This post was originally published on this site
As a freshly minted general manager at WTVD in Durham, N.C., I was given what turned out to be sage advice from my former GM and mentor, Arnie Kleiner. He reminded me that beyond protecting the license of the station and leading the staff, I needed to quickly get to know the community I now called home.
Generating ratings and sales required deep knowledge of the people that made the community tick, and there was no shortcut to making that happen. It meant meeting with politicians, community organizers, business leaders and regular viewers and listening to their concerns and aspirations. It meant taking the time to understand their frustrations and occasional appreciation with the way we covered local news. It meant attending local events and joining nonprofit boards. It meant getting involved and putting down roots. As it turned out, my time in Durham was short – a mere two and a half years – and it was not until I settled in Chicago that I fully appreciated how valuable this advice would be.
Admittedly, the successful television stations of the 1990s and 2000s were often huge community boosters, sponsoring countless fundraisers, charity events and public forums that helped knit together the communities they served. A level of trust was established and nurtured with the general manager serving as the de facto conduit to the community, while the anchors and reporters acted as the face and voice everyone knew and