The Concept of Program Reengineering
Based on the Case Study: Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Strategy (PDF), write a 4-5 page paper in which you:
1. Analyze four (4) policy choices of Mayor Schell that were made as part of the strategy for the homeless.
2. Analyze the Pre-Implementation and Design Strategies of Mayor Schell and interpret four (4) practical outcomes of his choices.
3. Reconstruct four (4) steps taken by Mayor Schell to reengineer the program in order to fit the new objectives.
4. Analyze four (4) reasons for the importance of conducting assessments prior to new program implementation.
5. Research at least four (4) peer-reviewed academic sources.
Your assignment must:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
· Analyze and apply concepts of planning, reengineering, implementation, and program evaluation essential to the study of public administration as it relates to political choice.
· Use technology and information resources to research issues in modern public administration.
· Write clearly and concisely about modern public administration using proper writing mechanics.
The Concept of Program Reengineering
Based on the Case Study: Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Strategy (PDF), write a 4-5 page paper in which you:
1. Analyze four (4) policy choices of Mayor Schell that were made as part of the strategy for the homeless.
2. Analyze the Pre-Implementation and Design Strategies of Mayor Schell and interpret four (4) practical outcomes of his choices.
3. Reconstruct four (4) steps taken by Mayor Schell to reengineer the program in order to fit the new objectives.
4. Analyze four (4) reasons for the importance of conducting assessments prior to new program implementation.
5. Research at least four (4) peer-reviewed academic sources.
Your assignment must:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
· Analyze and apply concepts of planning, reengineering, implementation, and program evaluation essential to the study of public administration as it relates to political choice.
· Use techno ...
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
The Concept of Program Reengineering Based on the Case Study Ma.docx
1. The Concept of Program Reengineering
Based on the Case Study: Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family
Strategy (PDF), write a 4-5 page paper in which you:
1. Analyze four (4) policy choices of Mayor Schell that were
made as part of the strategy for the homeless.
2. Analyze the Pre-Implementation and Design Strategies of
Mayor Schell and interpret four (4) practical outcomes of his
choices.
3. Reconstruct four (4) steps taken by Mayor Schell to
reengineer the program in order to fit the new objectives.
4. Analyze four (4) reasons for the importance of conducting
assessments prior to new program implementation.
5. Research at least four (4) peer-reviewed academic sources.
Your assignment must:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size
12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow
APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for
any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the
date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in
the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
· Analyze and apply concepts of planning, reengineering,
implementation, and program evaluation essential to the study
of public administration as it relates to political choice.
· Use technology and information resources to research issues in
modern public administration.
· Write clearly and concisely about modern public
administration using proper writing mechanics.
The Concept of Program Reengineering
2. Based on the Case Study: Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family
Strategy (PDF), write a 4-5 page paper in which you:
1. Analyze four (4) policy choices of Mayor Schell that were
made as part of the strategy for the homeless.
2. Analyze the Pre-Implementation and Design Strategies of
Mayor Schell and interpret four (4) practical outcomes of his
choices.
3. Reconstruct four (4) steps taken by Mayor Schell to
reengineer the program in order to fit the new objectives.
4. Analyze four (4) reasons for the importance of conducting
assessments prior to new program implementation.
5. Research at least four (4) peer-reviewed academic sources.
Your assignment must:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size
12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow
APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for
any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the
date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in
the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
· Analyze and apply concepts of planning, reengineering,
implementation, and program evaluation essential to the study
of public administration as it relates to political choice.
· Use technology and information resources to research issues in
modern public administration.
· Write clearly and concisely about modern public
administration using proper writing mechanics.
Case Teaching Resources
3. The
Electronic
Hallway
®
Box 353060 ·
University of Washington · Seattle WA 98195-
3060
www.hallway.org
This case was written by
Eileen Norton, J.D. and former Seattle City
Council Memb
er Thomas Weeks, Ph.D.
The case is
intended solely as a vehicle for classroom discussion, and is not
intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of the situation described.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email
[email protected]
, or phone (206) 616-8777. Electronic Hallway members are
granted copy permission for
educational purposes per Member’s Agreement (
www.hallway.org
).
Copyri
ght 2006 The Electronic Hallway
MAYOR SCHELL’S ZERO HOMELESS FAMILY PLEDGE
On June 2nd, 1998, Mayor Paul Schell spoke to the press about
the needs of homeless
families, women and children. He asked for the City Council’s
support in providing
“immediate emergency assistance to homeless families and
single women, a critical step
4. in providing lasting housing solutions for these families and
individuals.” He noted that
“the problem continues to grow and we absolutely must find
better ways to help people
find and keep housing.” He closed
his remarks with a
firm pledge
that there will be no
homeless families with children or homeless single women on
the streets of Seattle by
Christmas 1998. His pledge made headlines in both Seattle
papers the next day.
Alan Painter, Director of the Community Services Division of
the Department of
Housing and Human Services, listened attentively to the new
Mayor’s remarks. Painter
has dedicated his professional career to serving the needs of
homeless people. He was
proud and excited to hear Schell’s passion and commitment to
addressing homelessness
in Seattle. At the same time, he viewed the pledge with some
trepidation. Counting the
number of homeless people on the street at any given time is
notoriously tricky,
influenced by many factors. Further, he wondered how this
pledge would dovetail with
City priorities and plans for dealing with homelessness. These
plans emphasize services
to homeless people rather than just providing beds and they
stress the need for other
jurisdictions to share in funding
homeless services.
The next six months promised to keep
Alan Painter very busy.
Homeless People in Seattle
Homelessness in King County: A Background Report
5. , was published in February 1998 by
the Seattle-
King County Homelessness Advisory Group. The report begins
with a profile
of King County demographics and housing, and then describes
the numbers and
characteristics of the homeless population. Subsequent sections
describe existing
homelessness programs and their funding. Most of the data
presented here comes from
this report.
According to the Seattle-King County consolidated
plan, there are at least 5,500 people
who are homeless in King County on any given night. Of these,
over 1,300 are on the
streets, while almost 4,200 have temporary housing
in shelters or
transitional units.
Thousands of people seeking shelter are turned away each year,
primarily due to lack of
Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Pledge
2
space. In 1993, Operation Nightwatch assisted 16,615 people
seeking shelter in Seattle.
By 1997, the total climbed to 45,529.
The majority of homeless
people range from 22 to 44
years old. Sixty-three percent
(63%) of those receiving shelter are single males, 17% single
females, with the remaining
20% spread among families and youth. Fifty-nine percent (59%)
of people sheltered in
King County in 1997, and 46% of youth sheltered in 1996 were
people of color.
Of the approximately 1,300 people sleeping on the streets (not
6. in shelters) on any given
night in King County, 300 are families, 360 are youth and teen
parents and 700 are single
adults. Over 700 of these 1,300 homeless people are the
“homeless families with children
or homeless single women” Schell promised to get off the street
in his June 2
nd
speech;
the remainder are single men, or live in the county outside
Seattle.
