{"id":32151,"date":"2022-01-21T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=32151"},"modified":"2022-01-21T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T12:00:12","slug":"wdcb-station-manager-dan-bindert-keeps-faith-jazz-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2022\/01\/21\/wdcb-station-manager-dan-bindert-keeps-faith-jazz-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"WDCB station manager Dan Bindert keeps the faith with jazz fans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dan Bindert (Photo: WDCB)<\/p><\/div>\n

As a mainstay of public radio in the Chicago area for more than two decades, Dan Bindert has worked to keep the sounds of jazz in the air with the passion of a true fan.<\/p>\n

Since 2013 he\u2019s been station manager of WDCB 90.9-FM,<\/a> the noncommercial public station licensed to the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. There he has expanded jazz programming dramatically and championed an array of outdoor jazz concerts, jazz and blues nightclub events and a jazz documentary film series.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the culmination of a lifelong love of jazz and radio for Bindert, 54, a Hillside resident who was born in Rochester, New York, and landed his first radio job as late-night jazz and blues host at WXXI in his hometown.<\/p>\n

After several stops along the way, he came to Chicago in 2000 to join Chicago Public Media WBEZ 91.5-FM as jazz host, arts producer and news anchor, followed by a stint as vice president of radio operations and morning host at Lakeshore Public Radio in Northwest Indiana.<\/p>\n

It was at WDCB that Bindert found what former Chicago Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich called \u201chis dream job.\u201d Within weeks Bindert had jazz airing at all hours. \u201cNot bad for a station based at the College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, a scenic western suburb not typically considered a nexus for this quintessentially urban music,\u201d Reich noted at the time.<\/p>\n

As WDCB approaches its 45th year on the air, Bindert reflected on the station's enduring commitment to jazz, his good fortune to be working in public radio and whether the ratings even matter.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Your slogan is \u201cChicago\u2019s Home for Jazz,\u201d but you actually have quite an eclectic lineup of programs. How would you describe the format?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> More than 130 of the 168 hours in our weekly\u00a0schedule<\/a> is jazz . . . so jazz is our identity and primary\u00a0focus.\u00a0Chicago is still the\u00a0world capital of the blues, too, so we're proud to offer a robust selection of\u00a0blues programming. Our Saturday nostalgia shows have a huge audience and connect us to history, while our\u00a0specialty shows with everything from folk and Irish music to Latin jazz allow our knowledgeable hosts to\u00a0extend [the college's]\u00a0cultural and educational mission even further.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> How has jazz been able to thrive on your station while so many others have dropped it?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

WDCB<\/p><\/div>\n

A.<\/strong> Many of the public radio\u00a0stations around the country\u00a0that used to carry jazz\u00a0were split-format NPR\u00a0news\/jazz\u00a0stations like WBEZ used to be. As those stations took on more of a corporate mindset, they pushed\u00a0music and arts to the margins, and\u00a0jazz\u00a0became the odd man out. And let's be real here: Jazz is a\u00a0product of Black American culture and the old-line foundational resources\u00a0and big\u00a0corporate money that has tended to shower\u00a0support on\u00a0the NPR news and classical format\u00a0stations\u00a0has\u00a0never really\u00a0supported jazz\u00a0in equal\u00a0measure.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0jazz as an art form\u00a0has existed for more\u00a0than 100 years, and whether you are a musician,\u00a0club owner, educator, magazine or radio station,\u00a0it's never an\u00a0easy road. But everyone involved with jazz\u00a0is passionate and committed \u2014 including WDCB's staff and listeners \u2014 and Chicago is a great jazz city.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> You\u2019re licensed to the College of DuPage, but you\u2019re not a student radio station. What role does the college play in your operations?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> We love our home at\u00a0COD. But the college hasn't had a radio broadcasting program as such\u00a0in a few decades, so\u00a0WDCB today is a financially\u00a0self-sufficient cultural outreach service of the college. About a third of our staff were COD students at one time, and\u00a0we\u00a0do have paid COD\u00a0student aides that work with us during non-COVID times.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> How has the pandemic affected your programming and fundraising?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> We were lucky to be\u00a0well-positioned for an era of home offices and\u00a0social distancing.\u00a0Our support staff worked mostly\u00a0from home\u00a0and many\u00a0of our volunteer music\u00a0hosts\u00a0learned to record\u00a0shows from home. But our core on-air jazz staff stayed in the studios,\u00a0live and\u00a0in real time without resorting to voice tracks. We went\u00a0through a lot of masks and wipes, but we safely operated with\u00a0live hosts\u00a0in the\u00a0studio every day\u00a0from March 2020 until now.<\/p>\n

