An Editorial
This editorial appeared in the Falmouth Enterprise on Friday, Oct. 3, 1997.

A Match For Public Radio

The collaboration of public radio producer Jay allison of Woods Hole and prestigious WGBH of Boston promises a good match of talent and quality radio programming, with the added benefit of local news and issues.
Mr Allison, who has been working for the past five years to establish a public radio station on the Cape, brings excellent credentials to the partnership. Last year he was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio, the first independent producer to win the award in 20 years. He has produced shows for National Public Radio, Smithsonian Institution, and ABC News' Nightline.

WGBH is venturing into something new with this project. The station's public relations office said WGBH has worked with other stations before, but the partnership with Mr. Allison is a first. The Cape station will be separate from the Boston station, with programming geared specifically for the Cape and Islands.

With the support of WGBH, Mr. Allison is closer to his goal of providing unique public radio programming for the Cape and Islands. We wish him well.

A Reply From Jay Allison

To The Editor, Falmouth Enterprise:

The October 3rd editorial (about the alliance between WGBH-Boston and our local group, Cape and Islands Community Public Radio) was personally gratifying. I certainly appreciate the approbation, but must rush to share the credit.

This has been, and always will be, a team effort.

First of all, great thanks are due the members of the CICPR Board of Directors who served over the past five years. Like most infant non-profits, our organization crawled forward mainly under their volunteer power. The Board knew that space in non-commercial radio frequencies is a vanishing resource and they worked terribly hard to secure it, like conservation land, for the community, forever.

And, beyond the Board, many stalwart citizens have given their time and talent and money to this effort. They come from the Cape, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Boston, New York, Washington, even California--and are united by a belief in the principles of public broadcasting. They think it matters--that it is a good and reasonable thing to preserve a portion of the broadcast spectrum for the community, and for ideals, and that amid the din of commercial media, it's nice to have a sanctuary dedicated foremost to the benefit of the brain and the heart--even at the cost of occasional begging in exchange for coffee mugs and tote bags.

These stations are due to go on the air next summer. They will carry news and information from around the country and the world, but perhaps most importantly, they will carry our voices to one another here at home. They will carry our local cultural events, public affairs, debate, and humor. Spreading out over the water, these public signals will join us together, in a way. "Bioregional Radio" is what one of our Board members calls it, and we are eager to discover exactly what it will sound like.

That will be the fun part.

I am grateful to all our supporters for their continuing help in this endeavor and look forward to hearing these public radio stations grow in ways that will surprise and enrich us all.

Jay Allison
Woods Hole