The shelter capacity in Seattle is higher for single males than
for other groups. In 1997,
54% of homeless family units turned away from emergency
shelter were single females,
and 35% were families with children. Two
-thirds of homeless families are single women
with children. One quarter of all shelter clients is children. Over
2,000 youth living
outside a family structure are estimated to be homeless in
Seattle during a year.
Over 90% of the shelters in King County are located in Seattle,
but the homeless people
in Seattle shelters come from a broad geographic area (Figure
One). Homeless youth
apparently travel farther to reach the streets of Seattle.
Figure One
Previous Residence of King County Homeless
Last permanent residence of homeless
person being served in King County
All homeless people
(1997 survey)
Homeless youth
(1996 survey)
Seattle 53 28
King County, outside Seattle 16 35
7. Outside King County 31 37
The three major factors contributing to homelessness in King
County are inadequate
income, the high cost of housing, and personal or family
problems, such as domestic
violence, drug and alcohol abuse or mental illness. Surveys of
homeless people show
rates of drug and alcohol addiction at about 65%. Research
indicates that approximately
50% of homeless adults have a mental illness. Prominent
reasons for homelessness
among youth include emotional conflict in homes, drug or
alcohol problems, physical
abuse by a parent, and depression.
Seattle’s response to homelessness, 1980-1997
Under the leadership of Mayor Charles Royer (1978-1989),
Seattle developed a national
reputation for its comprehensive approach to homelessness.
Seattle citizens approved two
8. Case Teachin
g
Resources
FROM THE EVANS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The
Electronic
Hallway
®
Box 353060 · University of Wash
ington · Seattle WA
98195- 3060
9. www.hallway.org
This
case was prepared in 1987 for the National Association of
Educational Broadcasters by Dan H. Fenn, Jr., retired
faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University, and faculty for the Cascade Center for
Public Service
Executive Programs. This case study is intended as a basis for
class discussion and is not intended to
suggest correct or incorrect handling of the situation depicted.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's
Daniel J.
Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway.
For permission, email
[email protected]
, or phone (206) 616-
8777.
Electronic Hallway members are granted copy permission for
educational purposes per Member’s Agreement (
www.hallway.org
).
Copyright 1996 The Electronic Hallway
A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT
After the announcement of his successor as Executive Director
of New Jersey Public Television
(NJPTV) on March 20, 1979, Dr. Lawrence T. Frymire busied
himself cleaning up the loose
ends of the position which he had held since
the system had become operational some nine
years before. Looking ahead to April 30, his last day in office,
he still wondered what had
happened --
why the Commissioners of the Public Broadcasting Authority
10. had suddenly
requested his resignation some four mon
ths before.
The newspapers thought they had the answer: Governor Brendan
T. Byrne was seeking to
establish political control over the state's public broadcasting
system. As evidence, they noted
that the leading contenders fo
r the job were
Herbert Wolfe,
Byrne's first information director,
and former Democratic Assemblyman Gordon MacInnes, both
politically involved with the
Governor. Frymire thought the pap
ers might be right -- but he was not completely sure.
NJPTV had come into existence in 1969
as the result of a citizens' study made in 1967-68 at
the instigation of then Governor Richard J. Hughes. Governor
Hughes had requested a
distinguished group of 18 men and women including the Provost
of Princeton, the Poetry Editor
of the Saturday Review, five members of his cabinet and TV
personalities like Dallas Townsend
and Dionne Warwick to produce a set "of policies, plans and
recommendations for the
development of public radio and television for the state." To
head the Commission he selected
Dr. Edward J.
Meade, Jr., then Program Officer in charge of Public Education
for the Ford
Foundation.
The Commission issued its report in May, 1968 and the
Governor quickly followed through
with its recommendations, filing the nec
essary legislation
to establish a
11. Public Broadcasting
Authority. Late that year, the Act was passed and signed, and
the Governor made the first
appointments of ten public members which were duly confirmed
by the Senate. In addition, five
cabinet members (Commissioner of Education, State Treasurer,
Chancellor of Higher
A Change Of Management
2
Education, Attorney General and Commissioner of Community
Affairs) served ex officio. The
first Chairman was Dr. Meade; the Vice-Chairman was George
Connett, Vice President for
personnel administration of the Prudential Insura
nce Company. (Other members, and those
appointed by subsequent Governors, are listed in Attachment 1.)
The Commission plan recommended a capital budget of $16
million, half to be raised in a bond
issue and the other half to come from federal funds, and an
annual operating budget of about $6
million. However, the plan was reduced to $7.5 million in
capital, financed totally by a bond
issue, and the operating budget to barely $6 million. By the fall
of ‘69, a new Governor,
William J. Cahill took office.
While somewhat interested, Cahill was not as enthusiastic about
the project as had been his predecessor. Wanting to see the
station for himself, the new
Governor made a visit to the rebuilt bowling alley in a rural
area outside Trenton which served
as headquarters for the fledgling operation. To make sure he
saw something more than just
empty space, Chairman Meade persuaded RCA to lend some
equipment to provide the flavor
of an actual operating station.
The Governor then decided to proceed with the idea,
12. but more slowly than had been originally
planned because of the financially and politically controversial
nature of the undertaking. As
with any major new program in New Jersey, the legislature was
especially wary of this one,
uncertain as they were that it could be run
in a non-political, non-partisan fashion.
About this time, Dr. Meade and the Authority began conducting
a search for a person to head
up the staff and get the station on the air. After an extensive
search, the position was offered to
Dr.
Larry Frymire, a professor of communications at the University
of Illinois, who had done a
study for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, worked for
the FCC, and worked on the
New Jersey legislation setting up the Authority.
In selecting Frymire, Meade was impressed by his high degree
of technical competence and his
intimate knowledge of the administrative steps necessary to put
a station on the air. "I didn't
know a tube from a transmitter," Meade said later. In addition,
given the potentially
controversial
nature of the effort, the Authority wanted a person of
extraordinary integrity and
prudence, someone who did not seek or attract personal
visibility but who would rather
concentrate his energies in a steady and
well-
organized way on the launching
and operation of
the station.
Initially Frymire turned Meade down, but by early spring of
1970, with capital funds of $7.5
million and an operating budget of $2.2 million assured, he
13. decided to leave Illinois and take on
the responsibility on June 15, 1970.
By April of 1971, he had Channel 52 in Trenton (the State
capitol) on the air; Channel 23 in Camden followed in October
of 1973 and Channels 58 (New
Brunswick) and 50 (Montclair) started operation in June of
1974.
In those first few months, following
the recommendations of the study, the Commissioners made
a number of key policy decisions. First of all, they decided to
focus programming on the State
A Change Of Management
3
of New Jersey, rather than on regional, national or international
events and interests. They
recognized full well that northern New Jersey was considered
by many to be the flagship of
educational broadcasting. Similarly, the southern part of the
state had access to the Philadelphia
commercial stations and to Channel 12. Thus they
were faced from the sta
rt with staunch
competition. To make matters worse, they were UHF in a state
where few sets were equipped
to pick up that signal; they were brand new; they had to meet
the interests of an area with
marked sectional differences, especially between north and
south Jersey; and they had no real
constituency, or enthusiastic base of support in the state. Given
this situation, the decision to
aim programs at the state itself rather than the region seemed a
necessary one.