Our audience tells us the music along with\u00a0that real live\u00a0human companionship kept them \"sane\" in this crazy time period. Our underwriting sales took a hit, but we reached\u00a0record fundraising levels from our\u00a0individual donors\u00a0two\u00a0years in a row. The support from our listeners has been amazing!<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> You\u2019re currently tied for 33rd place, according to Nielsen Audio. Do the ratings matter to you?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> No,\u00a0WDCB's\u00a0goal isn't to reach the largest possible audience at any cost. It is to serve the art form to a diverse audience and nurture the local music community while keeping expenses within our means and raising enough money through donations\u00a0to pay the bills.\u00a0Our latest cume was 138,000 \u2014 33rd out of 66 measured stations \u2014 which is OK historically for WDCB. But the Nielsens are not nearly as important to us as\u00a0they are to commercial stations.<\/p>\n

During COVID, our Nielsen numbers took\u00a0crazy up and down\u00a0swings month to month, which\u00a0don't reflect the reality we see in our other metrics. The actual\u00a0daily web\u00a0stream data and\u00a0pledge-drive response are\u00a0at all-time highs. In 2021, we had\u00a0donors from 40 states and 10 countries around the world.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> What do you consider your most important achievement since you joined WDCB?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I'm lucky to have a\u00a0staff of super dedicated music nuts that all bring their best every day. Overall,\u00a0I'd say the biggest achievement since I started eight years ago is overcoming some unexpected\u00a0challenges early on\u00a0to\u00a0get WDCB on\u00a0solid financial footing\u00a0while making us more relevant by\u00a0deepening our connection to the local music scene with more in-person events and\u00a0live broadcasts featuring our great\u00a0local\u00a0musicians.<\/p>\n

WDCB was a really good station before I arrived, but I hope the audience can see and\u00a0hear\u00a0that our commitment to the art form itself and the community\u00a0has grown even\u00a0stronger over the last eight years.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Of all the shows on WDCB, what\u2019s your personal favorite?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I\u00a0like every show we air, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the\u00a0jazz and blues programs are closest to my heart. I really\u00a0love that I get to\u00a0listen all day long in the office to\u00a0great hosts like Paul Abella, Leslie Keros and Bruce Oscar\u00a0sharing their passion for jazz.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> When was the last time you hosted an air shift?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I was on the air\u00a0twice this week.\u00a0I don't have a regular air shift, sometimes I'll go a month without\u00a0being on air\u00a0and then I'll be on several times in one week.\u00a0. . . I'm happy to be our back-up utility infielder. Every minute of being live\u00a0on radio to spin jazz is a joy and definitely not a chore. I can't do it all the time, but it's one of the perks of my job.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> It's been quite a career so far, wouldn't you say?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I owe a lot of gratitude\u00a0not only to all of the great people I get to work with at WDCB, but also to all of the\u00a0radio and music\u00a0people I've learned from along the\u00a0way. I've been fortunate to work with some incredible radio folks over the last 33 years, met a lot of my musical heroes and got to be a fly on the wall to watch them all express their creativity\u00a0close up. I\u00a0love my job and wake up every day excited about what's ahead.<\/p>\n

Can I give a shout-out to my parents? They\u00a0weren't too sure if this radio thing\u00a0was a good idea for a career but they\u00a0cheered me on anyway. My mom miraculously\u00a0raised six kids and my dad\u00a0was a pharmacist, not a musician, but he turns 90 this year and\u00a0is the hero of my life!<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> What do you think you\u2019d be doing now if you\u2019d never gotten into radio?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Maybe working in a record store, writing about music or working in a nightclub? That or flipping hamburgers somewhere to\u00a0pay the bills, I suppose. Those were really\u00a0the only other paid\u00a0jobs I've ever had\u00a0since my\u00a0college days. I've been lucky to\u00a0stay employed in public\u00a0radio pretty much non-stop since 1989. I love everything about\u00a0radio and\u00a0I have no musical talent myself,\u00a0but being involved with music and\u00a0serving in some way\u00a0as an ally to the inspiring musicians who create it is always rewarding.<\/p>\n

Thursday's comment of the day:<\/a> Janet Davies:<\/strong> Like favorite teachers we had as children, good bosses are never forgotten. Emily [Barr] was one such boss; helping to develop and encourage growth plus sharing her wisdom. Emily\u2019s leadership when at ABC7 was a true gift. I\u2019m grateful to have worked with her for a large part of my career. This woman did not rise up the corporate ladder in sales but with various local broadcast jobs (she even edited!). That\u2019s why she truly understood the business and those who toiled every day in front and back of the camera to bring you the news and good programming. Emily, you deserve all the fun, excitement and adventures you ever want.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a mainstay of public radio in the Chicago area for more than two decades, Dan Bindert has worked to keep the sounds of jazz in the air with the passion of a true fan. Since 2013 he\u2019s been station manager of WDCB 90.9-FM, the noncommercial public station licensed to the College of DuPage in... 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\/32151"}],"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=32151"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32162,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32151\/revisions\/32162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}