July 21 update

Dear Cape Local Radio Supporters,

Many of you have reached out with questions about where things stand with WCAI, WGBH, and the Davis House. We’ve withheld commentary, throughout active negotiations between the community and WGBH, but it’s time for a statement, which carries both our frustration and hope. At the end, we’ll suggest some solutions and action plans. We'll post this email at this link, if you feel it’s important to share. 

All events and press coverage are archived at capelocalradio.com. But in brief, last fall, the local community and CAI staff discovered that the historic building at #3 Water St, the Captain Davis House, was to be sold by GBH in secret, with a buyer committed. GBH's stated reasons were a need for cash, and dissatisfaction with the historic building, CAI’s cherished home for 25 years. 

Intense community concern ensued, and after a long process, the original buyer transferred the purchase option to the Woods Hole Community Association, and that arrangement was accepted by WGBH. This was a remarkable event, because the WHCA had to raise almost two million dollars in a few weeks.Donations, large and small, came from locals, listeners, public radio producers and supporters from around the world. It was an astonishing outpouring of love for public media.

Subsequently, the Community Association offered to keep WCAI in the Davis House rent-free for five years. But GBH declined, in a move that is still mystifying to most observers. 

Corporate press release statements from GBH have done little to clarify. No local comment was invited. The community has never been engaged. GBH has, instead, chosen to relocate to a building behind Highfield Hall in Falmouth, with renovation costs estimated at around one million dollars 

So, we are left with two community issues going forward.

1. What is the best use of the Davis House, now owned by the community?

2. What is the best way to continue to support our beloved local station, WCAI, in the face of these decisions by WGBH?

   
   

To Point #1, we refer you to the WHCA website where a community process has been started, inviting all to propose or recommend the best uses for that flagship building. This process should be concluded by the end of summer, as the GBH lease ends on November 1st. 

Point #2 is more complicated. On one hand, we all want to support local public media more than ever. On the other hand, the disrespectful way our local community has been treated by WGBH requires accountability. It is hard to feel good about donating at this point. 

The new management at GBH, with support of their Board of Directors, has dismantled an exemplary model of a successful local public broadcasting partnership. In an era of dismantling so many public service, mission-driven, socially responsible American enterprises, this one is particularly difficult, because it comes from inside.

So, what do we do? 

For that, we turn to the GBH tagline: "Trusted. Local. News."

1. Trusted.  Sadly, trust has been damaged. The first attempt should be to restore it. This will require GBH to actually engage with the local community. Public meetings should be held to explain past actions and describe concrete plans for the future. Trust will also require financial accountability. For local residents to feel comfortable giving away their money, they will need assurances about where the money is going. The Cape and Islands need to see, transparently, that their donations support CAI. 

2. Local.  People who live in a community know what's best for it. They may not always agree, but they share the environment and have experience with it. Boston is not the Cape, Coast and Islands. We are. We are happy to work together with Boston, but do not want to cede our identity to an urban network. When Boston makes decisions for us, we can feel the inauthenticity. When they refuse to hear us, we notice. We want to collaborate, but we will not be colonized and exploited for our donor base. 

3. News. GBH promised that local journalism would be improved by the sale of the Davis House. That has not happened. We have lost our excellent climate reporter, Eve Zuckoff. WGBH laid off the much admired editorial director, Steve Junker, which gutted listeners and staff. WCAI won 9 national awards this year. The staff who produced them are gone and have not been replaced. This is an abrogation of GBH's promise of more and better journalism with their profit from the real estate sale.

   
   

The community can help with all of this, if we are included. We raised two million dollars in less than a month to support local public media. Think of what we could do together. GBH just needs to prove, with action, that we want the same things: better public service and journalism for our region. Here are some sample recommendations:.

1. Start a local reporting fund, which can be supported directly and will be transparent to donors.

2. Add basic remote bureaus on both islands and the South Coast.  

We urge those on this email list to express their opinions. Contact WGBH Management and the Board of Directors and other interested parties, including the press and in social media.. 

GBH is holding a fundraising event for major donors in Woods Hole on July 25th. We urge GBH to address these questions and concerns before asking for our money and support. 

We are sincerely dedicated to public media, especially in this moment of crisis. But, we need public media to be dedicated to our community too. We need to improve communication. Finally, if GBH does not tangibly strengthen their commitment to locally-based journalism, we request that they relinquish control of CAI and return the broadcast licenses that this community gave them in good faith to begin with. 

We want radio that is truly local and that exists for the betterment of the community it serves. That is the only way forward for public media.

 Let's keep working on this. It's important.

CapeLocalRadio.com