Secondly, in the face of potential pol
itical difficulties, the Commissioners prohibited staff from
lobbying the legislature in Trenton. Clearly, they could and
should respond to initiatives from
14. elected officials, but the Commission reserved for itself the
contacts with the New Jersey
elected
political leadership. (In May, 1977, this prohibition was lifted
for Frymire as the
Authority matured and the lack of such contacts began
hindering them in the annual competition
for budget support among the various state agencies.)
Third, they decided that they should not
exercise any direct personnel authority themselves.
While they required Larry Frymire to submit a staffing pattern
as well as an annual budget for
their review, the selection of people to fill the
various authorized positions was left
solely to his
discretion. Though all staff members came from the state's civil
service system, only the clerical
personnel were to come off registers and have tenure. When
politicians and other public figures
would suggest people to be appo
inted to the
station, Commissioners would simply accept a
resume and pass it along to Frymire and his staff for decision.
Finally, they determined that they would not involve themselves
in specific program decisions,
although program policy -- balance of different kinds of
shows, overall quality, New Jersey
emphasis, etc. --
would concern them. At the same time, they encouraged Frymire
to seek
outside funding sources in order to expand their offerings. As
part of his early effort, Frymire
worked with a group of people who were
supportive of public broadcasting. Early in 1971, the
Friends of New Jersey Public Broadcasting was formed and
incorporated with its own Board
15. and set of activities in support of NJPTV.
The first years were very difficult indeed. Budgets continued to
be small (annual promotion
allocation, for example, was typically $25,000) and added
production equipment was hard to
come by. Nevertheless, as the Authority’s 1977 annual report
showed, the progress was
steady. Though explicitly not a national
production center, NJPTV believed it was the most
active local-
production educational station in the nation with nearly 30% of
its prime-
time hours
filled with its own material. During the first year the station
was awarded the Alfred I. DuPont
Columbia Award,
the first in a long run of national recognition that was to come
their way.
In 1974, according to an Eagleton Institute survey, NJPTV was
attracting 940,000 viewers. By
1977, the number had grown to over 1.5 million New Jersey
viewers, plus over 50
0,000
A Change Of Management
4
students being served by the NJPTV educational services
division. In addition, over 2,000
students enrolled in eleven New Jersey colleges in televised
credit courses, as well as business
and industry, were served by three courses
required for middle
management training purposes.
News and sports continued to do particularly well. All in all,
most observers and the
Commission felt NJPTV was doing solid and respectable
programming, highlighted by some
16. especially appealing shows. Annually
established
objectives (1) for the system were regularly
met, with the exception of the implementation of the
Commission's desire for a more effective
development program and of the establishment of a new
headquarters. But, as Frymire pointed
out, state-supported sys
tems generally have little success raising money from private
sources
because they are perceived as being well-supported with
taxpayer dollars.
From all appearances, there was no reason for Frymire to feel
anything but pleased with the
work he had done and
there was no indication that the Commissioners were anything
but
satisfied with the enterprise over which they presided. With few
exceptions through the years,
the Commissioners did not appear to him to be participating in
any NJPTV activities other than
the Board and Committee meetings, although there were, in fact,
a number of informal meetings
and telephone conversations between many of them from time to
time. It was left to the
Chairman, Vice Chairman and Frymire to carry on the
business of the Auth
ority. Their public
meetings, held for two or three hours every two months,
addressed constraints, reports on the
various divisions of NJPTV, and plans to expand service
through both technical additions and
new locations for crews and cameras.
So everyth
ing stood until the election, in 1974, of a new Governor,
Brendan T. Byrne. It was
17. not long before both Meade and Frymire became aware that the
new Governor, or at least
some people close to him, looked with considerable disfavor on
the nature and direction of
NJPTV:
•
Byrne called Meade shortly after his election on another topic,
and did some
probing about Frymire. "How good is that fellow Frymire?" the
Governor
asked. “Very good," was Meade's response, "despite fiscal
constraints and
freezes on
pers
onnel.”
•
Two close political friends of the new Governor, former CBS-
TV
New York
Commentator, Jerome Wilson, who was to become producer-
host of WNET's
new weekly program,“Dateline New Jersey," and Richard Leone
of Princeton’s
Woodrow Wilson School, and
subsequently State Treasurer (thus a member of
the NJPTV Commission), met with Meade to discuss the
situation. Both men
were very critical especially of the quality of the public affairs
programming.
Given inadequate budgets and continuing struggles by s
taff to keep a
respectable operation going, Meade was not especially receptive
to their
complaints.
A Change Of Management
5
18. •
Leone, who was interested in the field, and had done a study of
cable TV,
showed no confidence in the Eagleton Institute audience
studies, stating that he
simply did not believe that NJPTV had the audiences it claimed.
He felt it was
not adequately
related to its particular market.
•
At the first formal meeting between the Commissioners,
Frymire and Governor
Byrne, the Governor was presented with a tennis bag with the
legend: “I Love
New Jersey Public Television.” “Huh,” snorted
the Governor, “I'm
not sure
I
love it!”
In spite of the tone of this encounter, no overtly threatening
actions ensued, although the
Governor did begin to appoint a different type of person to the
Authority than had his
predecessors (see Attachment 1). Frymire didn’t sense anyt
hing more direct than vague hints
that the new leadership was dissatisfied with his stewardship.
The Commissioners, at least the
veteran ones, appeared to Frymire to be as supportive as ever.
What he was not aware of,
however, was the rumblings of dissatisfaction being expressed
in conversations among the
Commissioners. Since no formal meetings were set up to discuss
the complaints with him or to
lodge any formal complaints, Frymire assumed all was well.
Furthermore, Frymire felt some satisfaction and r
elief that the Governor seemed to be very
19. pleased by the results of his first “call-
in” report to the people over NJPTV airwaves. The
volume of calls was so huge that the telephone company was
crippled. Each time the Governor
returned every three or four months to repeat the format, the
results were the same, proving to
the Governor, as he said to Frymire, that NJPTV
did indeed have a sizable state-wide
audience.
Then two events occurred which seemed to Frymire to signal
that the incipient dissatisfaction
might erupt into specific negative actions. The first came as part
of the budget cycle in 1975;
the second was the sudden enthusiasm on the part of the
Administration and Commissioners for
a combined news show with WNET
which would replace NJPTV's
own p
rogram.
For years, New Jersey had been able to avoid a state income
tax, but Governor Byrne felt, in
view of the State’s perilous financial picture, that the time had
come. When it was not
forthcoming, he was faced with a $285 million deficit
in the state
budget and, pointing out New
Jersey’s constitutional balanced budget requirement, he said he
would have to cut expenses.
Following precedent established by many political leaders
before him, he slashed the most
visible and popular accounts: the extension service, libraries,
mental institutions and so on.
