This Just In: Operation Snowjob
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Governor Chafee’s newly announced talk radio ban has collided with radio station WPRO’s “Operation Snowball” this week and the result has been the Chafee Administration is already lost in its own public relations blizzard. As Rhode Island switched its focus from the tragedy in Arizona to the weather forecasts as yet a new powerful blizzard approached, people did what they usually do: made the obligatory milk/bread grocery run and most likely, turned to their radios, laptops and phones to make frequent checks of bulletins coming off either the live airwaves or the online site of WPRO.
The relationship between WPRO and the Rhode Island public, which spans many decades and was forged long before the dominance of talk radio or the explosion of social media, represents a central dynamic of how information is relayed in this state. The newly inaugurated Governor, and perhaps, more critically, his perhaps too-powerful spokesman Mike Trainor are grossly underestimating the disastrous—and more pointedly irresponsible—decision they are making if they are intent on freezing out communications from all corners of state government to the state’s dominant 7-day a week radio news station. In all due respect to the other statewide talk station, the locally programmed smaller stations which dot the state, and the NPR affiliate, WPRO’s dominant command of the statewide radio audience makes Trainor/Chafee’s attempt to ban the state Government from WPRO an outrageous affront to the RI public.
Yes, the station has four hard charging radio hosts dominating the Monday-Friday airwaves from 6 AM to 9PM, but in this age of nationalized media ownership, our tiny state is lucky to have a radio station still offering 7-day a week local programming and hourly newscasts. Most critically, as this week’s storm coverage demonstrates, the seasoned WPRO hosts and news team’s ability to switch into emergency information broadcast mode has been a hallmark not only of the station’s popularity and success but also of their long recognized mission to provide vital, safety oriented information instantaneously to the RI public. Chafee/Trainor’s explanation that it is the taxpayer’s dime they are protecting by banning department personnel from the airwaves amounts to a snow job poorly hiding the underlying distaste Team Chafee has for the talk medium. But most outrageously, Chafee is attempting to make a not so subtle “link” between Arizona’s tragedy and our hometown talk radio station. He executed a rehearsed talking point when responding to reporters about the Arizona tragedy as he strategically managed to group the words “vitriolic, ratings-driven, for-profit radio stations”…and “encouraging this kind of behavior” all into one lump answer just hours before his office would then announce the NPR-favoring Governor was issuing the new edict.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhether it has been the RI State Police guiding drivers through the unprecedented floods last year; Health Director Dave Gifford’s expert handling of the H1N1 vaccination program for school kids; or Education Commissioner Deborah Gists’s articulate and measured responses to the explosive chaos that enveloped the Central Falls school district; department heads deserve access to the dominant radio airwaves and we, the taxpayers deserve–and pay for–the information!
Stretching from Woonsocket to the tip of Westerly and everything in between—we are all linked, Linc. WPRO has long known that. The conversation may not always be your agenda or reflect your views but it is not inciting violence and your Administration should not be suggesting that.
The Chafee team must get past its defensive campaign mindset and ready themselves for the level of grown-up governing this wobbly state requires.
Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) www.statewidecoalition.com.
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