In the past eight years, Marc Steiner and his eponymous radio show have woven themselves into the city’s civic fabric. The link is about to get stronger as he appears poised to take control of Baltimore’s most recognizable public radio station. Steiner recently discussed his plans for WJHU, financing and his views on Hopkins’ decision to sell.
How does one get from being a freedom rider to a radio host and budding businessman?
That?s 30 years, 40 years, my God, that?s scary isn?t it? Well, I was a kid when I was a freedom rider, 15, 16, 17 years old. It has not been a direct path. Students ask how to get into broadcasting and I say I don?t know. Because I don?t know. The job here was really almost an accident. I think most of the things that have happened to me in life have been happenstance. You just take advantage of the moment.
I came to WJHU for the first time, I think, in 1990 after I left advertising. I worked for Trahan Burden & Charles for three years. When I got here, the station almost folded back then. Three years after that, I ran into Dennis Kita — who was the general manager then — in a dentist?s office. We were talking and he said he wanted to start a public affairs radio show at the station and [since] I knew the city so well from police street corners to corporate board rooms, did I have some ideas for them? I said I have an idea that you should let me be the host. He said you know nothing about radio, and I said, well, ‘What?s to know? You sit behind a mike, you think, you read, you talk. It should be right up my alley.’ For three months we had this conversation till finally he said, ‘OK, I give up. I?m taking off All Things Considered every Tuesday night. It?s your time; you do what you want, no money, no producer, good luck.’ So, I said, ‘I?ll take it,’ and it just started growing from there.
You are about to embark on something new now, managing and running a radio station. Will that be a difficult shift from activism to business?
I?ve thought about that, I see what you?re saying. Yeah, there?s some contradiction involved. Existence is a contradiction. We?re all contradictions. Life is complex, so in different parts of your life, you get involved in different arenas. In this process, I?ve learned a lot from a number of small businessmen whose way of managing their companies I?ve really respected. I think that small business, small groups locally, are the backbone of American life. I see that as what we?re going to be, which is why I fought so hard to win the station. I?d rather see business be locally controlled, more responsive to communities. To build ? a place people really want to come to work, they salivate to come to work, they can?t wait to get to work. You can have that kind of business and a business that responds to community and also makes money. I think we can make a decent living at it and really build a dynamic radio station. My goal is in five years to have this become one of the flagship stations of NPR. So, I think there?s no real contradiction. If I was to go to work for Exxon to drill oil in the arctic wildlife refuge, then there might be a contradiction. But I?m not going to do that.
How is the fund raising going? You seem to be the last man standing as far as the bids go.
Yes, at this point. We could fall down; somebody could pop up, though we certainly hope not.
When is Hopkins supposed to announce the winning bid?
Our letter of intent was signed at Hopkins on the 13th, I believe. So the 13th of August, unless you have an extension, will be the day that we go in and hopefully say that we have the banks and the investment houses behind us. We do have a quarter of a million dollars we?ve raised from listeners. That will be our deposit to Hopkins. We?ll have to raise more, and we?ll do that, but I think we?re in good shape.
How much more do you need? The price has been said to be around $5 million.
We need to raise about three-quarters of a million dollars more in cash in the next few months, which I think we can do. The amount we?re paying for the station, we are under a legal obligation on our agreement with Hopkins not to talk about it until the deal is done. Otherwise, I would be glad to tell you. I don?t believe in keeping secrets. But the fund raising is going very well. We are in negotiations now with three banks and one group of investors, and it?s all going very well.
Will you say who some of those investors are?
We can?t do that, either. We?re not allowed to yet. We?re legally bound not to. But as soon as we are, it?s not like it?s something I want to hold close to the vest. I think that with the process of negotiations that I?ve learned — and the process of negotiations for this kind of financing, you should just keep quiet until it?s done.
You are also putting together a board of directors?
