News director fired, reporters quit at KWMU, St. Louis

Originally published in Current, July 6, 1998

By Jacqueline Conciatore

The firing of News Director Lester Graham and subsequent resignation of two reporters has left KWMU, St. Louis, without three-quarters of its reporting staff.

Graham says he was fired after he disagreed with General Manager Patricia Wente Bennett about a travel-expense voucher. "We had a dispute about whether KWMU's [reimbursement] policy was in violation of the [licensee,] University of Missouri, St. Louis, policy. I said the word 'grievance,' and 24 hours later I was terminated."

KWMU Program Director Robert Peterson says it was his decision to fire Graham but that he couldn't disclose the reasons because a grievance Graham filed with the university was pending. But it appears that Graham's job performance, at least in the strict sense, wasn't at issue. "I can tell you that Lester is an outstanding reporter and journalist," Peterson says. "He has contributed greatly to some of the success that the station has received." The news department under Graham has won about 75 news awards, according to Graham and station spokesperson Libby Nolan.

Graham has asked the university for reinstatement, but says he has no intention of returning to KWMU. [Graham's appeal was later rejected, and he found work elsewhere.]

The trouble started, according to Graham, when he discovered his signed travel-expense voucher had items whited out. The station had ruled it would no longer reimburse salaried staffers for travel costs of attending KWMU fundraisers, he says. He says he asked Bennett if she had the right under university policy to eliminate the travel costs, and the discussion became volatile.

"She was screaming at me for causing bad morale at the station. She blamed me for the sins of the world and finally said, 'The whole community hates you, Lester. What do you have to say for yourself?'" Graham says he twice asked her to be more specific in her accusation, and told her that "I thought morale was at an all-time low, and I thought there was only one reason"--by which he meant her.

Bennett then told him he was being insubordinate by refusing to answer her question, and dismissed him for the day, Graham says. Program Director Peterson escorted him out the door, he says. "I was shocked. I couldn't believe it, the staff couldn't believe it. Here I am being escorted out the door. I didn't know why." Peterson confirmed that he escorted Graham out.

The next day, when management told Graham to submit all outstanding travel vouchers, he said he first wanted to see the university's reimbursement policy clarified. That's when he was fired, he says.

In a written statement to Current, Bennett said that, "unfortunately," university policy prohibited her from discussing personnel matters. She also said: "I support my senior staff and the decisions they need to make regarding their divisions." [An aide to Bennett later submitted a letter to Current supporting her performance.]

Tim Emmons, g.m. of WNIU and WNIJ, De Kalb, and a former p.d. at the St. Louis station, has high praise for Graham. "Lester has worked for me twice, when I was p.d. here as my news director, and he worked for me in St. Louis as my news director. I have never had a more productive, professional relationship with anyone than I had with Lester Graham. Not only is he a wonderful reporter, he also is an extremely passionate, forthright and honest person. Because of my intimate knowledge of how Lester works, I have no problem believing anything he said, and would have no reason to question his version of any story." Emmons says he left KWMU on good terms.

Both Graham and Bennett are prominent in public radio nationally. Graham is a former board member of Public Radio News Directors Inc., and Bennett is a former NPR Board member.

In 1991, another KWMU news staffer fired by Bennett filed a lawsuit charging her with racial discrimination; a federal judge cleared Bennett the next year.

The two KWMU reporters who resigned deliver cautious explanations for their decision. Matthew Algeo, who's been with the station less than two years, says he quit because he disagreed with the decision to fire Graham. "I thought we were all doing an excellent job," he says. "I thought we were all making the station better."

Graham is one of the most respected broadcast journalists in the region, he says. "I learned a lot from Lester. I learned a lot about how to incorporate sound in stories, how to tell a good story on the radio."

Andrea Murray, a KWMU staffer for five years, says: "Lester's firing and the circumstances surrounding it made it clear to me it's time to move on."

But both reporters suggest they have additional grievances against the station. "I would say the firing was symptomatic of other, larger problems," says Algeo.

Says Murray: "I think it should speak volumes that people are leaving the station and the kind of work they love without having other jobs lined up."

