November 11, 2008, 8:15 a.m.; November 12, 2008, 7:25 a.m.; November 18, 2008, 7:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. (Robert Dana's op ed column; comment on Daily Iowan story); November 20, 2008, 6:30 a.m. (The Gazette editorial); November 21, 2008, 11:30 a.m. (shock and awe from UN support)
"Dead From Prairie Lights" -- The Sequel
[Editorial cartoon credit: The Press-Citizen's talented Bob Patton; "Prairie Lights, Unplugged," Posted November 11, 2008, 4:05 p.m. CST, published November 12, 2008, p. A18.]
November 21: "Shock and Awe": The IPI terrorists have dug in and show no signs of being moved by the surge of support for "Live From Prairie Lights."
They've left the show's supporters no option but to appeal to the United Nations for assistance. Thankfully, notwithstanding the UN's obligations in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the moment, UNESCO has not only responded to the supporters' appeal, but done so with dispatch. Chris Rhatigan, "Iowa City a 'City of Literature;' First American city designated by UNESCO," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 21, 2008, p. A1:
"The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, has designated Iowa City as the world's third City of Literature. It is the first American city to be awarded with the distinction. It also becomes part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, which includes major world cities like Berlin, Buenos Aires, Seville and Montreal."
If this UN bunker-buster isn't enough to shake some sense into Iowa Public Radio, I've been told the "Live From Prairie Lights" supporters have already received some positive response from the feelers they've sent out to the Vatican regarding possible intercession by the Pope. (And see, Mary Harrington, "Iowa City Named World's Third City of Literature," The Daily Iowan, November 21, 2008, p. A1 [headlined in the print edition as, "IC Officially Literary; Iowa City is now a City of Literature, Joining Just Two Others Areas Globally"].
Hopefully the IPI "senior team" will come to recognize the distinction, eventually pressed upon our President and his approach to his unprovoked invasion of Iraq, between steadfastness of purpose and dumb-stubborn.
IPI Senior Team: Bring back "Live From Prairie Lights" and this blog will award you a "Hats Off Award" for maturity. Otherwise, if you won't respond to the United Nations you're going to be confronting God Herself.
November 20: The "coalition of the willing" expands, and "the surge" presses on against the terrorists of IPI, with The Gazette's editorial this morning:
They told us this could happen, but it hurt when Iowa Public Radio announced last week it had canceled “Live from Prairie Lights” after an 18-year run. It’s just the kind of change listeners feared when state regents announced the merger of Iowa’s university radio stations a few years ago.
We understand programming changes will continue as Iowa Public Radio works to serve a statewide audience, but we want public radio decision-makers to remember it’s the local content that makes the public’s stations special. . . .
“Live from Prairie Lights” was uniquely Iowa City and uniquely Iowa — the kind of show we can’t buy on syndication and the kind of show that can only be supported by a public station.
IPR can’t base all its programming decisions on bringing 100,000 listeners to any given show. It also must support shows that can’t exist anywhere else. . . .
Editorial, "Keep the local in Iowa Public Radio," The Gazette, November 20, 2008, p. A4.
November 18: Like Treasury Secretary Paulson's bailout plans, the loss of "Live From Prairie Lights" is the theft that keeps on giving -- faceless, bean-counting bureaucrats, without consultation, steal our valuable, local, public radio program, but thereby stimulate a vigorous community discussion and re-commitment to our literary traditions. So, for the latest in the saga of "How many IPR Executives does it take to screw 'Prairie Lights,'" Robert Dana joins the team of Iowa's Poet Laureates who are modifying Eleanor Roosevelt's advice and lighting candles while cursing the darkness. Robert Dana, "Nothing else like 'Prairie Lights,'" Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 18, 2008, p. 9A ("[C]anceling this historic, intelligent show in favor of lighter fare with more listenership seems to be just one more step in the commercialization and general dumbing down of Iowa Public Radio. . . . Put simply, the present brain trust of IPR has no real sense of the literary value of Iowa City, of the University of Iowa and its writing programs or of 'Live from Prairie Lights." Nor of its pervasive influence in Iowa and elsewhere in the world. Or IPR knows and really doesn't care, preferring to believe in dollar signs and statistics.").
And, speaking of lighting candles, the following comment appeared this morning on The Daily Iowan's site in connection with its earlier story about the cancellation:
"posted 11/18/08 @ 1:24 AM CST
"This is really unfortunate. I first caught Live from Prairie Lights back in the mid-90s when I was living in Arkansas - the show used to be syndicated in a handful of markets around the country, and I never missed it. I ended up living in Iowa City for about 5 years, and attended maybe 50 or 60 readings live. Since leaving, I catch the show almost every week via the Internet.
"I can only hope that this isn't some harbinger of the end of Prairie Lights as well (I still wear my now very faded T-shirt proudly). I'll light a candle tonight for the independent book sellers everywhere."
November 12: Yesterday's blog entry, below, inspired by Iowa Public Radio's cancellation of "Live From Prairie Lights," dealt with the history of educational radio in general and WSUI in particular, the original mission of these stations, and what I believe to be the unfortunate consequences of decades of deviation from that mission -- for which the death of "Live From Prairie Lights" is only the latest example.
Given the rather substantial amount of interest in the subject, including the number of hits on the blog yesterday, I'm going to retain it as today's entry as well.