Public television's request was cut from $3.8 million to $1
million, a figure clearly below the
minimum needed to maintain operation. Although the
Commissioners ultimately persuaded the
20. Governor and the
legislature to restore their allocation to $3 million, the
Authority went through
a painful and debilitating exercise responding to both the
threatened cut and to the Governor's
instructions to come up with an alternative
method of providi
ng services to
the people of the
state.
A Change Of Management
6
To many observers, including Frymire, the Governor’s action
and attitude appeared to be
something more than standard political budgetmanship. They
wondered if it was not a
deliberate threat on the Governor's part, a warning that unless
they became more responsive to
his concepts, he would move against them. Some saw his
behavior as the first serious attempt
to shake up public broadcasting in New Jersey and force it to
rethink its mission. At a
minimum, it seemed to be a vote of no confidence in the
Authority’s staff leadership.
The second incident involved the station's news program, far
and away the most popular show it
had on the air. Called "New Jersey News Report,” it offered a
half-hour week-
night review of
up to 35 "hard"
news stories about New Jersey happenings and personalities,
including weather
stations (commercial and educational) which showed virtually
no interest in their New Jersey
constituency. There was no attempt at analysis, little feature
material, and its budget did not
21. permit it to become as slick as regular commercial shows. Even
so, it was extremely popular in
southern New Jersey, an established, mostly UHF area (unlike
its northern counterpart). The
show was clearly the star performer for NJPTV, and represented
the best audience builder they
had.
Much to the surprise of Frymire and the staff, in the fall of
1976, Channel 13 suddenly offered
to provide $1 million for a jointly produced nightly
half-
hour show which would be carried on
both WNET and NJPTV. NJ
PTV would contribute $1.5 million. The show would be
controlled by an independent editorial board to be selected by
both stations. When it became
very clear that the Governor and his appointees on the Authority
favored the idea, some staff
members suspected that
the initiative for the whole idea had, in fact, come from
Trenton.
Certainly it was true that Governor Byrne had asked the General
Manager of WNET "When
are you guys finally going to do something about New Jersey
coverage?"
Dr. Meade and the
staff both took a stand in opposition to the initial proposal, but
as it was
refined, the Chairman became increasingly supportive, favoring
at least a detailed exploration,
and Frymire became increasingly opposed. In a memorandum to
the Commissioners in late
December, 1976 -- nearly two months a
fter the first discussions
of the plan -- Frymire wrote:
We have not, due to time factors, given joint study to any other
22. proposals or to
any budget less than the $2.5 million proposed by Channel 13.
There are other
alternatives which would, in my opinion, bring significantly
improved coverage
of New Jersey through joint use of the $1 million offered by
Channel 13 in the
news proposal. Staff will ask you to consider some of them
today.
But first, unless Channel 13
accepts the positions below, I recommend that the
Authority reject the Channel 13 joint news proposal.
The joint news proposal should be rejected on the basis of the
requirement for
Channel 13 to provide $1 million contingent upon NJPTV
providing $1.5
A Change Of Management
7
million and giving up control of NJPTV's most important
program service to an
equally weighted editorial board. Under any circumstances, the
Executive
Producer should be in charge of the daily operation of the news
program, but he
should be responsible to the NJPTV Director of News and
Public Affairs for
administrative functions and through him to any editorial board
for policy
matters. To do otherwise would be to create severe personnel
and
management problems for NJPTV administration and for the
Author
ity itself.
The joint news proposal should be rejected due to the negative
impact it would
have on NJPTV audience building efforts for Channel 50 and
23. Channel 58.
"I did not want to give our top programs to
our principal competitor in that
part of our
market."
Frymire said later. "Furthermore, I had a series of other options
for joint ventures, other ways
to use that $1 million from WNET which I thought would be
much better from our standpoint.
For example, I thought we could staff up our Newark studio and
co-
produce selected
programs with WNET in both the cultural and public affairs
areas; or we could expand both the
equipment and manpower in the Newark facility significantly
and let WNET use it two days a
week. In that way, I thought we could make the Newark
operation really operational, maintain
our own control over our popular news show, avoid all the
problems of a continuing joint
production effort, and sidestep the need to allocate or raise
additional dollars. But I could
hardly get the Commissioners to listen to me, much
less take my ideas seriously. I think my
attitude on all this left some Commissioners alienated, feeling
that I was being obstructionist."
Ultimately, the Commissioners voted to enter into negotiations
with WNET along the general
lines of their proposal, and a negotiating committee of
Commissioners subsequently worked out
an agreement. Frymire participated, but had no vote. The staff
was given the responsibility of
hammering out a specific contract which some Commissioners
later felt gave away more control
than they needed to. The new program was on the air in May,
1978 (2).
24. The difficulties over the WNET arrangement were followed by a
series of events. For example,
Senate President Joseph Merlino of Trenton, characterized
as the “second
most powerful man
in the state,” put in a bill which would require the Governor
approve the Minutes of the
Authority before any of their actions could take effect. Frymire
suspected that his antagonism
developed out of a pair of incidents:
•
An NJPTV reporter asked Senator Merlino a question as he
came out of a
session. Apparently it offended him because he turned on him
and said "You
are an employee of the state, and you have no right to ask me
that kind of
question.”
•
Mrs. Merlino, in
charge of the annual state teenage art festival, asked the station
to cover a portion of the event in which she had particular
interest, but was told
they could not do so on what was only a single day’s notice.
A Change Of Management
8
It was during this period, 1976-
78, that some
observers noted a growing difference of opinion
between Frymire and members of the Authority over a variety of
issues. Some felt that it was
the legacy of what they saw as the continuing resistance of the
staff to the WNET idea even
after it became obvious that the Commissioners wanted to go
ahead. Others felt that Frymire
was not sensitive enough to the public relations activities of the
25. station, that the press they were
getting was neither adequate, nor imaginative enough, and that
the PR staff was not
sufficiently
active or energetic.
Following that was a lengthy series of discussions at Authority
meetings about the opposition of
staff to the broadcasting of certain public service
announcements. In 1973, the Secretary of
State called to ask that the station air a series of announcements
about where and how to
register by mail for the upcoming election, but was turned down
by Douglas Leonard, Program
Manager. The Secretary ultimately complained to Chairman
Meade and his announcements
were broadcast.
In 1978, a task force, made up of Commissioners, Friends and
staff, was established to
conduct a one year, lo
ng-range review of
the Station’s fiscal and physical planning. As a part of
that effort, the issue of the Community Services
Department came up. Disbanded in 1976 in
response to a $390,000 reduction in state funds, Community
Services was now being given
serious consideration for revival. Authority meeting discussion
of the task force findings are
exerpted below from the May, 1978 Authority Minutes:
Once again the issue relating to the disbanding of the
Department of Community
Services two years ago was discussed. Dr. Frymire thanked both
Mr.
Aumente and Commissioner Broadwater for their input. The
question is how
NJPTV should respond to community groups and organizations.
Dr. Frymire
26. reported that NJPTV is performing the essential functions and
he recommended
that no further specific staff be allocated at this time. He is
sensitive to these
needs as are the Executive Staff, Programming Department and
the new
Executive Assistant will also be assigned these duties.
Dr. Meade added that community service is a function
distributed throughout
NJPTV and, therefore, we are responding without any specific
staff allocated to
such service.
Commissioner
Broadwater felt that it is too much to expect the Executive
Director to reach out to maintain contact with people in the
community, but Dr.
Frymire assured her that we have a responsible staff and both
Focal Point
and
Express Yourself
are Black shows that are produced through this type of
contact and also our Spanish speaking staff are responding to
such needs
through the
Images Latinas
programs.
A Change Of Management
9
Dr. Frymire added that news and public affairs programs also
deal with
community-
oriented subjects.
Chairman
Meade said we do not have the capacity to meet all the
community
needs but we are doing more local programming than other PBS
27. stations and
that there are other services we deliver besides programming.
Mr. Aumente (representing the Chancellor of Higher Education
--
ed.) said that
he agreed with the Task Force recommendation and he still feels
we need a
Community Services Department in our budget. He is aware of
the fact that we
do not have the resources for it but he felt that to drop the
search for a solution
would be bad and that dialogue should continue on this subject.
More important, however, were the growing problems with
Commissioner Stephen Adubato
who opposed Frymire from his first day as a member of the
Authority. Characterized as a
feisty, brig
ht, street-
smart, effective community leader in Newark, Adubato wanted
NJPTV to
broadcast more ethnic programs and, according to some
observers, felt that the station’s
programming department was unresponsive and did not take his
concern seriously. Others
traced his growing antagonism to the fall of 1977 when his
brother, an Assemblyman, was
embarrassed on a candidate’s show when one of his opponents
suddenly pulled out a plucked
chicken, waved it before the camera, and said that
this is what the current
incumbent was doing
to his constituents.
Whatever the source of the antagonism, it was overt. Adubato
suggested to Frymire that he
resign when they met September 12, 1978 at the first Authority
meeting he had attended in
28. nearly a year.
Shortly before the regular Authority meeting scheduled for
September 12, 1978, Commissioner
Adubato called Chairman Meade and said he was planning to
offer a motion of no-confidence
in Larry Frymire. Meade suggested to him that the situation be
reviewed instead.
Consequen
tly, at the September meeting, the Commissioners went into
executive session for an
hour, emerging to vote favorably on a motion made by
Commissioner Adubato calling for "a
committee to evaluate the management requirements for the
future in relation to
the goals which
have been established by the Authority.” Dr. Meade then
appointed a committee to be headed
by vice Chairman George Connet and to be made up of Adubato,
Attorney General John
Degnan (Governor Byrne’s onetime chief counsel and chief of
staff, a
ttending his first meeting of
the Authority) and Robert Comstock (Governor Byrne’s former
press secretary, also attending
his first meeting).
“I saw that action as a real challenge, not at all as a threat,”
Larry Frymire said later. “I was
assured by Geo
rge Connett that it was not a ‘get Frymire’ move, but a serious
and responsible
attempt to look at our situation in light of the future needs of
NJPTV.
A Change Of Management
10
"Furthermore, I knew that we had met all of our stated goals and
objectives, with the exception
29. of the new headquarters building, that almost all
the recommendations coming from
a long-range
planning task force of the Authority, and the
Friends and Staff
had been adopted and put in
place, and that the establishment of a Long-Ra
nge Planning Committee of the Authority insured
continuing self-
analysis. Only last June, we had held a day-long intensive
review of our
programming, and in August we spent another full day
reviewing other functions with the
Commissioners. No serious criticisms were raised, and we all
agreed on a set of positive plans,
which have been or are being implemented.
“As the process went along, I saw no reason to be concerned.
The group told me their meeting
with the Associate Executive Director was ‘frank and positive’,
and their meeting
with the
director of programming was ‘friendly and good.’ My session
featured a 45 minute harangue
by Adubato, so it didn't really go anywhere and the Chairman
adjourned it. But the next time
lasted an hour and a half and it was a good discussion.
“I really can't figure out what is Adubato's problem, what he
wants. He talks about being
dissatisfied with the Newark coverage, both before and after the
establishment of a new WNET
show. He wants more ethnic programming, but our Black and
Hispanic staff have
been
producing half-
hour weekly programs for nine years. He's a volatile man with
strong opinions
30. who has provided a unique service for the people of Newark; a
real self-made leader. But I
don't know really what he wants. When he asked me to resign
back in September, all he said
was: 'changing needs and changing times --
people ought to recognize that, and move on.'"
It was after Frymire’s second meeting with the Connett
Committee that he began to feel he had
reason to be concerned. Connett, an old f
riend and supporter, drew him aside and said, "You
know, Larry, we’ve been getting a lot of negative vibes from a
lot of people about NJPTV and
its management. People just don't know you, and even the
Friends aren’t positive." Frymire
pointed out that he didn’t always agree with the Friends, and the
discussion ended there.
In November, 1978, the Board, at its regular meeting, went into
executive session to receive an
interim report from the Committee. Discussion was limited to
a review of a list
of interviews that
had been held, and those that the Committee planned to conduct.
The group reported that they
hoped to finish their work by mid-
December.
A few weeks later, Frymire, who had heard nothing further of or
from the Committee, called
Meade to ask
him what was going on and to suggest that a meeting be held. In
early
December, Connett and the Committee met with Frymire and
then asked Meade to call a
special executive session of the Board to hear its report. At the
ensuing session, held shortly
thereafter, the Commissioners met in executive session for
about an hour to hear and discuss the
31. Committee's report, and Frymire talked to them for about an
hour, reviewing his
accomplishments and the challenges ahead. They then went back
into executive session for
another hour. The Commissioners, for their part, had two
complaints, as Frymire recalled:
A Change Of Management
11
They said I was not a statewide personality, that no one knows
me among the state's
leadership. Therefore, NJPTV was not well known. They said I
had not success
fully
penetrated the business and foundation community for financial
support. I pointed out
that no one in the other
state-supported systems has either.
That’s all they said, but it was clear that the situation was
untenable. It was kind of like
trying to get rid of a superintendent of schools or a minister. No
one wants him around,
but no one wants to hurt him either. So I talked to Meade, and
told him I would resign.
The Associate Executive Director resigned too, and we’ll both
be gone by April 30.
On March 20, 1979, the Authority made its formal
announcement of the appointment, with the
approval of the Governor, of Gordon MacInnes as the new
Executive Director of NJPTV.
(See Attachments 2 and 3)
(1) Divided into capital plans and operational plans, these
formal statements signed by the Chairman and the Executive
Director laid out objectives, backed by a description of how
New Jersey citizens would benefit from the proposed
action.
(2) The new show received mixed reviews at best, especially
32. from the audience for the old show. There was an
emphasis on analysis, a number of promotional spots, no
weather, and a diminished coverage of sports. On the other
hand the talent was excellent, the research and writing more
professional, and researc
h component and reporter
quality substantially upgraded. At any rate, Frymire and his
staff bore the brunt of the critical comments.
A Change Of Management
12
Attachment 1
NJPTV - Board of Commissioners
Appointments by Governor Hughes: 1969-70
Dr. Edward J. Meade, Jr.
Program
Officer
Public Education, Ford Foundation
George Connett
Vice President
Personnel-
Administration
Prudential Insurance Company
of America
John McDonald
Special Assistant to the President for
Community Relations
Rutgers University
Carlos Peay Attorney
Maurice Veneri AFL-
CIO President
Industrial Union Council
Mrs. Anne Martindell
Owner
Who’s Who in America
Donald Wilson Vice President
Time- Life
33. Appointments by Governor William Cahill -
1971-72-73
Henry Becton Owner, Chairman of Board
Becton-
Dickinson Industries
Nathan Friedman Attorney
Robert Crager C
ommercial Broadcaster
William Hatchett
Manager
, Special Employment
Programs
RCA
Calvin Louderback Vice President, New Jersey
Manufacturers Association
A Change Of Management
1
3
Attachment 1
NJPTV - Board of
Commissioners (cont.)
Mrs. Rosemary Fruehling
Assistant Professor
Secretarial Science County College of
Morris
Richard Schoch Senior Vice President,
Creative Director
Compton Advertising
Appointments by Governor Brendan Byrne -
1974-75-76-77-78-79
Stephen Adubato
Director
North Ward Education & Cultural
Center, Newark
Henry Becton Reappointed
Edward Meade
34. Reappointed
George Connett Reappointed
Robert Crager
Reappointed
Donald Wilson
Reappointed
Edith Luray
Producer, NBC-TV
Campaign Manager, Mrs. English
campaign for State Senator
(English is present special Assistant to the
Governor)
Barbara Broadwater
Administrative Aide
Mayor Errichetti -
Camden State Senator
Errichetti
Robert Comstock
Executive Editor -
The Bergen Record
Former
Press Secretary, Governor Byrne
Charles Nathanson
Private Consultant for City Planning
Personal Associate of Mercer County
and State Democratic Leaders
A Change Of Management
1
4
Attachment 1
NJPTV -
Board of Commissioners (cont.)
Susan Thomases
Attorney - Campaign Manager
United States Senator Bradley
Thomas Erhardt
35. Businessman, Union County National
Democratic Committeeman, Campaign
Manager, various Union County
Democratic politicians
By state statute, the following Cabinet Officers are members of
the Authority, ex-
officio with full
voting rights:
Attorney General
Treasurer
Commissioner of Department of Community Affairs
Chancellor of Higher Education
Commissioner of Education
A Change Of Management
1
5
Attachment 2
Trenton Times,
Trenton, N.J.- Thursday, March 15, 1979
MACINNES SLATED
FOR STATE TV JOB
By Jim Goodman
Staff Writer
Former state legislator Gordon A.
MacInnes Jr. is expected to be the next executive
director of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting
Authority.
MacInnes, 37, a former Democratic
assemblyman from Morris County, has
been
recommended by the authority’s screening
committee. The authority board will vote on the
recommendation on Tuesday.
Gov. Brendan T. Byrne met with
MacInnes recently and told him he had no
objections to the appointment.
36. MacInnes was a member of the State
Assembly in 1974 and 1978, and he was
previously a special assistant to Gov. Richard J.
Hughes. Before that he was an official in United
Progress, Inc., Trenton’s anti-
poverty agency.
For the last eight years, MacInnes has
directed the Fund for New Jersey, a private
foundation.
The Foundation's principal client was the
Center for Analysis of Public Issues in Princeton.
MacInnes said today that the foundation gave
the center an average of $75,000 a year during his
tenure.
MacInnes has no direct expe
rience in
television, but has served as a consultant for
WNET-TV
(Channel 13) in New York and was a
director of the Fair Broadcasting Coalition in New
Jersey.
Sources said that the main reason for
MacInnes selection was that the committee felt
he would be able to
raise private money for the
television authority which operates a network of
four stations within the state. The station now
operates almost entirely on public funds and has
had little success in getting donations from its
viewers.
MacInnes was one of
three finalists
interviewed more than a week ago by the
screening committee. Sources said the other two
finalists were from out of state.
A former Byrne aide who had sought the
37. job, Herbert Wolfe, was not among the finalists.
Wolfe is a former
editor of the Trenton Times and
was Byrne’s first information director.
Edward Meade, Authority chairman,
refused to confirm that MacInnes has been
recommended by the screening committee. He
said he has not seen the committee's final report
and pointed out
that the committee is made up of
a minority of the authority.
Other sources said, however, that there
was very little chance of the authority overruling
the screening committee.
MacInnes was elected to the Assembly in
the 1973 Democratic landslide led
by Byrne. The
Morris County Democrat was identified as part of
the Byrne team early in his tenure in the
Assembly, but split with the governor several
times and was not considered a "team player" by
administration officials.
MacInnes sought reelection in 19
75 but
was defeated in his heavily republican district.
Administration sources have insisted that
the governor would not attempt to influence the
selection of the new director, but Byrne did retain
his right to veto any appointment. The governor
reportedly told MacInnes last week that he would
not object to his nomination.
The new director will replace Lawrence
Frymire, the first director of the authority.
Frymire was forced to resign in December after a
management study report charged that the
Authority lacked strong leadership and had not
38. attracted many viewers. Frymire’s resignation is
effective April 30.
A Change Of Management
1
6
Attachment 3
The Star Ledger
, Thursday, March 15, 1979
JERSEY TV MAY PICK EX-
LEGISLATOR AS CHIEF
by Dan Weissman
Former Assemblyman, Gordon A.
MacInnes, Jr. will be the next director of
the state's Public Broadcasting Authority, a
job that pays in the
mid-$40,000 range,
sources said yesterday.
According to the sources, MacInnes, who
was among the strongest supporters of Gov.
Brendan Byrne’s income tax while he was in
the Legislature, will get the appointment
confirmed Tuesday when the authority
meets. One source said “that information is
impeccable.”
The sources said MacInnes was supposed to
be named to the job last Tuesday. But the
action was delayed because “three members
of the authority wanted to talk to him first.”
MacInnes would say only: "All I know is I
was asked to be one of three finalists to be
interviewed last Saturday.” The commission
is meeting next Tuesday, when it hopes to
reach a decision.
MacInnes said he had no knowledge of who
would get the job, which becomes vacant
April 30 when Larry Frymire will leave.
39. MacInnes served one term in the Assembly,
winning election in a predominately
republican Morris County district in the
Byrne 1974 landslide.
MacInnes quickly became one of Byrne’s
staunchest legislative allies.
Prior to his election victory, the 38-year old
MacInnes was a special assistant to former
Gov. Richard J. Hughes.
A graduate of the Woodrow Wil
son School
of Princeton University, MacInnes was
considered one of the so-
called "Woody
Wilson gang” when he worked for Hughes,
now Chief Justice of the State Supreme
Court. Also counted in the association were
Byrne’s former treasurer, Richard C. Leone
and Treasurer Clifford Goldman.