At midweek last week, sources said another KWMU employee had resigned; that person would not confirm or deny those reports.

Peterson says the station's turnover has not been excessive. He also says Bennett has been supportive of the staff by adding needed staff positions, giving people training opportunities, and upgrading the facility.

"I enjoy working at KWMU greatly," he says. "It has been a highly successful station. Over the last couple of years the station has seen audience numbers higher than it has ever seen, a membership base higher than it has ever been. And I don't think you could do that unless you had an excellent staff of people working there in all areas."

Tom Kovach, an underwriting sales rep, says: "It's a good environment," he said. "And, I'll be frank, certainly, in any organization there are bumps, both positives and negatives, but public radio is alive and well in St. Louis."

Bennett in her written comments questioned whether the firing flap was of much import. "The real question is ... what effect does it have on KWMU listeners? Voices will change, but the high quality remains the same. KWMU is a collaborative effort composed of more than 20 professional full-time staff, who will continue to serve its more than 122,000 weekly listeners to provide quality programming that the community has come to expect."

Sherry Hieken, KWMU business manager, says working at KWMU has been "a great opportunity" for her. "We're a close-knit family. I thank the Lord every day for giving me the opportunity to have the wisdom and knowledge to be able to do my job every day. I love working here." Hieken, like Kovach, came forward after the station spokesperson called Current to say there were staffers who wanted to make positive comments.

Graham says he has landed a job where he will "cover a large area of the upper Midwest." He's also written an article for the PRNDI newsletter, warning that public radio jobs at university-licensed stations are not as well protected by due process as might be assumed. "I didn't get a verbal warning, I didn't get a written warning, I just got fired," he says.

"A discharge for insubordination could happen very quickly," says university Human Resources Director Peter Heithaus. If an employee is told his or her refusal to carry out a direct order is a serious or fireable offense and still refuses the order, the discharge can be immediate, he explains. He would not comment on the specifics of this case or on the status of Graham's grievance.

Bill Raack, news producer, has been named interim news director.

 

Graham loses job appeal, joins Great Lakes unit

Originally published in Current, Aug. 10, 1998

Lester Graham--the news director whose firing at KWMU-FM, St. Louis, prompted the resignation of two news colleagues -- has lost his appeal for reinstatement, he confirmed last week. The point was moot, in a way, since he was negotiating for a new job and appears to have gotten it.

Graham said the licensee University of Missouri at St. Louis "ruled against me in every point." He does not expect to pursue the case, because the "tone and tenor of [the university's] response indicated to me they're not interested in finding out what happened." KWMU wouldn't discuss Graham's firing, but Graham has said he was fired for insubordination after taking exception to management's handling of one of his mileage reimbursement forms.

Graham has been recommended for hiring as a bureau chief for the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, a regional newsgathering unit based at Michigan Public Radio in Ann Arbor, according to David Hammond, managing editor. Graham will cover Chicago, Illinois and the lower Great Lakes states from the St. Louis area. Matthew Algeo, one of the reporters who quit in protest of Graham's firing, has been hired as a producer for Maine Public Radio.

KWMU has named Bill Raack to succeed Graham, the station announced July 30. Raack has served at the station as senior producer and morning news host since 1995, and before that was news director at WILL-AM, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

 

High morale, achievement attained at KWMU, St. Louis

Letter to the editor from KWMU Station Manager Shelley Kerley, originally published in Current, Aug. 10, 1998

To the editors:
Current's recent coverage of events at KWMU-FM in St. Louis ("News director fired, reporters quit at KWMU, St. Louis," July 6) was a classic illustration of how an article can have the trappings of balance but manage to weave an underlying theme of innuendo and inaccuracy. Lester Graham was quoted repeatedly giving his version of "the facts," even including as quotes his version of what other people said. Further sources were then quoted, all past employees, with glowing comments about Graham and his truthfulness. Absent, of course, is the telling of events from the perspective of numerous other people who witnessed the events surrounding the firing, myself included.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis encourages very professional handling of personnel matters and quite rightly does not disclose the details surrounding an individual's personnel history and the actions involving them. Would Graham really have wanted all the information presented to the press?

