{"id":2900,"date":"2014-04-02T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=2900"},"modified":"2014-04-02T15:23:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T20:23:08","slug":"under-new-management-wbez-needs-to-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/04\/02\/under-new-management-wbez-needs-to-do-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Under new management, WBEZ \u2018needs to do better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Goli<\/a>

<\/a> Goli Sheikholeslami<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cChicago\u201d may be the company\u2019s first name, but when it came to choosing a new chief executive officer, Chicago Public Media<\/a> had no qualms about going out of town.<\/p>\n

In naming Goli Sheikholeslami<\/a> to oversee public radio WBEZ FM 91.5 <\/a>and its related enterprises Tuesday, the board of Chicago Public Media chose a veteran of New York and Washington media suites with no prior connection to Chicago \u2014 and no experience in radio for that matter.<\/p>\n

Then again, only one of the five finalists for the job hailed from Chicago, according to Steve Baird, board chairman of Chicago Public Media. The lone insider on the board\u2019s short list was chief operating officer Alison Scholly, who\u2019d been serving as interim CEO since Torey Malatia resigned <\/a>under pressure last July.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a>

Steve Baird<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe problem with Chicago is that if you\u2019re looking for media skills, digital skills and so forth in Chicago, that\u2019s a very limited subset,\u201d Baird said in an interview. \u201cActually, of all the criteria, [being from] Chicago was the least important to the board. We have people here who know Chicago. That\u2019s a learnable skill. Being digital savvy or having media experience is not necessarily a learnable skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

As only the third CEO in the company\u2019s history (following Malatia and the late Carole Nolan, who founded the institution), Sheikholeslami inherits the management of a $25 million budget and 140 employees across all platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting to be a big enterprise in a complex, challenging business environment as media changes,\u201d Baird said. \u201cWe need a real leader and manager of people. We were delighted to find somebody as skilled as Goli in the digital area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the mandate for Sheikholeslami is to make everything bigger, better and more forward-looking.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re very excited about getting to this point and really thinking about building a greater organization,\u201d Baird said. \u201cThe board generally thinks that we can be more. We\u2019re really good at what we do, but we can be bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at other major markets \u2014 L.A., San Francisco, New York, Washington, Boston \u2014 we\u2019re just a little bit below them in terms of membership, listenership, etc. We have 65,000 members, which is great. But 65,000 out of \u2014 what \u2014 seven million people? That\u2019s not enough. We have a great product, and we need to do better.\"<\/p>\n

Although some broadcasting experience would have been nice, Baird acknowledged, it was \u201cnot a particularly high skill on our list\u201d for a new CEO.<\/p>\n

\"WBEZ<\/a>\u201cOne of the things we\u2019re thinking about is becoming a media organization and moving away from some of our legacy platforms,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re always going to be on radio, but radio is a limited medium. It\u2019s a limited distribution source. So we need to think about other things as we grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baird said he was taken aback at first when Sheikholeslami told him that she doesn\u2019t listen to radio. \u201cShe said: \u2018But I listen to NPR products and all sorts of public radio products, and I stream them. I stream WNYC because I\u2019m in New York.\u2019 That\u2019s the thought process that we\u2019re after. Not terrestrial radio. We really are down to listening to the radio in your car. For people in the city who don\u2019t drive, it\u2019s hard to get us unless you\u2019re streaming or pulling us off a mobile app.\u201d<\/p>\n

In taking on her new role, Sheikholeslami said in a statement:<\/a> \u201cI am excited to lead an organization that is recognized both in Chicago and across the nation for its journalistic excellence and deep commitment to listeners and the community. It will be a great privilege to have the opportunity to work alongside so many talented people, building on their accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Scholly was passed over for the top job, it\u2019s unclear whether she\u2019ll continue as chief operating officer \u2014 the job she\u2019s held since 2010. Baird said he hopes she does, but ultimately it\u2019ll be up to the new CEO to decide. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of what Goli wants to do and whether there\u2019s a fit there. Alison has been great. Everybody loves her. We love her. So I\u2019m hopeful she will stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under terms of her agreement, which starts May 5, Sheikholeslami will be permitted to remain on the board of directors of Dice Holdings, <\/a>a New York-based provider of specialized websites and career resources for professional communities. Baird said he believes the outside role \u201cincreases her stature\u201d and can enhance her understanding of digital media.<\/p>\n

Baird, who\u2019s also president and chief executive officer of real estate giant Baird & Warner,<\/a> no doubt can assist Sheikholeslami with her plans to move to Chicago and live here fulltime. \u201cShe wants to live close enough to the station to be able to walk,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s another indication that she\u2019s serious and wants to get at it. She\u2019s looking for an opportunity where she can really have an impact \u2014 and that\u2019s a perfect fit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cChicago\u201d may be the company\u2019s first name, but when it came to choosing a new chief executive officer, Chicago Public Media had no qualms about going out of town. In naming Goli Sheikholeslami to oversee public radio WBEZ FM 91.5 and its related enterprises Tuesday, the board of Chicago Public Media chose a veteran of... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2900"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2900"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2910,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2900\/revisions\/2910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}