I think this is about the perfect time of year—especially here in the Carolinas.

The flowering plants are working overtime to please us. Skies are gorgeous. No air conditioning bills.  At least for a few weeks.  And a zillion great activities.

Check out a three week event at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, called “Create Carolina”.  It is in its second year.  (Now for the disclosures:  my spouse teaches at Winthrop; also, Winthrop is a financial underwriter of WFAE for this series).

That said, several of us at  WFAE are captivated by colleague Kim Brooks’ description of a theatrical piece she is starring in, “Victoria and Frederick for President”. The plot is set shortly after the civil war. It provides a new way of looking at the Clinton-Obama contest and realizing that what is new is old again.

Here’s how Kim describes the play:

“The year was 1872, the country was in the midst of Reconstruction, President Lincoln had been assassinated, and abolitionists and suffragists alike were fighting for the rights and privileges of full citizenship for all people. The United States was in need of a new direction and there were a pair of unlikely candidates ready to take the charge.

Victoria Woodhull, the first female stockbroker, announced her intention to run for President of the United States with running mate and newly freed slave, Frederick Douglass. “Victoria and Frederick for President” is a wonderful commentary on the power of the human spirit and what can happen when disenfranchised, marginalized members of society band together to make change.

Here’s the web site for the  three-week Create Carolina event at Winthrop:

http://createcarolina.com

Company’s coming, and they’ve brought along scads of TV crews, miles of bunting, and a bundle of focus-grouped  “talking points”.

Hold on for the May 6^th Presidential Primary here in North Carolina.

It was supposed to be all over by now, except for ordering of the liquor for the hospitality suites at the national political conventions.  But on the Democratic side, as of this blog entry, Senators Clinton and Obama are viewing our primary has perhaps the end game.

It’s surely been a topic at recent WFAE planning meetings. What stories can we tell that will be distinct from the reports by NPR, other public radio producers, and everybody else? 

What topic would you like to hear Senators Clinton and Obama tackle?  What would it take to win your vote?

If you go to WFAE.ORG, and look at the left-hand column, you’ll see a collection of on-line resources, many of them courtesy of NPR.

One interactive feature lets you  say what it would take to get your vote (within legal constraints, of course).  Click on the link below to try it:

http://www.npr.org/getmyvote/\

So, whom are you voting for, and whom are you betting on, when the May 6^th contest arrives?  Please blog back and let me know. 

Roger.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and The Tipping Point, packed the house at the annual luncheon of the Foundation for the Carolinas, in the Charlotte Convention Center, March 13^th.

Gladwell is an animated speaker, and he ties together social phenomena as diverse as fashion trends and community building.

He said the key to a thriving, nurturing community is the involvement of people who are natural “connectors”: those among us who, instead of knowing 20 or 30 people, tend to have a social life packed with a hundred people or more.  When “connectors” get involved with a product or a trend—or a social issue or a cultural highlight–the topic is spread near and far. 

To Gladwell, Charlotte’s region will grow and prosper if it can find a frame of reference for its aspirations. Then, community activists need to develop a sense of urgency. A social movement needs to identify and activate it “connectors”.  Lastly,  all of those involved need to fight for growth and change. 

Gladwell as commented on every topic from medical care to highway congestion cures.  Here’s a recent audio clip from NPR on Gladwell’s Blink: 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4280866

Since we are a public, non-profit station, should we use audience ratings as part of our decision-making?  We tackled that question on a recent “Charlotte Talks” show. The guests were Program Director Paul Stribling, News Director Mark Rumsey and myself.

I think audience research plays an important role in public radio.  Third-party research allows us to reach beyond our own personal judgments to see what the public is using (or underutilizing) on our stations. Research shows us when a program works well at a certain time slot. The same show can perform miserably at another time.

I DO think it’s very important that we avoid hyping the audience through research. We focus our programming within our chosen service area, which is news and public affairs, rather than turning to a rock or country music schedule. Also, when we decide to pick up a program for WFAE, we generally allow a year or two for the show to find its audience.

To hear the entire “Charlotte Talks” program, click on the link below:

http://www.wfae.org/wfae/audio/CT20080131.m3u

2008 will be a nail-biting year for the content creators (formerly known as broadcasters) in the television business.

On February 17^th of 2009, TV stations will be required to shut off their analog signals in the VHF band. Those are the waves of energy that have been used since Sid Ceasar first romped into your grandma’s living room back in the 1950’s. What will be left are the new digital signals—conveying color pictures and surround sound in computer code. You also get the opportunity to watch High Definition pictures if you’re willing to shell out for an HD receiver.

Please remember that the radio side is changing but in a different way. WFAE is now broadcasting in HD digital. The “killer application”, in our view, is the ability to bring new radio services to you through open-air, non-subscription HD. 

You still hear your favorite WFAE shows in analog as well as the new digital WFAE service.  WFAE 2 is a 24-by-7 singer-songwriter music service that you really need to check out. WFAE 3 is broadcasting experimental programming—mainly news and public affairs programs that don’t fit into the conventional WFAE schedule.

Our WFAE shopping spies tell us that Charlotte area Radio Shack stores sold out of their Accurian HD radios over the holiday season. HD radios are now readily at stores like Best Buy, along with web sites including our own WFAE.ORG.