Since then, in addition to Bob Patton's editorial cartoon, above, the Press-Citizen has entered the fray, again, with a lengthy and thoughtful evaluation of its own: Editorial, "A chance to do more with Iowa City's strong literary relationships," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 12, 2008, p. A18, noting, among other things, the irony of the literary program's cancellation "At a time when UNESCO is almost ready to designate Iowa City as a 'City of Literature.'" (And see this morning's letter, Judy Hendershot, "IPR No Longer Serving Our Needs," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 12, 2008, p. A18.)
It might also have mentioned in this connection the local "Stories Project." I (and the Project's leaders themselves) have serious questions about it. Nicholas Johnson, "Tell Me a Story: The Stories Project," August 30, 2008. So I don't mean this reference to be either "endorsement" or "opposition." But it is further evidence of the extent to which local residents think of themselves as a literary community, and would like others to think of them that way as well.
Yesterday's blog entry focused on Iowa Public Radio's Jonathan Ahl (check out his blog at http://ahlthingsconsidered.blogspot.com/) simply because his was the name associated with the cancellation in the press. At 12:07 p.m. yesterday he added a comment, below, explaining that the decision was, in fact, made by the "unanimous IPR senior team." It's not clear to me whether that makes the program's death sentence better or worse in terms of the concerns I and others have raised, but it's certainly understandable why he would not want to take Ahl of the responsibility for it.
At 2:32 p.m. he added another comment, below, saying, "To be clear, I agree with most of the philosophies and positions that you lay out in this blog."
As the Press-Citizen reports, however, agreement with "philosophies" is unlikely to be translated into a reassessment of IPR's pragmatic dilemmas or program preferences.
I am not a radio program creator or producer, but as a listener it seems to me there is a distinction between what I will call the category of "magazine programming," such as NPR's "Morning Edition" and the afternoon "All Things Considered," and IPR's "The Exchange" and "Talk @ 12," on the one hand, and what I will call "subject specific programming," such as "On the Media," "Car Talk," and "Speaking of Faith." It is noteworthy that, after a quick look at the WSUI schedule I don't see any subject specific programming being produced by IPR -- except for "Live From Prairie Lights." And now that is to be cancelled. If this is more than a coincidence it might be something the "IPR senior team" would want to rethink some time.
As mentioned in yesterday's entry, below, the BBC runs circles around American radio -- NPR as well as commercial -- by any and all measures, so it may not be totally useful to choose it as a benchmark. But it's nonetheless both fair and relevant to note that among the BBC World Service's 58 programs listened to by citizens around the world on all continents is its literary program, "World Book Club."
Coming up with a program format that is both sufficiently substantive to avoid embarrassment for an "educational" radio station, and sufficiently interesting to hold an audience, is not easy. I don't mean to pretend that it is.
But it is inconceivable to me, given Iowa City's resources, that it would be impossible to come up with a successful program with a literary focus.
Distinguished writers from around the world are in residence as part of the UI "International Writing Program" -- indeed some of them are on the Press-Citizen's op ed page this very morning. More writers are here for the "Iowa Writers Workshop" two-year residency program. There are other writers who make Iowa City their home. There are the professors who work with these programs. There are the authors whom the book publishers are happy to send here to speak, sign, and sell books -- formerly as a part of "Live From Prairie Lights." Most of the heavy hitter lecturers who are brought to campus are also authors. There are innovative programs teaching writing -- a need throughout Iowa's schools -- in our K-12 schools, and university (including our law school). There would be reports on the progress of the "Stories Project."
As I say, it is inconceivable that there is not somehow, some way, to draw upon all of these resources (and the more creative ideas from those whose profession it is to come up with creative programming ideas) to come up with a successful literary program from one of the world's few, and great, "cities of literature."
In the 1930s most radio programs were broadcast before live audiences -- as are some videotaped situation comedy TV shows today. "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Michael Feldman's 'Whad'ya Know?'" are two examples of that old model carried by IPR. The only locally produced audience radio shows that immediately come to mind are Ben Kieffer's "Java Blend" -- and "Live From Prairie Lights." So that's another reason why killing "Live From Prairie Lights" will be a significant loss in the IPR offering.
Here is the blog entry as it appeared yesterday morning, November 11:
__________
Jonathan Ahl, Iowa Public Radio's News Director, arrived in Iowa from out of state less than four months ago. However, he feels he already knows enough about Iowa, Iowa City, and the University of Iowa's role in the history of broadcasting, to kill one of the most uniquely creative and educational radio programs to come out of this literary community: "Live From Prairie Lights." Peter Gustin, "IPR kills 'Live from Prairie Lights,'" Daily Iowan, November 10, 2008, A1.
"Live From Prairie Lights" was a community event -- whether you went to the talk while it was being broadcast, or listened from home. It got folks into an independent bookstore (as distinguished from Wal-Mart's book selection or those of the chains). It gave authors and publishers a little more of a chance to make it in this electronic age. It gave readers a chance to meet the authors, buy their books, and get their autograph, in a social setting where they could visit with neighbors with similar interests.
Of course, once the likes of Jonathan Ahl decided that a program that included "live" in its name could just as well be taped and broadcast at off-peak times, needless to say the program lost some of its allure and role in the community and in the world of books.
Its recently announced death is reminiscent of the fate of the news anchor, in Paddy Chayefsky's 1976 movie "Network": "Howard Beale, the first person in the history of television to be killed for bad ratings."
