 |
 |
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
 |
|||
Search committee named to seek WBUR general manager
By Brian Fitzgerald
|
|
Peter Fiedler Photo by Fred Sway |
|
|
|
WBUR-FM is looking for a few good men and women — to apply for the station’s general manager position. Interim general manager Peter Fiedler recently assembled a search committee and retained an executive search firm to help find the best possible candidate to run the University-owned National Public Radio station.
The committee, which Fiedler is chairing, consists of Bob Oakes, host of the WBUR newsmagazine Morning Edition, COM Associate Dean Tobe Berkovitz, Katherine Kennedy, director of the University’s Howard Thurman Center, Anne Donohue, a COM associate professor of journalism, Sam Fleming, director of news and programming at WBUR, and John Imbergamo, BU associate vice president of financial affairs.
The executive search firm Korn/Ferry International will assist with the process of looking for the right person. Fiedler told WBUR staff of the makeup of the search committee in an e-mail on March 15. He says the committee will meet for the first time in the next week.
Fiedler, an assistant vice president at BU, took over as interim general manager last October following the resignation of former general manager Jane Christo amid allegations of mismanagement.
According to David Mead-Fox, senior client partner at Korn/Ferry, his firm is just beginning to define the qualities, background, and other qualifications that candidates should have. “I will be meeting with a number of WBUR staff and others to secure input and ideas,” he says. Mead-Fox “is an experienced and highly regarded consultant with numerous successful recruiting assignments at the national level,” says Joseph Mercurio, BU’s executive vice president.
Fiedler and other search committee members say that initially they are seeking someone with strong leadership capabilities and a knowledge of the intricacies of public radio. “We want someone who is a good people person, who is going to appreciate the varied personalities of people who work in public radio in general,” says Fiedler. “We’re looking for an intelligent programmer, and at the same time someone who has a good comprehension of the administrative responsibilities of the position. Because of WBUR’s reputation, I think we’ll draw a large number of applicants.”
The candidate “will also need to understand the landscape WBUR and other public radio stations are operating in,” says Fleming, “and to figure out how to best lead WBUR into the future — making sure it keeps growing in terms of serving its listeners and being a leader in the public radio system. That will include the Internet, satellite radio, and even podcasting.” Podcasting is the delivery of audio to portable media players on demand — a user can listen to the content at his convenience. WBUR provides 20 hours of programming a week to satellite radio station XM.
Kennedy, a former Pulitzer prize–winning journalist, says the new general manager “should have a great deal of experience in public radio and a love for quality journalism and possess good management skills.”
The search committee is a well-balanced group, Fiedler says, with extensive knowledge of media — public radio broadcasting in particular — and Boston University. Oakes, who has been at WBUR for 15 years, worked previously at WEEI-AM in Boston and the CBS Radio Network. Berkovitz has been a political media consultant on presidential, senatorial, congressional, and gubernatorial campaigns. Kennedy, who earned her Pulitzer covering Boston’s 1974 busing crisis, is a former BU development officer. Fleming, a 14-year veteran of WBUR, also has broadcast experience in public and commercial television. Donohue is an award-winning public radio producer and editor with both national and international experience. Imbergamo is a highly experienced nonprofit financial manager and is familiar with the unique financial aspects of broadcast operations, having been involved in the operation of WABU, the independent television station BU owned from 1993 to 1999.
“All these people will bring a unique perspective to the search,” says Fiedler.
Although Fiedler realizes that WBUR staff, listeners, and the Boston University community would like to be well-informed throughout the search process, he says, some of the best candidates will participate only if they can be assured of confidentiality.
The committee will ultimately recommend several candidates as finalists, all of whom will meet with Fiedler, President ad interim Aram Chobanian, and Mercurio. The aim is to appoint a new general manager by September, according to Fiedler, but there is no official deadline. “We will evaluate each candidate thoroughly, and if we still haven’t found the right person, we’ll spend more time,” he says. “There’s no hurry.”
25
March 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations