Fwd: An important update from the WBRU General Manager

[bsa...@verizon.net]

I continue to believe that this is a great mistake - but I'm just some old-guy alum, what do I know?

 

Paul Payton '69

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Kishanee Haththotuwegama '19, WBRU GM <bounce-mc.us12_49446885.1048269-paul=paulpay...@mail103.atl161.mcsv.net>
To: paul <pa...@paulpayton.com>
Sent: Wed, May 24, 2017 4:45 am
Subject: An important update from the WBRU General Manager

WBRU Alumni: An important message from the WBRU GM View this email in your browser Dear WBRU Alumni, A lot has been going on since I last emailed. I wanted to update all of you on what has been a busy spring here at WBRU. First things first. On April 28th, the student members of WBRU voted overwhelmingly to authorize the sale of the 95.5 FM signal and the transmitter. We intend to retain all the intellectual property pertaining to WBRU. As many of you are aware, this decision was preceded by years of evaluating how or whether to even continue to focus the workshop on FM radio. The decision culminated this spring following thousands of hours of work by students and alumni together to look at alternatives and possible futures. Ultimately, the student members made clear with their votes that it is time to embrace a new era where Brown can once again lead all college-run media organizations moving into new platforms and products that will continue to shape the media landscape - the same spirit of innovation that led to the birth of WBRU-AM and later, WBRU-FM. We intend to continue to have a commercial-scale operation where concern for our audiences is a driving force and students are challenged to meet high professional standards. This past weekend (May 19th-21st), student and alumni committee members met at Brown in a workshop that aimed to shape WBRU in the 21st century. After days of constructive collaboration and discussion, we reached a consensus on the direction of a new, sustainable workshop. We envision a content-based media entity (with elements of news, music & 360), distributed on multiple platforms and supported by a structure that includes a “Research and Development” component for developing new platforms and content initiatives. This vision resonated strongly with the students who feel that WBRU has, for both structural and budgetary reasons, lacked the ability to act on the innovative spirit in which it was founded.   Given that outcome, we are now moving forward with the sale of the signal and transmitter in the coming months. As one student put it this weekend, “we are choosing to sell, not being forced to sell.” When the time comes for WBRU to leave 95.5, we will have already launched two internet-based live streams as part of a “continuity plan,” one for the current alternative rock format, and one for 360 - giving 360 its first 24-hour/7-day platform in WBRU history. In addition, we are looking to secure a place for 360 to continue to be broadcast on air Sundays via a different radio signal, ensuring that its service to the community will remain strong. More streams devoted to other kinds of programming are possible, and we will be investing heavily in efforts to link our current audiences with our new endeavors and platforms. With this vision in place, we plan to spend the summer delving into the details of creating the new model. There is a mountain of work ahead of us, and we would love each and every one of you with an interest in helping us to join the process. Expertise that would be the most helpful includes: music, branding, marketing, data analytics, technology and app development, social justice work, news, project management, interior design, IT, management consulting, voice over pros, and legal work. Whatever your expertise, there is a place for you in this process. Moving forward, we’re establishing new committees to explore and fulfill the needs we see for the new workshop. We are also creating a send-off extravaganza committee and will be looking for great audio. Please email us if you have station IDs, interviews, newscasts, DJ breaks and if you would like to be part of this project. If you are interested in being a part of this important process, please send an email with your thoughts to alu...@wbru.com. Just a note, the new committees will get underway the week of June 5th, so please be patient if we don’t get right back to you. We are also creating a private Facebook group to share updates on the process and ways you can be involved. The link here will direct you to it.   Thank you to all the alumni who have reached out in the past months (and years) with your advice, recommendations, and heartfelt emotions about WBRU and what it has meant to you. We look forward to your help creating a workshop that will again capture the energy, innovative spirit, and sense of mission that made it such a powerful force for you as students, and remains a strong part of your Brown experience as alumni. Hope to meet many of you in person at this Friday’s alumni cocktail party! All my best,  Kish   Kishanee Haththotuwegama ‘19 General Manager, WBRU Vice President, Brown Broadcasting Service, Inc.    P.S. The mission statement of WBRU, for those of us who don’t have a photographic memory, is: "To prepare and challenge Brown students to lead, manage and operate a self-supporting educational workshop focused on creating and distributing, via traditional and emerging media, music-centric entertainment, news and information content to young adults." The mission statement has evolved over the past decade, most recently in 2013, re-shaped by student voices that recognized a time when the radio market and the student workshop began irreconcilably diverging. Our mission statement hasn’t included the word “radio” for at least six years.   Copyright © 2017 WBRU, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a Brown University alum listed as a WBRU staff member. We are looking to rekindle the relationship between the station and its 80 years of alumni. Our mailing address is: WBRU 88 Benevolent St. Providence, RI 02906 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Copyright © 2017 WBRU, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a Brown University alum listed as a WBRU staff member. We are looking to rekindle the relationship between the station and its 80 years of alumni. Our mailing address is: WBRU 88 Benevolent St. Providence, RI 02906 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list