For that is apparently the crime that prompted Judge Ahl to unilaterally hand down the death sentence for this extraordinary program. See Jeff Charis-Carlson, "'Live from Prairie Lights' no longer," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 10, 2008, p. A11 (an interview with Ahl). For a contrary view see this morning's op ed column, Marvin Bell, "Some dim bulbs at public radio," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 11, 2008, p. A9.
WSUI-AM was not only one of the nation's first educational radio stations, it was one of the country's first radio stations, period. ("WSUI had its beginning in 1919 in the basement of the University of Iowa Physics Building. Starting with the operation of a 10-watt transmitter under the call sign 9YA, the station is the oldest educational broadcasting station west of the Mississippi River, making the University of Iowa a pioneer in public broadcasting.") Not incidentally, the University of Iowa also played a major role in the early development of television.
Educational AM radio stations, and subsequently those located on the FM frequencies we set aside for "educational" FM stations (such as KSUI-FM) were to have four characteristics:
1. An extension of the educational mission of the university, providing educational programming for Iowans who are not, as well as those who are, enrolled as students
2. Local programming, drawing from, and designed to serve, the needs, tastes and interests of its community of license
3. Stations operated under the supervision of, and financially supported by, their licensees: a university or other educational institution
4. Programming and announcements devoid of ties to commercial institutions or commercialism
This Friday, November 14, will mark the 86th anniversary of the first broadcast from the BBC. The man who set its tone, and served as its director-general from 1922 to 1938, Lord John Reith, "envisaged an independent British broadcaster able to educate, inform and entertain the whole nation, free from political interference and commercial pressure." "History of the BBC."
The BBC has, for the most part, held fast to that mission over the years. Its "World Service" radio remains, today, not only one of the best but sometimes the only, source for American listeners looking for in-depth reporting of the really important stories not only from Europe, Asia, and Africa, but from America as well. From "Global Business" to "From Our Own Correspondent" the BBC really has no equal.
WSUI, or rather 9YA as it then was, was already on the air when Lord Reith's BBC began broadcasting.
During the 1920s Iowa's own Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, called a series of "radio conferences" in Washington that laid the foundation for what became the standards applied by the Radio Commission of 1927 -- ultimately to become the Federal Communications Commission in 1934.
Of course we went about the structuring and regulation of the broadcasting industry, and the ultimate creation of "educational broadcasting," in our own uniquely American way. But there was a remarkable level of agreement around the world as to the potential, and responsibility, of broadcasters.
Take the matter of commercialization.
Then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover's oft-quoted objection was, "It is inconceivable that we should allow so great a possibility for service [for news, for entertainment, for education] to be drowned in advertising chatter." Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 140 (1952), quoted in Erik Barnouw, A Tower in Babel: A History of Broadcasting in the United States 96 (1966). Apparently the broadcasters and other members of the first Radio Conference agreed. Their Recommendation III.E. provided, "It is recommended that direct advertising in radio broadcasting service be absolutely prohibited . . .." Report of Department of Commerce Conference on Radio Telephony, Rad. Serv. Bull., May 1, 1922. See Nicholas Johnson, "Forty Years of Wandering in the Wasteland," Federal Communications Law Journal, May 2003, p. 521, 527-28, n. 17.
WSUI once broadcast classes, live from lecture halls on campus (including my father's popular "general semantics" course). Such use of WSUI was, presumably, considered a part of the University's mission of providing education, for free, to those well beyond its campus.
WSUI's operations were financed by the Iowa Legislature and University of Iowa -- not commercials ("corporate underwriting"). As legislators and university administrators increasingly failed to see the value of this asset, they cut its funding (and, not incidentally, later sold off WOI-TV in Ames). With no alternative, programs were increasingly interrupted to pitch products and services -- not to mention "week-long commercials" ("pledge drives") begging for funds.
Before the arrival of National Public Radio the programs were in large measure of necessity, as well as by design, "local." Now the distinctive local qualities of WSUI, WOI and KUNI, and their sister stations, have been deliberately destroyed with the creation of something called "Iowa Public Radio" run by faceless and heartless bureaucrats who know little of these stations' history, mission, and contribution -- and seemingly care less.
Killing "Live From Prairie Lights" is only the latest evidence of the extent to which those entrusted with responsibility for the protection, preservation and healthy growth of this precious if fragile institution have increasingly failed it over the years.
(As evidence that we're not doing much better with today's technology, the ability to deliver education "online" -- an idea I pushed to no avail 25 years ago for the UI -- see Erin Jordan, "Professors collect big bucks for online classes," Des Moines Register, November 9, 2008. I fear the "solution" now in place carries with it as many difficulties as the supposed "problem.")
Ratings
"Ratings" are an appropriate metric for commercial broadcasting, stations in the business of selling their audience (the product) to the advertiser (the consumer) at a cost-per-thousand (audience members) in an effort to maximize profit.
They are not an appropriate metric for educational, expressly "non-commercial," radio.
Public access cable television programming had to deal with the same issue. Some programmers in the early days, not to mention city and cable company administrators, wanted to create network-entertainment-style programming and measure its contribution by ratings. They came to see that there were other values from community-members-created video programming than mere audience numbers -- including such things as conversations among retirement home residents at various locations around an urban area, church services thereby available to shut-ins, the ability of the fire chief to hold remote "staff meetings" with all of a community's fire houses, or even smoke detectors in cable subscribers' homes connected by cable television (that could, not incidentally, reduce fire insurance rates for a community by as much as 50%).
Should C-SPAN be canceled because its ratings are less than those for ABC's "Dancing With the Stars"? Of course not. It serves an entirely different purpose. So it is with educational radio stations. They're not in the business of selling their audiences to advertisers and their programming should not be evaluated by administrators as if they were.
I have two major points to make about ratings -- illustrated, you will not be surprised to discover, with two stories.
CBS' "60 Minutes." Early in its history CBS executives wanted to cancel "60 Minutes." Why? Well, of course: "bad ratings." As an FCC commissioner I had no right or power to be dictating network programming. But I knew a hit when I saw one, and encouraged the network to stick with it, give it time. What happened? Here's how the program's executives relate the history today:
60 Minutes, the most successful broadcast in television history, celebrates its 40th anniversary in September 2008. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the CBS News magazine has been the number-one program a record five times. It also finished among Nielsen's annual top-10 list for 23 consecutive seasons - a record never even approached by another program. 60 Minutes finished the 2007-08 season as the most-watched news broadcast, making Nielsen's weekly top-10 list 16 times over 33 telecasts.
The program has won more Emmy Awards than any other primetime broadcast, including a special Lifetime Achievement Emmy. It has also won virtually every other broadcast journalism award, plus 15 Peabody awards for excellence in television broadcasting. In the last year, 60 Minutes has won all of the major awards: four Emmys, a DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton, a Peabody, an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow award, an RFK Journalism Award and a Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
60 Minutes was created in 1968 by Don Hewitt and premiered on CBS September 24th of that year.
"Program Facts," CBS' "60 Minutes."
My point is obviously not that if only we'll stick with "Live From Prairie Lights" long enough it will someday have ratings equivalent to "60 Minutes." So what is my point?
The moral of this story is simply that hasty executive decisions to cancel shows (or murder Howard Beale) for "bad ratings" often become self-inflicted wounds. And if that is sometimes true for commercial broadcasting it is certainly true for educational broadcasting.
I never had that many conversations with Richard Nixon. He was not my favorite president. But I recall, in connection with this "Live From Prairie Lights" flap, an insight of his that stuck with me over the years. We were talking about media power in general, and public broadcasting in particular, when he said, "Do you realize that I can reach more people from the smallest radio station in Mississippi than if I were to speak in the local stadium?"
It influenced my accepting invitations to appear as a guest on what were then the TV networks' late night talk shows. In order to reach as many people as would see one of those shows, I calculated, I'd need to speak to a room-full of people at 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and every hour throughout the day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year -- for three hundred years!
The Daily Iowan, linked above, reports that "Live From Prairie Lights" has an audience of 1600. As Marvin Bell writes this morning, linked above, it may be far more than that. Audience measurement is a notoriously inexact science, especially when dealing with listeners in fairly small markets. But put that aside.
Jonathan Ahl told Jeff Charis-Carlson, also linked above, that another of the reasons for the program's cancellation was the cost of its staff. This is a staff, I should note, of primarily one: Julie Englander.
OK. Now for the comparison.
I am a big fan of the UI Lecture Committee's efforts in bringing headliners to our campus. (Disclosure: I used to do a lot of public lecturing myself through the Leigh Lecture Bureau in New York and Princeton.)
We often get audiences of 1000, 1500, or more to attend these lectures in the IMU ballroom. The lectures are free to the audience, but not cheap for the committee. Lecture fees of $10,000 to $25,000 are common. We paid, I believe, $35,000 for Karl Rove.
You get my point, right?
I don't know what we're paying Julie Englander, but I can't imagine it's many multiples of a single lecture fee. And how many people are we reaching? Roughly what we reach with a public lecture. And what do we have to pay these "lecturers"? Zilch, nada, zero.
How many professors do we have who are lecturing to 1600 students at a time?
Utilizing another technology, we are apparently paying them $280 per online student.
If Julie were paid $280 for every member of her 1600 audience for whom she is "teaching literature," she would be pulling down $448,000 per semester.
By university standards for class enrollment -- or even public lectures -- 1600 is an enormous audience.
Any way you look at it -- by the numbers, from the perspective of history, or with the application of a little common sense -- canceling "Live From Prairie Lights" is a dumb move from what Marvin Bell calls "a dim bulb." "And that's all she wrote."
Let's hope it's not "Ahl he wrote."
# # #
August 30, 2008, 8:30 a.m.
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The Stories Project
This morning's Press-Citizen carries three editorial comments about the proposed Coralville "Stories Project" -- from the paper's Editorial Board, Josh Schamberger (President, Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Stories creative catalyst -- with Bruce Wheaton), and yours truly, some of which is provided below.
In January of 2006 I wrote, in one of a couple dozen commentaries regarding the proposed indoor rain forest project (see generally, my Earthpark Web site), a sample listing of what I thought to be the desirable-to-essential qualities of community attractions that work, including:
Community-based. Successful ventures grow bottom up, like Omaha's zoo, the Englert theater renovation, and Dubuque's "Envision 2010," rather than being imposed top down like the rain forest.
Nicholas Johnson, "Time to Learn from What Works," Iowa City Press-Citizen, January 20, 2006.
Three months later I got wind of Josh Schamberger's proposal to do precisely that -- bring together some 21 representative local folks to consider the options for what to do with the land no longer to be occupied by the rain forest. (See, e.g., Jennifer Lickteig, "Coralville Site Panel Has 2 UI Students," The Daily Iowan, April 26, 2006). Naturally I gave him a call, praised his proposed procedure, offered to help, and referred to his "leadership" on the Earthpark Web site. (As he continues to say today, in concluding his column, "We invite all to dream with us and to help to check the facts.")
Now, a reasonable two years later, this local group has sifted through some options and settled on what has come to be called "The Stories Project." For some descriptions, see, e.g., the The Stories Project at Iowa River Landing" Web site; Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, "The Stories Project Unveiled," June 6, 2008; Gregg Hennigan, "Major award, interactive holograms part of Coralville project unveiled today," The Gazette Online, June 5, 2008, 4:03 p.m.
(On the other hand, for the balance of a truly critical and skeptical view of the idea, as only State29 could present it, see State29, "Pulp Fiction: The Stories Project Scam In Coralville," June 6, 2008, and the appended comments from his readers. State29 retired from the blogosphere earlier this year.)
There is a significant amount of agreement among this morning's three pieces, along with some differences: (1) Stories is not an idea to be dismissed out of hand, but (2) at this point in time it still has many challenges, questions and potential concerns that will need to be addressed and resolved before it can go ahead. The differences tend to relate to the nature and seriousness of those concerns.
When I was asked to write an op ed on the subject I had assumed I would present some of the cautions about attractions that I tend to have as a result of studying, first, the Earthpark rain forest proposal, then attractions generally, and finally economic development generally. Josh would, I assumed, present the strongest case for Stories -- because he best knows it, it wasn't a part of my assignment, and it's really kind of important that the papers' readers hear the story of Stories.
Instead, the Schamberger-Wheaton piece ended up being primarily a critique of my own column. No problem. That's useful -- and fun. But it left major hole in the content of what was a significant commitment of newspaper space to Stories -- namely, what is this project anyway? So that is why, among other reasons, I provide the links, above, if you'd like to find out more about what Schamberger's local group, and its national consultants, have been doing over the last two years.
Also missing from this morning's three pieces, given the nature of the Schamberger-Wheaton column, is the response of sorts I felt was necessary to what they'd written. If we're to have a debate, and it turns out to be over my concerns rather than their proposal, then let's have a debate.
Accordingly, in the column I submitted I prepared and added a brief response. Apparently -- presumably in large measure given the excessive amount of space they were already devoting to the subject -- that response was removed from my submission.
So I'll start by reproducing it here, as submitted:
Unfortunately, Josh Schamberger fails to provide a case for the Stories Project. But since his defensive rejection of my concerns reflect some misunderstandings, a recap may be useful.
• Having proposed we become “a writing community,” clearly I’m not “opposed” to the Stories Project.
• The threshold problem, as explained: “It’s hard to be ‘for’ or ‘against’ a thing not knowing what the ‘thing’ is.”
• Next: It’s not that they don’t “yet” have money for either construction or operations. It’s that they’ve failed to, as the sub-head put it, “Start with the money,” including major local contributions. In the cited example (Atlanta aquarium) a $200 million local gift.
• It’s not that the “relationships between education, entertainment and tourism present problems.” Of course they can be, and are, sometimes combined. It’s that a single, focused purpose seems to be helpful. And that in spite of the Herbert Hoover site’s mix of education and entertainment the pure entertainment of Adventureland produces 10 times Hoover’s attendance.
• Schamberger’s examples are wildly inappropriate. The Newseum is (a) in Washington, D.C., (b) on Pennsylvania Avenue , (c) supported by the newspaper industry, (d) cost $400 million to build, and (e) gets national publicity as a radio and TV program venue. (As Walter Mondale might have said, “I know the Newseum. I am a friend of the Newseum. And believe me your Stories Project is no Newseum.”) And need I even start with his comparisons to Abraham Lincoln?
• That his attendance projections are “wildly optimistic” – perhaps by ten-fold – is not my “hunch.” The formula was recently confirmed by experts’ conclusion Denver’s economic boost from the Convention was closer to $16 million than consultants’ projections of $160 million.
Obviously, I urge you to read the Schamberger-Wheaton column that prompted this effort on my part to have the Press-Citizen carry these clarifications. Out of both the a respect for this blog's readers, and the column's authors, I will not reproduce it here, but this link will take you to it quickly: Josh Schamberger and Bruce Wheaton, "'Stories' Invites the Community to Dream With Us," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 30, 2008, p. A15.
I will, however, reproduce my own column, as submitted. (It is also available from the Press-Citizen's online site as, Nicholas Johnson, "Flying Video Screens, Stories and Tourism," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 30, 2008, p. A15. And don't forget, Editorial, "'Stories Project' Still Must Tell its Own Story," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 30, 2008, p. A14.)
Flying Video Screens, Stories and Tourism
Nicholas Johnson
Everybody loves a story.
But will they love “The Stories Project”?
The Press-Citizen asked my opinion.
When traveling abroad it’s a matter of pride when someone, knowing I’m from Iowa City, identifies it with our International Writing Program.
Years ago, as a school board member, I wrote how we could become the nation’s preeminent “writing district,” and later proposed we declare Iowa City “a writing community.”
So an Iowa City monument to stories is certainly more appealing than “a rain forest in a cornfield” -- the earlier proposal for Coralville.
But good ideas are a dime a dozen. The challenge? Finding the next dime. Something rain forest promoters never found.
Whether Stories makes sense requires the same analysis to which I subjected the rain forest. www.nicholasjohnson.org/politics/IaChild/.
In fairness, Stories’ promoters acknowledge their details aren’t nailed down – “‘flying video screens’ and holographic projections,” school, bookstore, restaurant? But it’s hard to be “for” or “against” a thing not knowing what the “thing” is – the rain forest’s persistent problem. (“It’s a floor wax, it’s a desert topping; it’s whatever they want it to be.”)
So all I can offer is an all-purpose sampling of issues for any attraction.
Start with the money. Local donors are essential. Don’t periodically scale back an unfunded dream. Atlanta’s “world’s largest” (8-million-gallon) aquarium started with a $200 million local gift. Omaha’s Zoo finances locally before building. Years-long fundraising, or debt financing, are the surest paths to failure. [Editorial cartoon credit: Bob Patton, Iowa City Press-Citizen, posted September 2, 2008.]
Construction and start-up funds are easiest. The biggest financial challenge is operating costs – five years later. The rain forest would have required every Iowan, from new-born babe to the terminally ill, to pay entrance fees every two years.
Single focus. Stories started with land from a disappearing rain forest, and a desire to promote Coralville businesses’ income from tourism – not love of literature. (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) It’s a mixed mission.
Americans favor entertainment over education – and by orders of magnitude. You want tourists? Offer entertainment – say, America’s largest waterslide park. You want education? Great, but don’t plan on riches.
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Museum and birthplace in West Branch should be Iowa’s most popular site. It’s a presidential library – for Iowa’s only president. It’s an exit ramp away from a heavily traveled Interstate. It offers many resources and programs. It’s attendance? 55,000 a year. Disneyland? 14 million.
That’s typical for other educational sites: Old Capitol, Iowa Hall – and not all that much better for the Living History Farm , or the Coral Ridge Mall’s Children’s Museum. (Ten million shoppers a year walk by without entering). Comparable American sites are failing.
It helps to tie attractions to their locations – another reason for the rain forest’s failure, and Dubuque’s Mississippi River Museum’s success.
I admire Coralville’s progress. But are Iowa’s writing programs really associated in the world’s mind with “Coralville”?
Want alternatives? What better “River Landing” project than a trail through prairie, with educational markers about the Iowa River’s history and floodplains’ contribution to flood control? Something as old as the Devonian Gorge, and as current as yesterday’s newspaper – at a fraction of Stories’ cost. And already begun with the Coralville dam bridge displays.
Beware of enthusiasts’ and consultants’ projections of attendance.
Atlanta’s aquarium is in a thriving business and convention center. A federal government regional headquarters. A tourist destination. An airline hub. Fulton County has nearly 10 million souls. There are other major attractions within walking distance of the aquarium.
Coralville has no such advantages. It’s not a tourist destination with Miami’s beaches or Denver’s mountains.
Estimates of attractions’ attendance and economic contribution are notoriously inflated – often by ten-fold. Stories promoters’ estimate of 500,000 visitors annually is wildly optimistic.
Don’t confuse I-80’s 50,000 cars a day with 50,000 carloads of paying visitors. Forty miles east or west the numbers are about half that. Commuting residents are counted, but not likely to stop off on their way to work. Nor will sales people and truck drivers behind schedule – or even vacationing families late to grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner.
Could we find something to put inside a Stories Project building? Of course. If benefit-cost analyses justify, perhaps a state-funded University project free to visitors.
So what do I think?
Let’s, first, honestly address whether the mission is to promote literature, or to increase motel and restaurant income. Then precisely describe focus and details. Third, realistically project Stories’ attendance and decades-long operating costs. Finally, “show me the money” for construction.
Then ask me again.
__________
Nicholas Johnson teaches at the University of Iowa College of Law and blogs at FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com. His latest book is Are We There Yet?- Reflections on Politics in America.
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Josh Schamberger responded to this blog entry by email. Given the importance of the project to the community, the issues involved, and the fact that some may come to this blog entry for information about it -- not to mention a basic sense of fairness that I try to provide through these blog entries and readers' comments regarding them -- I sought and received his permission to reproduce that email here. I believe the points he raises could be answered by me, but "as a concession to the shortness of life" I'm putting aside further discussion of the Stories Project for awhile, and will leave you to imagine how I might have responded to what follows were I to have done so (my writing, that he quotes, in regular font, his comments in italics):
Also missing from this morning's three pieces, given the nature of the Schamberger-Wheaton column, is the response of sorts I felt was necessary to what they'd written. If we're to have a debate, and it turns out to be over my concerns rather than their proposal, then let's have a debate. Accordingly, in the column I submitted I prepared and added a brief response. Apparently -- presumably in large measure given the excessive amount of space they were already devoting to the subject -- that response was removed from my submission.
How were we to know this? How is it fair to paint us as those that omitted it. You should be more clear in directing this to Jeff and the PC. C’mon now.
So I'll start by reproducing it here, as submitted:
Unfortunately, Josh Schamberger fails to provide a case for the Stories Project. But since his defensive rejection of my concerns reflect some misunderstandings, a recap may be useful.
I’m not providing a case for building it, I am only trying to garner review and public feedback….consideration. Is this something worth moving forward on? I’m not selling anything, Nick.
• Having proposed we become “a writing community,” clearly I’m not “opposed” to the Stories Project.
• The threshold problem, as explained: “It’s hard to be ‘for’ or ‘against’ a thing not knowing what the ‘thing’ is.”
You really can’t get an idea for what this ‘thing’ is from the Vision Book and other material? If so, Nick, you are the only person who has read this material, seen the visuals, and economic data who can’t get a feel for what the ‘thing’ is. That’s the honest truth. I have 3 dozen community residents who took the time to review this ‘thing’ after the June 6 presentation and every one of them seemed to figure out the ‘thing’ whether they agreed or disagreed. This is a serious question, and one not meant to offend…did you actually read the Vision Book? Reason I ask is because I know you did not read the ConsultEcon report. I’ve only posted the 4-5 page executive summary online. The student you had doing your research did not ask for the full copy so I thought it was a little unfair to be commenting on attendance projections and comparables (or as you call them examples) without actually having read the full report.
• Next: It’s not that they don’t “yet” have money for either construction or operations. It’s that they’ve failed to, as the sub-head put it, “Start with the money,” including major local contributions. In the cited example (Atlanta aquarium) a $200 million local gift.
We are on the same page here and I think that came across clear in both columns. We are not really going to go much further until the homework is done to determine IF the money is there. Where do you see our comments differing from your recommendation? Unfortunately though, it does cost money to develop this to a point to where it can be properly analyzed, reviewed, studied. You agree, right? If not, how could we have done this differently?
• It’s not that the “relationships between education, entertainment and tourism present problems.” Of course they can be, and are, sometimes combined. It’s that a single, focused purpose seems to be helpful. And that in spite of the Herbert Hoover site’s mix of education and entertainment the pure entertainment of Adventureland produces 10 times Hoover’s attendance.
I can’t understand how you continue to use the Herbert Hoover Museum as a comparable here. Read the Vision Book again, learn more about BRC, VISIT the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield to get a first hand feel/look for BRC’s work. And YES, I am drinking the kool-aid that makes me believe that Mark Twain, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Stephen King, [insert your personal/favorite storyteller or book character here], combined, could be just as attractable as Abraham Lincoln. Seriously, I will personally drive you over there and we can have a very friendly and spirited conversation over and back.
• Schamberger’s examples are wildly inappropriate. The Newseum is (a) in Washington, D.C., (b) on Pennsylvania Avenue , (c) supported by the newspaper industry, (d) cost $400 million to build, and (e) gets national publicity as a radio and TV program venue. (As Walter Mondale might have said, “I know the Newseum. I am a friend of the Newseum. And believe me your Stories Project is no Newseum.”) And need I even start with his comparisons to Abraham Lincoln?
REALLY? For starters, I really would like to hear the comparisons to Abraham Lincoln. The Newseum example was used specifically to reference the relationship between education and entertainment. You know this, Nick. Seriously, we both know about this fun debate tactic. Don’t spin this. We were not comparing this for attendance figures. Need I even start on Gov. Lucas’ home?
• That his attendance projections are “wildly optimistic” – perhaps by ten-fold – is not my “hunch.” The formula was recently confirmed by experts’ conclusion Denver’s economic boost from the Convention was closer to $16 million than consultants’ projections of $160 million.
No, it is exactly your “hunch”, Nick. Same with your “hunch” quote about I-80 leisure traffic in the Tuesday, Press-Citizen story. Do you have any IDOT data or numbers to back this statement up? If so, I would really like to see them. I think our hotels and many retailers would also beg to differ. Same with our various welcome center sign in books…which are filled with I-80 leisure travelers. Back to the Convention. Seriously, you are comparing this project to the Democratic Convention? I have not seen the actually pre-Democratic Convention feasibility report, have you? Not that I care to. Seriously, it’s a little unfair to call the projections “wildly optimistic” when you A) haven’t read the actual report, and B) are comparing this project to the Democratic National Convention. I think those same experts would agree there is a difference between economic impact projections and attendance.
Bottom line was we hired a professional firm to do this for us. We’re not the experts. Your students, fellow staff, and our neighbors are as much of an expert as either of us. That’s why we hired a firm who has done this for over 25 years. These firms don’t stick around the industry very long with pie-in-the-sky projections. We did our homework. Again, I wish you would have taken the time to read the full ConsultEcon report before stating your position.
I do appreciate the time you have taken in offering up your opinion on this. AND that’s not some closing auto sign off line either. You offered up some very thoughtful considerations/reminders for the entire community to be thinking about as we continue to review this concept. Feel free to call/email me at ANYTIME with further observations, comments, questions, whatever. I really would welcome them.
And let me know if you really would like me to drive you over to Springfield. Ha!
--josh
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June 18, 2008, 4:45 p.m.
Greenbelts and Flooding
Two days ago I wrote,
Even if we had never suffered the losses from flooding in the past, and would never have another flood in the future, we should promote the idea of a Greenbelt around the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Coridor, and Greenways and filters along Iowa's Rivers.
There are hundreds of ways of setting aside land for conservation besides purchase or gifts -- and no need to recite them all now. Uses such as golf courses and farming can continue -- along with forests, prairies and wetlands. The benefits include recreational uses, hunting and fishing, wildlife habitats, "smart growth" for urban areas, with increased real estate values.
But the values also include cleaner water, less soil erosion -- and reduced impact, or elimination of damage from, flooding."
Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts, Greenways and Flood Prevention," June 16, 2008.
This morning I was pleased to see Jim Throgmorton -- who knows more about this stuff than I do -- hit a similar theme. Jim Throgmorton, "Looking for Sound Flood Alternatives," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 18, 2008, p. A15 ("eliminate existing structures in the floodplain and . . . use the land only in ways that can accommodate future flooding. As parkland, for example. . . . [T]he long-term conversion of tall grass prairie and wetlands into corn and soybean fields has (when coupled with increased coverage of land with concrete and asphalt) had the effect of reducing the soil's ability to absorb rainfall and slow runoff.")