Yeah, we want to put together an 18-member board. We?ve only put together a few people so far who have committed completely, but we?ll have those folks in place by the time the FCC approves the license transfer.
How difficult has it been raising money in this economy? This is not your typical fund drive.
I am not a fund-raiser. It?s been hard. Actually, the loan part?s been easier because banks are looking to give loans. The recession actually works in our favor. But raising money from individuals is harder because of the uncertainty of the times.
What are your plans for the station? What would you like to enhance?
We hope to expand the signal, that?s a first-order priority. We?re clearly going to be part of National Public Radio, that?s not going anywhere. There will be some internal changes in terms of personnel. We?re going to restructure how on-air personnel work and what we do with our time. We?re going to release the creative juices. There?s no reason for people with the talent of Tom Olson and Diane Finlayson and others to stay on the air all day long just announcing stuff — what a waste of good mind and talent — you want to release them to create. We want to build a news and features department. We?re looking to build at least one new local show over the course of the first year. There are a couple of national projects that people have brought to us that are in the lineup as well. We want to get more commentators on the air. You?re really going to hear a lot more interesting features, both from staff members and free-lancers. We want to create a sound that people will adore and want to be a part of. The Internet is going to be huge. We?re going to be working with Carton Donofrio and others around town to help build a real serious Web presence and really use the Web for what it?s supposed to be used for, not just to transfer audio. That?s going to be a big part of our first-year push.
Sounds like some pretty capital-intensive stuff.
It is. Public radio is interesting. Unlike commercial radio, where everything is automated and taken from someplace else, real public radio is very capital-intensive. It takes personnel to produce a good show. It takes personnel to make a news department. But we?re going to be fairly conservative in the first year because we?ve got to build this thing. We?re not going to go hog wild. We are talking with folks at NPR who are interested in supplying us with a reporter to help us build our news department. We?ll build from that core. It will take us a couple years to build a strong news department, but we?ll build it. I think we?re going to do a great deal better at our underwriting sales and our membership, and we?re going to be working on that, too.
What would an annual budget look like?
Our annual budget right now is $2.5 million. I?d like to see that double in the next several years. I think we can do it just from local resources. We can get there.
Do you think losing Hopkins as a parent is going to make that fund raising harder or easier?
Easier. We won?t be bound by the restrictions that are put upon any institution that works inside Johns Hopkins to raise money. They like to keep some of the sources to themselves because they raise money, too. Plus, I think the imprimatur of Hopkins has, well, it?s been a real asset on some levels. It also, I think, has stopped some people from giving money to the huge behemoth. I think that will change. It?s historically been when community groups have taken over a station and run it on NPR, there?s this huge spike in income and support. Then the job is to sustain it.
Are you disappointed at all in Hopkins? decision to sell the station? Do you think this is in some way emblematic of a lack of support for the community?
Well, I think that what Hopkins is doing is following a trend around the country. There are universities shedding their public radio stations everywhere. I think that?s a trend that?s going on for a number of reasons. For Hopkins, they say it?s a way to get back to their core business, which is teaching students and taking care of patients. I take them at their institutional word. The other part is that ever since Newt Gingrich launched his attack on public broadcasting and decreased the federal funding, it has thrown public radio into the vagaries of the marketplace. Universities, by and large, are not equipped to deal with that. I think their bureaucracy holds stations back from doing what they can do to address that issue. Most people say to me, ‘Don?t you think Hopkins wants to keep this public radio station for its public image and for public service?’ You would think so, but they don?t. So, really, the only way I can see this now is not worrying about that so much as really relishing the opportunity to build a station.
Do you ever have moments when you think, ‘This is so overwhelming, what am I doing?’
Oh yeah, almost every other day. And I probably will for the next 10 years. I was at the beach with some old friends for a few days — everybody was teasing me. They were saying, here we are, we?re almost 50, we?re all looking to figure out how we can retire and here you?re starting another career. I don?t think retirement’s in my blood. It?s not going to happen.
