The Sound of radio

As WOSU Public Media enters into a new era and takes on the challenge of incorporating new and exciting types of programming, quality, which should never play second fiddle to innovation, is still the primary focus. The purpose of public media is to offer informative and entertaining programming that is of the utmost quality, not necessarily for the purpose of attracting sponsorship, but to satisfy its viewers. Publicly funded organizations aren’t off the hook of accountability to corporate sponsors; rather, they’re accountable to the public, and therefore bear a much greater burden than most privately funded organizations.

            Michael Rathke’s job as Radio Program Director is to ensure this level of quality. He has been here only since December, so Rathke is still learning for himself what this requires at WOSU. But he is no stranger to these types of decisions. Rathke has worked as program director in several metropolitan areas, and is excited about bringing his experience to WOSU’s longstanding tradition of quality. “I was attracted to WOSU first because it offers two separate radio program services, and second, because the staff and management of WOSU are recognized nationally.”

            Rathke’s job is to ensure quality, and that means sometimes he’s faced with extremely difficult decisions. Alluding to competition offering satellite and Internet radio, he says, “People can listen to any public broadcast that they want every morning, so WOSU needs to offer programming that is not only good, but unique, to stay competitive.”

            In order to ensure this level of quality, Rathke spends the majority of his time paying strict attention to “the sound of the program.” He means this in a technical sense, equating the sound almost completely with the production value of a program. Since the majority of radio hosts on WOSU programming are seasoned veterans, he doesn’t need to spend much time evaluating the quality of their performances. In the future, Rathke looks forward to becoming more familiar with WOSU Public Media, merging his attentiveness to quality production with the already stellar cast of hosts to create some truly special programming for the new millennium.

- By Brett Renzenbrink, OSU student intern

 

Anchoring the Flagships

Anchoring the Flagships

Talking with Marilyn Smith and Christina Morgan

 Marilyn Smith has been hosting Morning Edition, and Christina Morgan has hosted All Things Considered, for the past two and a half years. But both women started working at WOSU over two decades ago, as graduate students at Ohio State. Their WOSU careers since have included reporting, producing, hosting morning news and afternoon call-in talk shows, even serving as News Director. But, “I love anchoring,” says Marilyn, and Christina agrees. “You really feel like you’re connecting with the audience one-on-one.”

 
“Anchoring almost has a relaxing effect,” says Christina. “If I’m having a bad day it doesn’t matter, it’s not the audience’s problem. All they want is the information.” Marilyn adds, “It’s not about you. You are just the conduit. It helps you keep things in perspective.”

 
Both women admit that a challenge to hosting newsmagazines is the writing. It might sound like they’re talking off-the-cuff, but every news story is scripted. The trick is writing the script to sound like everyday conversation. And of course, not getting caught up in mistakes. “The joy of radio is that you can fall, recover, and move on,” says Marilyn. “You have to shake it off.” She remembers with laughter a time when Jo Ingles, now with the Statehouse News Bureau, used to work at WOSU. Marilyn handed off to Jo for the traffic report, “and all you heard was three breaths in, a huge sneeze, and then nothing. It sounded like Jo blew herself out of her seat!”

 
“It’s times like those that show the audience we’re human,” says Christina. And serving the audience is the hosts’ priority. “We wouldn’t be here without them,” Christina adds, “so we always keep the audience in mind, and always try to show respect for them. Our audience is so intelligent, it makes our work challenging – and fun.”