundraising mode to purchase the building …

if given a chance.

“Yes, it’s an historical building, but it’s also what that historical building is housing,” said Bumpus. “CAI offers this community real news, a need not being met anywhere else.”

Less than a week after that meeting, Bumpus reported that the response from people in Woods Hole, or with connections to Woods Hole, has been overwhelming:

“I am now confident we have the capacity to raise the amount necessary to cover the asking price,” she asserted, reportedly $1.9-$2 million.

The speed at which the Community Association raised commitments to keep CAI home — or at least keep the building for community benefit — is proof that had GBH been interested, civic alliances could have been forged. As Allison put it, “This great initiative could have happened with GBH. Instead it’s happening against GBH.”

Asked about the possibility that another non-profit could save CAI’s home, a terse written statement from GBH CEO and President Susan Goldberg emerged: "We have accepted an offer but anyone may provide a backup bid.”

Then yesterday afternoon (November 7), local efforts continuing despite a momentous election, Goldberg crossed Cape Cod Canal to meet with staff first, then civic leaders like Bumpus and Allison.

While details of those meetings were not released, Goldberg apparently was informed that the Community Association is prepared to buy the building, allow CAI to remain as a tenant, plus throw in a rent-free period of perhaps multiple years. The Association also reportedly would cover all maintenance; they already own four buildings used for community events, so understand what that entails.

Despite this remarkable show of rapid community organizing and serious financial strength, putting on the table a great win-win, yesterday’s meeting did not seem to transform thinking at WGBH, at least not yet.

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With a story in flux, it’s good to anchor information with factual stakes, boundaries that stand however the drama unfolds:

• The Davis House was sold to GBH two decades at a reported price of around $600,000, considered a “collegial agreement,” not a sweetheart deal but not the max. Likely there is no mortgage. If there is, with 20 years since purchase, the remaining principal would be low.

• As a non-profit, GBH presumably is exempt from real estate taxes. The building’s overhead would amount to utilities, maintenance, and equipment. GBH asserts that this is as much as $200,000 a year, a figure that seems impossibly high for a building in excellent condition.

• One reason for that great condition is that direct taxpayer assistance, $267,000 of Community Preservation Act funds, was contributed for renovations, assuming community benefit. As a moral if not legal obligation, whether GBH would feel obligated to return those funds if the building is sold to a private developer is doubtful.

• According to multiple sources, that buyer would be Beth Colt, well known in Woods Hole, a former Hollywood entertainment industry executive turned real estate investor, owner of multiple properties including Woods Hole Inn, The Treehouse Lodge, and Quicks Hole Taqueria & Tavern. Colt is a partner at JM Forbes & Company, a corporator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. She also is a trustee at Martha’s Vineyard Bank and Falmouth Academy. Given Colt’s close association with Woods Hole, it seems possible if not probable that she has been in contact with the Community Association and Allison, so could become an ally rather than an adversary.

• CAI has a newsroom staff of seven full-time; reporters, anchors, and news director, including production support. The station once had two more editorial positions that GBH erased by attrition. There also are three part-time editorial positions. One “development” person works full-time on big gifts, and two more sell “underwriting,” as on-air advertising is politely called in public radio. Another development job also was cut by attrition.

• As this is a multi-story broadcast radio station, likely with no property taxes and no mortgage, it’s hard to imagine a comparable rented location would be less expensive. That said, and despite GBH’s assurances this won’t happen, if CAI became a “repeater” of the parent signal, expenses would reduce dramatically as local news diminishes or vanishes, jobs included. WBUR, another big public radio entity based in Boston, has a second signal on Martha’s Vineyard (92.7), but no staff or regular programming there. WCAI also has repeaters, WZAI in Brewster (94.3), WNAN from Nanucket (90.1). Each supports little more than a transmitter and antenna.

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“No matter what this turns into, here’s the real message for me,” mused Woods Hole Community Association President Bumpus. “I realize how important it is to have an organization and capacity already in place to respond to what happens in your community. You need to have a foundation to build off. If we didn’t have this, there’s no way we could have pulled it together this fast to get involved.”

One more takeaway ironically circles back a quarter-century to WCAI’s first moment, the succinct original advice, and what can happen when it is ignored:

“Listen.”

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Full disclosure: I’m proud to say that periodically (perhaps once a month) I contribute to WCAI’s “A Cape Cod Notebook,” essays described as “commentary on the unique people, wildlife, and environment of our coastal region.” Mine tend toward the personal, historical, cultural, and whimsical.

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