Remember that your current FM radios will still be of use to you over the next several years. The Feds have not set a date for shut-down of the conventional analog signals. This is because the HD system in the United States is particularly spectrum efficient. All of the WFAE signals—including the 3 digital ones—are contained in the  90.7 spot in the radio spectrum in the Charlotte region.  

It’s now inexpensive to switch to HD receivers. You can get a tabletop HD set from  $100-200. If you got a holiday gift card, consider stimulating the economy by springing for an HD set.  I think you’ll be pleased.  Be sure to email us at WFAE.ORG when you DO try out our HD services!

Einstein was right. Time gets faster or slower, depending on your observation post. If your observation post is at the shopping mall, then December is passing by at warp speed.

If Christmas seems like a heap of work followed by disappointment and a pile of January credit card bills, you might get a fresh perspective from a book that’s been around since the 1980’s.

It’s called UNPLUG THE CHRISTMAST MACHINE. The authors encourage us to examine our attitudes and traditions around the Christmas-New Year holidays. Find the things that mean the most to you, given your current life situation. Put the other traditions (and guilt-inducing habits) on the back burner.

Here’s how to find the book, which is modestly priced.  Start at our web site, WFAE.ORG.   Paste in this link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/103-2638211-8329421?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Unplug+the+Christmas+Machine&x=11&y=20

 If you choose to get the book shipped “urgent, overnight”….well, maybe you’d better order two copies.

Well, we got ready for company, and did our friends and neighbors ever show up!

Garrision Keillor and “Prairie Home Companion” came to Charlotte’s Ovens Auditorium October 20th, and blew the shoes off all in attendance.

Keillor’s staff–with typical Midwestern efficiency–has the tour down to a science. There was a contract in place that spelled out in minute detail what the Prairie crew provides, and what the host station needs to do.

The tour staffers, especially Albert, the liason with WFAE, were great to work with and got props from our Renee Rallos and Paul Stribling.

Garrison displayed his awesome creativity; beyond that he was as cordial as he could be to special station guests, as well as to concertgoers who asked for autographs after the show.

It’s common to take a jab at “stars” whose whims are catered to in great detail. But put yourself in Garrison’s (red tennis) shoes. Everybody expects you to be a creative genius every moment of your visit. You’ve got 48 hours to write a two-hour show that goes out on 600 radio stations. Hundreds of thousands–millions–of dollars are at stake. And during tour season you are not even able to sleep weekends in your own home.

You can understand why touring groups expect catered meals and a bit of protection from crowds and well-wishers. Any of us need a bit of “down” time and privacy now and then. Can you imagine leading a life almost entirely in the public eye?

I would love to hear your comments if you have spent considerable time as a public figure, or if you have known someone who experiences the good/bad of public life. 

It’s not surprising that many Charlotteans are concerned about crime and safety. In fact, those issues showed up high on the list of citizen concerns when we did our first “WFAE Civic Poll” last year. Remember that it’s not enough to be concerned; it’s important to get these issues in the proper perspective and to take some incredibly simple personal steps.

Did you know that a dangerous crime such as a robbery is 100 times LESS likely to happen than a property crime?

Did you know that our neighbors and colleagues may make some silly mistakes that greatly boost the chance of a property left, especially from a car?

Listen to this report from our Simone Orendain, who is a co-contributor to our “IPO Charlotte” series:

 http://durablelogic.com/wfaeipo/?cat=10

One of the most troubling social issues is the dividing line between races and nationalities. What does it mean if we–at the most fundamental level–are really all brothers and sisters?

That is one of the riveting implications of Spencer Wells’ work. Wells is Director of the Genographic Project at the National Geographic Society.

As Wells explains in his book, Deep Ancestry, researchers are now using the human genome to track human migration over the past 60,000 years.

If you are trying to learn about the genetic revolution, or if you are a student of geneology, you might want to participate in Wells’ presentation and accompanying panel discussion here in Charlotte on Thursday, October 16th. Wells’ visit is being sponsored by our friends at UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics.  Here’s a link to find out more:

http://wfae.org/wfae/nav1024.cfm?cat=17&subcat=66&subsub=94&action=detail&id=1203

Let’s hope for the sake of our Hickory friends that the rain holds off a few days longer…..though we all surely need it soon. This weekend is a huge event–the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn Golf and Spa.

The tourney will attract tens of thousands of visitors. To give you an idea of the scale, some 1,400 volunteers turn out to help produce the weeks’ worth of events.

I had the pleasure of talking to many of the 1,000 volunteers who turned out Sunday night for the Classic’s volunteer appreciation dinner. Many volunteers were interested in our news and public affairs programming. I had several people tell me they listen all the time. And we brought along our favorite break-the-ice gimmick, the “WFAE Prize Wheel”, which gives us an excuse to hand out hundreds of “fabulous gifts”…..WFAE beverage huggies, de-stress squeeze balls, logo keychains, and other such treasures.  Many thanks to WFAE’ers  Lynette Riddle and Jim Diedrich for turning out to great the volunteers. 

How neat it is that 1,400 people will donate time to prepare player hospitality packs, drive golf carts, set up displays and do whatever it takes to make a community event happen. 

By the way, the Greater Hickory Classic gets heavy coverage on “The Golf Channel”, if you can’t get to the venue in person.