MANY years ago, I had occasion to ask myself what it was about the New York Times that really differentiated it from other newspapers. Of course, the NYT had a wonderful and plentiful staff and a dedication to very high quality journalism. But, I began to realize that it was their attitude toward stories that made the most difference. While other journalism was focused on covering the news, the Times seemed to feel it should interpret and create a context for the news.

It was during an early terrorism attack in New York, when all of journalism seemed focused on sirens, ambulances, police and injured people — that the New York Times asked the question “What is safety?” and “Are any of us safe anymore,anywhere?” And, I remember saying to my young staff at NPR’s All Things Considered, “If we adopt this ‘larger context’ attitude, can we get to the big picture sooner than the weekend oped pages do?”

So, on that day, when the other media carried the gruesome details of the bombing in New York, instead of talking to police and security officials, we at NPR talked with psychiatrists and others of that ilk … about personal safety and how people perceive and respond to it being jeopardized. It turned out that is where the rest of the media got … on Sunday. We got there first not because we had a larger or better staff, but because it became our first destination on the search for the story. It became “special” and gave us real differentiation from other media.

A former President of NPR once described it as a “high quality all-news stream.” I didn’t agree then nor do I now. Streams don’t have any particular destination; they just meander. I think a first-rate news organization can and does have a destination. It is to provide a context and meaning to the individual stories that otherwise … simply meander through our normal media.

It could have been written by the head of NPR, but it actually is the mission, vision and value statement of Aljazeera America! Now we need to see if they live up to their pretty words.

Much as I respect outgoing NPR President Gary Knell, there really is a lesson to be learned here. 7 Presidents in 7 years! If we in public radio would stop worshipping and coveting those who don’t have the DNA and don’t really value NPR above all else, maybe we would elevate a true believer from WITHIN the system. There are such good people in the system including Wayne Roth, Stewart Vanderwilt, Mark Vogelzang, Jeffrey Dvorkin, Bill Buzenberg, Jay Kernis, etc., etc., etc. If I didn’t name you, and you are really good — get in there and go after it. WE NEED YOU!

dys•func•tion•al

Adjective

1. Not operating normally or properly.

2. Deviating from the norms of social behavior in a way regarded as bad.

“Dysfunctional” is a fun word, but not a fun condition. It means “something that doesn’t work the way it should or “Abnormal or impaired functioning, especially of a bodily system or social group.” The British Royal Family has often been referred to as dysfunctional, especially around the time of Diana’s death and its aftermath.

I have been thinking about “dysfunctional” because of my experience in working with clients all over the country and even abroad. Because, often when I visit with a client for the purpose of helping improve a program they produce – I discover that the program is the least of their problems. Instead, very often the root of their problem is a dysfunctional producing group. Sometimes, the dysfunction can extend to the entire station.

Mind you, I don’t market myself as an institutional psychiatrist or a religious missionary. But, what I have discovered is that so often there are fundamental human behavior issues that impede production of a better program. It would be easier for me to say “those problems aren’t my department,” but I know from experience that if we don’t unearth and solve these fundamental issue of dysfunctional behavior, the other efforts won’t pay off.

One of my most astute clients calls this unearthing of human and institutional problems as “ripping the Bandaids off” and admitting to our basic dysfunction. It emerges through sensitive and persistent questioning in groups or private one-on-one interviews. It manifests itself as deeply-held, important issues which staff are afraid to tell management, or which management sometimes refuses to hear. Sometimes, my probing and pushing staff to speak up  … leads to outbursts, shouting, acrimony … and truth! I’ve learned to bring a box of tissues to my interviews, because people feel very emotional about these issues. I have worked with small teams (3-4 people) where members can’t or don’t talk to each other because of anger. I have delivered tough love to such people, going so far as to tell them that if they cannot function productively in their job, they should quit and find other employment. I serve as a mentor, a Father Confessor, and someone who truly identifies with and “loves” creative people and all of the problems they have (because I have had them all too!) Sometimes, people have ended up quitting; most of the time, they improve their attitude and performance. While I know I cannot save people from themselves, it is enormously gratifying when I can help a talented creative person turn his/her attitude and behavior around.

