The Daily Orange - April 21, 1983
WAER attitudes deteriorate as format date approaches
by Neil McManus
A favorite pastime of David Anderson's staff is to
hang pictures of the station manager on the doors and walls of
the WAER-FM88 studio. Often the pictures come with a Hitler
moustache under Anderson's nose, and they are always accompanied
by a message. One such message reads "A Bullet In The Right
Place Can Change The World."
The students at WAER don't like Anderson very much. As Don Rully, former Coffee Break host, puts it. "At this point the attitudes range from 'Let's just get him out of here' to physically wanting to hurt the man."
Mostly the WAER staff is just frustrated. They are losing control of the traditionally student-run station to a man who does not appear to want to compromise.
"Up still now we've been very rational in our dealings with Anderson," said Music Director Glenn Kesner, "and we'd like to be rational until the very end. Trouble is, his unwillingness to give an inch is forcing us to be irrational."
The "very end" to which Kesner speaks is the June 1 deadline for the students to implement a jazz/news format Anderson has designed. The senior staff has argued for a "Sounds of the '80s" format, consisting of dance and new wave music which Anderson has dismissed as too close to the "rock-station sound."
The students at WAER call Anderson's jazz/news format an ultimatum. Anderson does not deny the charge.
Implement it or leave
"It's an ultimatum in the sense that I'm saying 'Here's the format: either implement it or leave,' " he said. "It's unrealistic for senior staff members and announcers to feel they have a right to make decisions".
Problems between Anderson and his staff began within the first two weeks of his appointment last fall. He set down a variety of guidelines to make the station more professional. One rule prohibited bicycles in the studio. Things went downhill from there.
"The station used to be a fun place to work, and people used to come here just to hang around," Kesner said. "Nobody hangs out here anymore. Anderson's like the Grim Reaper."
Rully said Anderson has tried to "break, crush morale" and rebuild it on his own terms.
"He throws in off-the-cuff remarks to cut down morale," Rully added. "At one staff meeting he broke into this tirade of 'You guys think you're pretty hot, and you think your reputation is pretty good around the country. Well I got news for you: your reputation isn't that good, and neither are you.' "
Anderson maintains he is only being realistic. "What do you want me to do—go around telling them how wonderful they are?" he said. "Some of the students really need to be taken down to ground zero."
Deflating egos
If Anderson seeks to deflate egos, his letters seem to help the cause. One letter signed by Anderson and dated Feb. 10, requests that former Program Director Kathy Gazda suspend a student from the station if the student failed to pay for a $1.14 collect phone call she had accepted during her shift.
In a memorandum addressed to the senior staff and dated March 22, Anderson adds as an aside "...We must all change our opinions about WAER and Syracuse University. There should never be a feeling that SU or WAER owes us something just because we pay a large tuition."
Kesner said Anderson is using management techniques that are 30 years out of date. "There are right ways to manipulate people, and there are wrong ways," he added.
Whether Anderson's management tactics are outdated or not, he seems to get his way. When Kesner called a press conference more than a month ago, Anderson called him into his office, and according to Kesner, 'bluntly told me 'We better not look bad, or I'll fire everybody.' " The conference was cancelled, and Anderson told the press Kesner had misinterpreted his comments.
Anderson's handling of the scheduled press conference is a classic example of his management technique, Rully said. "He doesn't really lie, but he doesn't tell the truth either," he said.
"He doesn't speak the same language as the rest of us," he added. "He doesn't have the same sense of right and wrong. Students are pretty much idealists; they want to trust people. But if you do that with Anderson, he'll chomp you up."
To Anderson, good management is effective management. "Good management sets goals and reaches them," he said.
But Anderson may be setting goals for people who are no longer listening to him. "I'm through with dealing with the man," said Program Director Joel Thierstein. "I'm sick of him. From now on I'm dealing directly with the chancellor."
If Chancellor Melvin A. Eggers doesn't intervene by June 1, "things are going to explode " Kesner said. "And things will explode.'"
Although Kesner will not come right out and say what he means by "explode," a student take over of the station remains a strong possibility.
"We are going to do everything we have to do keep the station," he said.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Last Modified October 14, 2005 |