Mike Janssen

Mike Janssen Served as Scanning The Dial's original co-authors from Mar, 2008 to Jan, 2010 and is a freelance writer, editor and media educator based in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He has written extensively about radio, mostly for Current, the trade newspaper about public broadcasting, where his articles have appeared since 1999. He has also worked in public radio as a reporter at WFDD-FM in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he began his career in journalism and filed pieces for NPR. Mike's work in radio expanded to include outreach and advocacy in 2007, when he worked with the Future of Music Coalition to recruit applicants for noncommercial radio stations. He has since embarked on writing a series of articles about radio hopefuls for FMC's blog. Mike also writes regularly for Retail Traffic magazine and teaches workshops about writing, podcasting and radio journalism. In his spare time he enjoys vegetarian food, the outdoors, reading, movies and traveling. You can learn more about Mike and find links to more of his writing and reporting at mikejanssen.net.

Budget woes persist; Ohio station simulcasts classical

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Apologies to our readers for the, uh, radio silence here at Scanning the Dial as of late — your scribes have been buried under deadlines and other pressing concerns and haven’t had as much time for blogging as we’d like. But we have more reflections on last week’s Music Personnel Conference coming your way, including posts from guest blogger Mona Seghatoleslami of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

In the meantime, a few recent news items worth noting:

:: Budget difficulties continue at stations across the country. The Berkshire Eagle reports that WMHT in Troy, N.Y., faces a deficit of $235,000. With an annual budget of $8.5 million, that’s not as severe as some stations are dealing with, but WMHT has frozen hiring and cut a monthly magazine. A proposed budget for the state of New York would also drastically reduce WMHT’s state support.

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AMPPR conference underway; more belt-tightening at stations

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The 47th annual Music Personnel Conference, staged by the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio (AMPPR), is now underway in Fort Worth, Texas. My intrepid co-blogger Marty is there (I’m envious!), so look for posts soon from her about the goings-on. Not only that, but tomorrow morning she’s participating in a panel about blogging. If you’re attending, drop by and check it out.

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WFMT ends record winter fund drive

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Two weeks ago Steve Robinson, g.m. of WFMT-FM in Chicago, told the Sun-Times that the fundraising environment for his commercially licensed classical station was the worst he’d seen in his career. Fortunately for the station, it looks as if it may not be so terrible after all.

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New prez at VPR, and other odds and ends

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:: Robin Fenn was named president of Vermont Public Radio, which runs a network of classical stations throughout the state as well as news/talk outlets. Fenn has worked at the station for 20 years and most recently served as v.p. of development. She replaces Mark Vogelzang, who left VPR to work with a nationwide fundraising effort for public radio. More in the Burlington Free Press. CORRECTION (added 3/11/09): As you’ll see if you read the article, Robin Fenn is now Robin Turnau.

:: I got a kick out of this article about a shopping mall in Yellowknife, Canada, which falls into the “Is it real, or is it The Onion?” file. The Northern News Service reports that most people are glad the mall has stopped playing classical music on speakers at its entrances. The tactic was intended to keep people from hanging around outside the mall.

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