“The Governor's office has nothing to do
with it. The authority had a search
committee, and it put ads in the papers,” said
one source, who added:
"But I'm not going to say MacInnes didn't
see the Governor."
Case Teaching Resources
The
Electronic
Hallway
®
40. Box 353060 ·
University of Washington · Seattle WA 98195-
3060
www.hallway.org
This case was written by
Eileen Norton, J.D. and former Seattle City
Council Memb
er Thomas Weeks, Ph.D.
The case is
intended solely as a vehicle for classroom discussion, and is not
intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of the situation described.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email
[email protected]
, or phone (206) 616-8777. Electronic Hallway members are
granted copy permission for
educational purposes per Member’s Agreement (
www.hallway.org
).
Copyri
ght 2006 The Electronic Hallway
MAYOR SCHELL’S ZERO HOMELESS FAMILY PLEDGE
On June 2nd, 1998, Mayor Paul Schell spoke to the press about
the needs of homeless
families, women and children. He asked for the City Council’s
support in providing
“immediate emergency assistance to homeless families and
single women, a critical step
in providing lasting housing solutions for these families and
individuals.” He noted that
“the problem continues to grow and we absolutely must find
better ways to help people
find and keep housing.” He closed
41. his remarks with a
firm pledge
that there will be no
homeless families with children or homeless single women on
the streets of Seattle by
Christmas 1998. His pledge made headlines in both Seattle
papers the next day.
Alan Painter, Director of the Community Services Division of
the Department of
Housing and Human Services, listened attentively to the new
Mayor’s remarks. Painter
has dedicated his professional career to serving the needs of
homeless people. He was
proud and excited to hear Schell’s passion and commitment to
addressing homelessness
in Seattle. At the same time, he viewed the pledge with some
trepidation. Counting the
number of homeless people on the street at any given time is
notoriously tricky,
influenced by many factors. Further, he wondered how this
pledge would dovetail with
City priorities and plans for dealing with homelessness. These
plans emphasize services
to homeless people rather than just providing beds and they
stress the need for other
jurisdictions to share in funding
homeless services.
The next six months promised to keep
Alan Painter very busy.
Homeless People in Seattle
Homelessness in King County: A Background Report
, was published in February 1998 by
the Seattle-
King County Homelessness Advisory Group. The report begins
with a profile
of King County demographics and housing, and then describes
42. the numbers and
characteristics of the homeless population. Subsequent sections
describe existing
homelessness programs and their funding. Most of the data
presented here comes from
this report.
According to the Seattle-King County consolidated
plan, there are at least 5,500 people
who are homeless in King County on any given night. Of these,
over 1,300 are on the
streets, while almost 4,200 have temporary housing
in shelters or
transitional units.
Thousands of people seeking shelter are turned away each year,
primarily due to lack of
Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Pledge
2
space. In 1993, Operation Nightwatch assisted 16,615 people
seeking shelter in Seattle.
By 1997, the total climbed to 45,529.
The majority of homeless
people range from 22 to 44
years old. Sixty-three percent
(63%) of those receiving shelter are single males, 17% single
females, with the remaining
20% spread among families and youth. Fifty-nine percent (59%)
of people sheltered in
King County in 1997, and 46% of youth sheltered in 1996 were
people of color.
Of the approximately 1,300 people sleeping on the streets (not
in shelters) on any given
night in King County, 300 are families, 360 are youth and teen
parents and 700 are single
adults. Over 700 of these 1,300 homeless people are the
“homeless families with children
43. or homeless single women” Schell promised to get off the street
in his June 2
nd
speech;
the remainder are single men, or live in the county outside
Seattle.
The shelter capacity in Seattle is higher for single males than
for other groups. In 1997,
54% of homeless family units turned away from emergency
shelter were single females,
and 35% were families with children. Two
-thirds of homeless families are single women
with children. One quarter of all shelter clients is children. Over
2,000 youth living
outside a family structure are estimated to be homeless in
Seattle during a year.
Over 90% of the shelters in King County are located in Seattle,
but the homeless people
in Seattle shelters come from a broad geographic area (Figure
One). Homeless youth
apparently travel farther to reach the streets of Seattle.
Figure One
Previous Residence of King County Homeless
Last permanent residence of homeless
person being served in King County
All homeless people
(1997 survey)
Homeless youth
(1996 survey)
Seattle 53 28
King County, outside Seattle 16 35
Outside King County 31 37
The three major factors contributing to homelessness in King
County are inadequate
income, the high cost of housing, and personal or family
problems, such as domestic
44. violence, drug and alcohol abuse or mental illness. Surveys of
homeless people show
rates of drug and alcohol addiction at about 65%. Research
indicates that approximately
50% of homeless adults have a mental illness. Prominent
reasons for homelessness
among youth include emotional conflict in homes, drug or
alcohol problems, physical
abuse by a parent, and depression.
Seattle’s response to homelessness, 1980-1997
Under the leadership of Mayor Charles Royer (1978-1989),
Seattle developed a national
reputation for its comprehensive approach to homelessness.
Seattle citizens approved two
45. Case Teachin
g
Resources
FROM THE EVANS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The
Electronic
Hallway
®
Box 353060 · University of Wash
ington · Seattle WA
98195- 3060
www.hallway.org
This
case was prepared in 1987 for the National Association of
Educational Broadcasters by Dan H. Fenn, Jr., retired
faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
46. Harvard University, and faculty for the Cascade Center for
Public Service
Executive Programs. This case study is intended as a basis for
class discussion and is not intended to
suggest correct or incorrect handling of the situation depicted.
The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of
Washington's
Daniel J.
Evans School of Public Affairs. This
material may not be altered or copied without written
permission from The Electronic Hallway.
For permission, email
[email protected]
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8777.
Electronic Hallway members are granted copy permission for
educational purposes per Member’s Agreement (
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Copyright 1996 The Electronic Hallway
A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT
After the announcement of his successor as Executive Director
of New Jersey Public Television
(NJPTV) on March 20, 1979, Dr. Lawrence T. Frymire busied
himself cleaning up the loose
ends of the position which he had held since
the system had become operational some nine
years before. Looking ahead to April 30, his last day in office,
he still wondered what had
happened --
why the Commissioners of the Public Broadcasting Authority
had suddenly
requested his resignation some four mon
ths before.
The newspapers thought they had the answer: Governor Brendan
T. Byrne was seeking to
47. establish political control over the state's public broadcasting
system. As evidence, they noted
that the leading contenders fo
r the job were
Herbert Wolfe,
Byrne's first information director,
and former Democratic Assemblyman Gordon MacInnes, both
politically involved with the
Governor. Frymire thought the pap
ers might be right -- but he was not completely sure.
