May 19, 2005

Paul Maassen was named the general manager of WYSO Public Radio last week.

By Diane Chiddister

After three years of controversy, division and rancor, WYSO Public Radio has a new general manager. Hired last week, Paul Maassen said that his first priority is to bring together everyone who cares about the station.

“I believe in community building,” Maassen, who begins his job July 1, said. “I enjoy working and collaborating with different groups, building bridges and developing relationships.”

Antioch University Vice Chancellor Don Tecklenburg announced Maassen’s appointment at a news conference last Wednesday in the WYSO performance studio.

Maassen has served as general manager of WNTI in Hackettstown, N.J., for the past seven years, and has 17 years of radio experience, including stints as programming director and on-air host. WNTI is associated with Centenary College.

Tecklenburg said that Maassen was selected over two other finalists because of his interest in community building.

“He was the best person for the job,” Tecklenburg said. “I thought we had three outstanding candidates, but the biggest thing I felt is that Paul brought a mix of energy, enthusiasm and the ability to engage divergent people.”

That ability to engage others became clear when the three finalists were brought to Yellow Springs in March for interviews with WYSO staff, the WYSO Resource Board, Antioch College representatives and with WYSO listeners, Tecklenburg said. Maassen was the only candidate who “resonated well with all different groups,” Tecklenburg said.

WYSO Resource Board member Al Denman, a retired Antioch College professor, said he was especially pleased with the choice of Maassen because the new general manager understands and appreciates a close working relationship between a radio station and a college.

“I was particularly delighted with his selection,” said Denman, who attended all of the forums with all three candidates, a total of 12 forums. “In addition to WYSO being a great asset to the Miami Valley community, he could once again make the station a great asset to the Antioch College community.”

As well as having a passion for dialogue, Maassen said he highly values local programming. Under his watch at WNTI, the station broadcasted an eclectic mix of music and news, 90 percent of which was local programming and 10 percent national. The station, which has a staff of four, also operates with a balanced budget and with the help of about 50 volunteers, Maassen said.

“I think local programming is very important because that is what makes a station unique,” Maassen said. “We’ll be looking at that at WYSO.”

Maassen replaces Joe Colvin, who has served as the interim general manager since 2004, when Steve Spencer resigned from the manager’s position. Spencer created controversy in the winter of 2002 when he replaced a large number of the station’s volunteer-hosted programming with national syndicated shows. Spencer was also seen by many longtime WYSO supporters as being difficult to work with, and former Music Director Vick Mickunas and News Director Aileen LeBlanc cited problems with Spencer when they left their jobs in recent years. In response to these changes, many longtime WYSO supporters formed Keep WYSO Local, whose members Spencer declined to engage in dialogue.

Under Spencer’s management, the station also suffered from a growing deficit and a decline in volunteers.

Some Keep WYSO Local members who attended the general manager community forums said that the choice of Maassen was a healing one for the WYSO community.

“This is a happy moment. It’s the most positive thing I’ve heard about WYSO in the past three years,” said Larry Halpern, who said he and several other KWL members talked with Maassen for more than two hours after the forum ended. “Paul has a strong track record of diverse local programming and getting the community involved. This is what we’ve been looking for.”

Halpern credited Tecklenburg, who had final say hiring the new manager, with choosing someone with community-building skills over candidates who had different strengths, and with listening to the concerns of a broad range of WYSO supporters.

While there are no specific plans in place so far, both Maassen and Tecklenburg emphasized that they plan to offer regular opportunities for WYSO listeners to engage in dialogue about the station, possibly on a quarterly basis. They consider the WYSO community to be not just Yellow Springs, but the Miami Valley, both men said.

Many WYSO supporters have encouraged the station to rehire Mickunas since he and the station parted ways two years ago in a move Mickunas described as being fired and Antioch described as his resigning. In response to a question about whether he would consider rehiring Mickunas and LeBlanc, Maassen said he didn’t have enough information about either situation, but that he would look into them.

The amount of controversy surrounding WYSO did give him pause when he applied for the job, Maassen said.

“To be honest, that was a concern, knowing there had been disagreements and wondering if we could work through them,” he said. However, he said, those concerns were alleviated after he met with listeners at the forum. “From the discussion we had with community people the answer I got was ‘yes,’ ” he said.

Maassen said he wanted to come to WYSO because it is a larger station than WNTI and professionally a step up.

“I think WYSO is in a great position to grow and develop into one of the great resources in the community and in public radio in general,” he said. “There is lots of potential to do wonderful programming that reflects the cultural richness of the area and a lot of community involvement that makes for a strong and viable station.”

Maassen said he has been in love with radio since he was 6 years old, and each week on Saturday nights went to a park in his hometown of Baton Rouge to see a local radio deejay broadcast his show. People were invited to tell a joke on the air, Maassen said, and each week he brought a joke to share.

He continued to love radio as he grew up, although he studied business in college, Maassen said. He worked in business two years after graduating from college, but realized that he would rather work in radio, and has done so ever since.

“On radio you have a special relationship with listeners you don’t get from other media,” he said. “It’s something unique in the world.”

Maassen and his wife, Teri, a nurse, have three young children and are currently looking for a home in the area. Maassen is also a guitarist and songwriter, and said he appreciates all kinds of good music.