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever hire me as a pseudo-shrink for your organization, but it is a skill that I bring to the table from years of working in tough environments with talented people. If your organization is dysfunctional, you probably already know it. I assure you that it will benefit from my ability to unearth such dysfunctionalism and deal with it head on.

Congratulations to WUOM, Ann Arbor MI; KQED, San Jose/San Francisco CA; KNOW, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; WMEA, Portland, ME and WUNC, Raleigh-Durham NC. These five stations have the highest metro cume audiences in the nation, according to Media Audit’s recent survey of its 80+ measured markets.  Public Radio fans are also more likely to be wealthy consumers (67% earn $150,000+) with active lifestyles. They’re likelier to be business owners. purchasers of foreign luxury cars, hotel-goers and air trravelers. Public radio stations “represent the largest number of non-commercial radio stations in the U.S. and in many cases they can be formidable competition for local advertising dollars.”

Three of my clients have won the prestigous Edward R. Murrow awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association

WITF, Harrisburg, PA

WLRN-FM, Miami, FL

CNN Radio, Atlanta, GA

WITF won its awards for Continuing Coverage (“Aftershocks of the Sandusky Scandal”), Investigative Reporting (“Abandoned Wells”) and Writing (“Hang Tough: Dick Winters on Normandy”).

WLRN Radio won for Featue Reporting (“Her Own Little Paris”) and Use of Sound (“The Storn: Remembering Hurricane Andrew”).

And, CNN Radio was honored for Hard News Reporting (“When Police Shoot”), Use of Sound/Video (“Saturday Night Fever’s Brooklyn Legacy”) and Writing (“Sandy: Memories of the Jersey Shore”).

Congratulations to all of these winners. I am thrilled to be associated with these outstanding stations and producers.

How do you know whether a new program idea is worth producing? A boss once asked me if I thought there was a shortage of good program ideas. “Yes,” I replied. “No, he responded — there is a shortage of producible good ideas!” He was right.

I don’t think great ideas are a dime a dozen, but I do think there are many questions you should ask about even the ones you think are great. Thinking about this led me to create a Matrix to help analyze all new program ideas. Such a matrix isn’t perfect because not all creativity and inspiration can be reduced to a mathematical formula. But, a matrix such as this does help you consistently apply the same questions about all program ideas. See what you think. Test some of your own program ideas and see how they fare. Try it in a group setting and see if it helps the group decide which shows rise to the top. And let me know what you think!

Most public radio stations are faced with a mini crisis — what to do about the time slot occupied by Talk of the Nation once TOTN goes off the air at the end of the month. Both WBUR’s Here and Now and WNYC’s The Takeaway are competing for the time slot on station schedules. Both are stressing the friendliness of their shows to inserts of local content. But WVXU in Cincinnati has seized the bull by the horns, seeing this decision as an opportunity rather than a crisis. Programmer Robin Gehl and GM Rich Eiswerth have decided to expand their program Cincinnati Edition to a daily. Says GM Eiswerth, “The recent decision by NPR to cancel Talk of the Nation provided the opportunity for us to add additional local programming, which has been our goal since taking over operation of WVXU almost 8 years ago. With the talent we have on our news and production team, we felt the time was right to add more local programming to our afternoon line-up.” Cincinnati Edition will air M-F at 2 pm., followed by an hour of The Takeaway.

Bravo, Cincinnati Public Radio, for a bold move to expand local content. Here’s the full story.

All of us in public service fields, like public broadcasting, are having to learn a new vocabulary. No longer is it enough to merely produce and broadcast programs. Not enough even to broadcast and engage in active social media and interaction with our audiences. All of these are only means to an end, and the end is to have impact. This is so because increasingly, funders want to determine if their grants are being used to good purpose. One participant in the field put it simply: “If we can’t measure our work, we’re not sure we’re putting resources in the right direction.”

Eric Newton, Advisor to the President of The Knight Foundation puts it this way: “In general, too many media people say they created impact because they did a story that in theory was seen by an audience of XXX size. That’s not impact, that’s distribution.”

For more, check out Impact.