Catching Up With State29
The past six weeks has involved a variety of semester's-end tasks, along with meeting a goal of creating another book. The former is completed; the latter nearly so.
Not only was I not blogging much during that time, I was also not tracking State29's blog as closely as usual. It turns out that I missed a lot of what he self-describes as "insightfully vulgar" commentary on events and issues we both care about -- even though he often takes me to task for my positions on one of the many matters about which we disagree. Here are a very few selections from the dozens of blog entries he's provided during May and this much of June.
Flooding
State29, "Why Do We Encourage Development in Flood Zones?" June 15, 2008.
UI Athletic Program
State29, "You'd Think The University Of Iowa Would Have Learned Something From The Pierre Pierce Case," June 17, 2008.
The Stories Project
State29, "Feedback Wanted About The Stories Project in Coralville," June 7, 2008.
State29, "Pulp Fiction: The Stories Project Scam in Coralville," June 6, 2008.
K-12 Education
State29, "Des Moines, The Dropout Factory," June 3, 2008.
And perhaps our most closely shared sense of outrage -- Corporate Welfare -- and its commonly linked relationship to campaign "contributions"
State29, "The Roosevelt Corporate Welfare Hotel in Cedar Rapids," May 28, 2008; State29, "Cedar Rapids Approves $775,000 Corporate Welfare Loan," May 30, 2008 ("Sherman Associates owns and manages nearly 5000 rental units, yet somehow they had to ask the taxpayers of Cedar Rapids for a $775,000 loan [to buy the Roosevelt Hotel]. Why can't they go to a bank? Or, better yet, why can't they self-finance that loan? Also questionable are the nearly $4 million in Federal and State tax breaks that Sherman will get for supposedly fixing up the joint, . . ..").
State29, "Tom 'Electric Bus' Harkin," May 29, 2008 ("I'm surprised that absolutely nobody has picked up the story of Tom Harkin's $10 million+ electric bus program for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which was recently scrapped and sold at auction for a grand total of $30,000.").
State29, "Congratulations, Bettendorf!" May 28, 2008 ("This [Bettendorf revising TIF policy] is good news. Business owners need to get wise about what sort of politicians are in charge of their own city. . . . Would they allow tax credits for a direct competitor? You business owners really should be asking these questions of your local elected flunkies and trumpeting the results far and wide.").
State29, "Well Well Wells," May 21, 2008 ("Several years ago, the State of Iowa funded the Iowa Agricultural Finance Corp, which was supposed to be this venture capital-like fund exclusively for Iowa businesses that had ties to agricultural-related businesses. It should have been a hit, right? It has been a disaster. Take a look at this PDF and see what it "invested" in:
* Rudi's Organic Bakery. $13 million. Failed and moved to Colorado.
* Wildwood Harvest. $7.1 million. The company has never generated a profit.
* ProdiGene. $6 million. No employees in Iowa. "Struggled" and was fined by the USDA.
* Sioux-Preme Packing Company. $5 million. Profitable. Acquired in 2006 by Hilco Equity, a company out of Chicago, Illinois.
* Iowa Quality Beef. $3 million. Shut down in 2004 and 540 employees laid off.
* Ag Waste Recovery Systems. $150,000. No sales, no employees, and is considered an "idle corporation".)
State29, "Iowa Republicans Took The Rubashkin's Slave Labor-Tainted Money," May 12, 2008 ("A search on OpenSecrets.org details the campaign contributions from the execs of alleged slave laborers and illegal alien-exploiters Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa."); State29, "Iowa Lt Governor Patty Judge Should Resign For Taking $10,000 In Slave Labor-Tainted Campaign Donations," May 12, 2008.
State29, "Local Option Sales Tax Money To Be Diverted To Corporate Welfare?" May 12, 2008.
State29, "Why Does Iowa Have A Brain Drain? Let Me Count Thee Ways," May 8, 2008 ("'Businesses must be willing to pay more competitive salaries, too. A January report from the Generation Iowa Commission blamed lagging wages as a key reason young professionals leave. Even adjusted for cost of living, Iowa salaries often compare poorly, such as management occupations paying last in the region, the commission reported.' [From a Register editorial. And a suggestion from State29:] . . . End taxpayer-financed corporate welfare. Quit subsidizing politically-connected companies and people at the expense of competition that's already here in Iowa. The State has a bad track record at doing this.").
Iowa Constitution
Although I don't mean to make a legal argument that the Iowa Constitution forbids corporate welfare being provided by the state or its cities, it does seem to me that the following provisions (kindly brought to my attention by Jeff Cox) do rather suggest a general anti-fascist, anti-corporatism spirit of the drafters:
"STATE DEBTS. Credit not to be loaned. SECTION 1. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of, any individual, association, or corporation; and the state shall never assume, or become responsible for, the debts or liabilities of any individual, association, or corporation, unless incurred in time of war for the benefit of the state." Iowa Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.
"State not to be a stockholder. SECTION 3. The state shall not become a stockholder in any corporation, nor shall it assume or pay the debt or liability of any corporation, unless incurred in time of war for the benefit of the state." Iowa Constitution, Art. VIII, Sec. 3.
And finally . . .
My thanks to State29 for carrying the entire burden of taxpayer protection during my absence, and making it possible to take a break for other tasks knowing that he would more than adequately do so.
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[Editorial cartoon credit: The Press-Citizen's talented Bob Patton; "Prairie Lights, Unplugged," Posted November 11, 2008, 4:05 p.m. CST, published November 12, 2008, p. A18.]
