Stations flip formats Wavelength: Baltimore's Public Radio Journey

The 1980s and 1990s were a time when many local radio stations were coming into their own. Building, reorganizing, working out the kinks. It was also a time when many stations changed formats. You’ll hear more about that on this episode.

Guests: 


Dr. Baruti Kopano
James “Big Jim” Staton
Isisara Bey
John Wesley
Jonathan Palevsky
Andy Bienstock
Ellen Beth Levitt
Bob Benson
Jim Armstrong
Wendy Williams

Production and support for this podcast was brought to you in part by PNC Bank.

Transcript
MUSIC: "Dire Ghost" by Blue Dot Sessions.

MARIA BROOM: This is Wavelength: Baltimore’s Public Radio Journey from Your Public Studios, a monthly podcast series made possible by PNC Bank. I’m your host Maria Broom. 

The 80s and 90s were a time when many local radio stations were coming into their own…building, reorganizing, working out the kinks...It was also a time when many stations changed formats. You’ll hear more about that on today’s episode.

Last month we looked at how stations provided opportunities for emerging talent in 70s. That’s also true about WEAA in the 80s says Dr. Baruti Kopano , chair and professor of Morgan State University’s Department of Multiplatform Production. He says the ability to get hands-on experience prepared a future generation of media professionals, several of whom you may be familiar with. 

DR. BARUTI KOPANO: We look at a person like an April Ryan, who most people know her as a White House correspondent. An African American woman who was my classmate, we were classmates at Morgan. Literally we sat in the same classes together. She spent time at WEAA. We look at a person we can find in the D.C. market now on air–that’s been on the air for many years–Earl Fisher. Earl Fisher was on WEAA when I was at WEAA. A lot of people don’t know this but the playwright and filmmaker Dave Talbert also had a stint at WEAA. WEAA recognized that we want to train our folks to go out all over the world. And I just really want to emphasize that historic role and how important it was to providing us quite frankly with some of the most important media players even today. It was not uncommon for commercial program directors, mostly program directors, but commercial radio station program directors to tune into WEAA to find out who's the next person that’s ready out of that station.

BROOM: As Dr. Kopano mentioned, he was a Morgan State University student and in 1985, he got his shot to go on the air.

KOPANO: WEAA announced that it was having quote on quote try-outs. This was my first semester at Morgan. And I guess back in the day they just put up flyers or something along those lines before all the digital stuff was here, that’s what we did. And indeed I went out to the audition and these were all undergraduate students and I knew most of the folks who were there. And a few of us were offered positions and I was blessed to be one of those who was offered a position on-air, immediately. I was an on-air announcer, I had a show, it was one day a week. It was called The Last Radio Show from 7 PM until midnight. And it was an eclectic taste of music, but it was mostly music-based, jazz-based, format. And then also I was the producer of some special content based on some of my interests. So one of the things I did was produce a radio feature, a long form radio feature, a documentary on Malcom X. And I was a board op for the Left Bank Jazz Society along with other folks. I wasn’t the only one, there were many of us who board opped. The Left Bank Jazz Society was one of the most famous jazz organizations on the East Coast and they were really committed to preserving the music and culture of jazz. So WEAA extended an opportunity to The Left Bank Jazz Society members to come in and not just play the music but to talk about the music. Sometimes to invite those folks who actually were producing the music on, into the studio, on the phone to talk about. So it was no thing for us to see a Gary