Bringing up a 1991 racial discrimination case further served to create an implication of "trouble" at the station. Not only did this have nothing to do with Graham, but the details were also given inaccurately. The case did not involve "another KWMU newsman fired by Bennett" but rather a part-time announcer who was not rehired after her term expired. Again, a slight variation in the story helped give the article an implied spin.

The article also seemed to imply that staff turnover was high at the station. To the contrary, KWMU's current full-time staff of 21 have been at the station an average of more than five years.

As someone who has worked at the station with Patricia Bennett for more than eight years, I would like to share with you just how successful the station has been under her leadership.

Under her guidance, the average quarter-hour audience has tripled to 8,600. The station's share has increased to a high of 2.4 and the cume is also at a record high of 122,900 for a fall Arbitron survey.

Since arriving in 1989, Bennett has spearheaded replacement of the station's aging and often malfunctioning transmission system and replacement of worn and outdated recording and broadcast equipment. The station now utilizes state-of-the-art digital editing and has integrated computerized operations from news production to fundraising and marketing. Just 10 years ago, the station relied only on typewriters in its newsroom! Most recently, Bennett has worked with the University to move and replace the station's aging satellite dish and has secured funding for the station's first-ever back-up generator.

In 1989, Bennett took the helm of a station in financial straits. Today, community support makes up 73 percent of KWMU's operating budget and more people than ever before are tuning in to an award-winning community resource. Total community support has almost tripled in 10 years. The station now raises more than $1.3 million from St. Louisans who value the unique contribution KWMU makes to this area. In fiscal year 1987-88, the station raised only just over $493,000. Now more than 10,000 individuals support the station, up from 4,000 ten years ago. Members now provide $885,000 to support the station, up from $320,000 in 1987-88. Corporations are also supporting the station at record levels with $401,000--triple the support of 10 years ago.

The transformation of the station from a struggling, underperforming operation to a respected, professional, community resource has often been an uphill effort. The 1990 reorganization of the staff structure resulted in the filing of a racial discrimination lawsuit by one part-time employee. The civil case was resolved in 1993 in favor of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and KWMU, but the time and energy involved in fighting the allegations took its toll on the station. While there is no doubt that KWMU's general manager is a dynamic leader, given the depth of changes that needed to be made at the station, controversy was inevitable. As a team, we don't let the controversy tap the station's energy. Instead we stay focused on moving the station forward. Bennett, the station and the university continue to stand up for what they believe is right. This past year, the station declined to accept underwriting support from the Ku Klux Klan. Subsequently, KWMU is now involved in fighting this possible landmark issue for public radio in Federal court.

Over the years, Bennett has refocused the allocation of financial resources to provide greater service while keeping expenses and staff levels under control. KWMU's current full-time staff of 21 bring more than 159 years of broadcast experience to the job. Bennett has focused on the importance of recruiting experienced professionals to the staff, providing training, and encouraging staff to be active in community and professional activities. We are all involved in an annual process of goal-setting and mission review that has created a strong team environment to foster growth and the generation of new ideas. The station now is an industry leader in its news coverage, fund raising--and its management. In the past year, the station has won 13 awards for news coverage and just received a first-place national development award for excellence in its corporate support efforts. In 1994, KWMU received 3 Addy Certificates of Excellence for its ad campaign created by DMB&B. In 1991, University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Blanche Touhill was awarded the national Eugene L. Asher award for outstanding support of a university official for a public radio station.

St. Louis has benefited from the national leadership experience Bennett brought with her to KWMU. She has also made the station a player in the local market with her involvement on the St. Louis Radio Association Board.

I think it's time to say that the staff of KWMU is very proud of their g.m. and of our accomplishments of the past 10 years. Morale is higher than ever, we are a team and the station is poised for even greater things.

Shelley Kerley
Station Manager/Development Director, KWMU, St. Louis

 

To Current's home page

Earlier news: Court rejects charges of racial discrimination as KWMU manager overhauls university-operated station, 1993.

Outside link: KWMU's web site.

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