NJPTV had come into existence in 1969
as the result of a citizens' study made in 1967-68 at
the instigation of then Governor Richard J. Hughes. Governor
Hughes had requested a
distinguished group of 18 men and women including the Provost
of Princeton, the Poetry Editor
of the Saturday Review, five members of his cabinet and TV
personalities like Dallas Townsend
and Dionne Warwick to produce a set "of policies, plans and
recommendations for the
development of public radio and television for the state." To
head the Commission he selected
Dr. Edward J.
Meade, Jr., then Program Officer in charge of Public Education
for the Ford
Foundation.
The Commission issued its report in May, 1968 and the
Governor quickly followed through
with its recommendations, filing the nec
essary legislation
to establish a
Public Broadcasting
Authority. Late that year, the Act was passed and signed, and
the Governor made the first
appointments of ten public members which were duly confirmed
by the Senate. In addition, five
48. cabinet members (Commissioner of Education, State Treasurer,
Chancellor of Higher
A Change Of Management
2
Education, Attorney General and Commissioner of Community
Affairs) served ex officio. The
first Chairman was Dr. Meade; the Vice-Chairman was George
Connett, Vice President for
personnel administration of the Prudential Insura
nce Company. (Other members, and those
appointed by subsequent Governors, are listed in Attachment 1.)
The Commission plan recommended a capital budget of $16
million, half to be raised in a bond
issue and the other half to come from federal funds, and an
annual operating budget of about $6
million. However, the plan was reduced to $7.5 million in
capital, financed totally by a bond
issue, and the operating budget to barely $6 million. By the fall
of ‘69, a new Governor,
William J. Cahill took office.
While somewhat interested, Cahill was not as enthusiastic about
the project as had been his predecessor. Wanting to see the
station for himself, the new
Governor made a visit to the rebuilt bowling alley in a rural
area outside Trenton which served
as headquarters for the fledgling operation. To make sure he
saw something more than just
empty space, Chairman Meade persuaded RCA to lend some
equipment to provide the flavor
of an actual operating station.
The Governor then decided to proceed with the idea,
but more slowly than had been originally
planned because of the financially and politically controversial
nature of the undertaking. As
with any major new program in New Jersey, the legislature was
especially wary of this one,
49. uncertain as they were that it could be run
in a non-political, non-partisan fashion.
About this time, Dr. Meade and the Authority began conducting
a search for a person to head
up the staff and get the station on the air. After an extensive
search, the position was offered to
Dr.
Larry Frymire, a professor of communications at the University
of Illinois, who had done a
study for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, worked for
the FCC, and worked on the
New Jersey legislation setting up the Authority.
In selecting Frymire, Meade was impressed by his high degree
of technical competence and his
intimate knowledge of the administrative steps necessary to put
a station on the air. "I didn't
know a tube from a transmitter," Meade said later. In addition,
given the potentially
controversial
nature of the effort, the Authority wanted a person of
extraordinary integrity and
prudence, someone who did not seek or attract personal
visibility but who would rather
concentrate his energies in a steady and
well-
organized way on the launching
and operation of
the station.
Initially Frymire turned Meade down, but by early spring of
1970, with capital funds of $7.5
million and an operating budget of $2.2 million assured, he
decided to leave Illinois and take on
the responsibility on June 15, 1970.
By April of 1971, he had Channel 52 in Trenton (the State
capitol) on the air; Channel 23 in Camden followed in October
of 1973 and Channels 58 (New
50. Brunswick) and 50 (Montclair) started operation in June of
1974.
In those first few months, following
the recommendations of the study, the Commissioners made
a number of key policy decisions. First of all, they decided to
focus programming on the State
A Change Of Management
3
of New Jersey, rather than on regional, national or international
events and interests. They
recognized full well that northern New Jersey was considered
by many to be the flagship of
educational broadcasting. Similarly, the southern part of the
state had access to the Philadelphia
commercial stations and to Channel 12. Thus they
were faced from the sta
rt with staunch
competition. To make matters worse, they were UHF in a state
where few sets were equipped
to pick up that signal; they were brand new; they had to meet
the interests of an area with
marked sectional differences, especially between north and
south Jersey; and they had no real
constituency, or enthusiastic base of support in the state. Given
this situation, the decision to
aim programs at the state itself rather than the region seemed a
necessary one.
Secondly, in the face of potential pol
itical difficulties, the Commissioners prohibited staff from
lobbying the legislature in Trenton. Clearly, they could and
should respond to initiatives from
elected officials, but the Commission reserved for itself the
contacts with the New Jersey
elected
political leadership. (In May, 1977, this prohibition was lifted
for Frymire as the
51. Authority matured and the lack of such contacts began
hindering them in the annual competition
for budget support among the various state agencies.)
Third, they decided that they should not
exercise any direct personnel authority themselves.
While they required Larry Frymire to submit a staffing pattern
as well as an annual budget for
their review, the selection of people to fill the
various authorized positions was left
solely to his
discretion. Though all staff members came from the state's civil
service system, only the clerical
personnel were to come off registers and have tenure. When
politicians and other public figures
would suggest people to be appo
inted to the
station, Commissioners would simply accept a
resume and pass it along to Frymire and his staff for decision.
Finally, they determined that they would not involve themselves
in specific program decisions,
although program policy -- balance of different kinds of
shows, overall quality, New Jersey
emphasis, etc. --
would concern them. At the same time, they encouraged Frymire
to seek
outside funding sources in order to expand their offerings. As
part of his early effort, Frymire
worked with a group of people who were
supportive of public broadcasting. Early in 1971, the
Friends of New Jersey Public Broadcasting was formed and
incorporated with its own Board
and set of activities in support of NJPTV.
The first years were very difficult indeed. Budgets continued to
be small (annual promotion
allocation, for example, was typically $25,000) and added
production equipment was hard to
52. come by. Nevertheless, as the Authority’s 1977 annual report
showed, the progress was
steady. Though explicitly not a national
production center, NJPTV believed it was the most
active local-
production educational station in the nation with nearly 30% of
its prime-
time hours
filled with its own material. During the first year the station
was awarded the Alfred I. DuPont
Columbia Award,
the first in a long run of national recognition that was to come
their way.
In 1974, according to an Eagleton Institute survey, NJPTV was
attracting 940,000 viewers. By
1977, the number had grown to over 1.5 million New Jersey
viewers, plus over 50
0,000
A Change Of Management
4
students being served by the NJPTV educational services
division. In addition, over 2,000
students enrolled in eleven New Jersey colleges in televised
credit courses, as well as business
and industry, were served by three courses
required for middle
management training purposes.
News and sports continued to do particularly well. All in all,
most observers and the
Commission felt NJPTV was doing solid and respectable
programming, highlighted by some
especially appealing shows. Annually
established
objectives (1) for the system were regularly
met, with the exception of the implementation of the
Commission's desire for a more effective
53. development program and of the establishment of a new
headquarters. But, as Frymire pointed
out, state-supported sys
tems generally have little success raising money from private
sources
because they are perceived as being well-supported with
taxpayer dollars.
From all appearances, there was no reason for Frymire to feel
anything but pleased with the
work he had done and
there was no indication that the Commissioners were anything
but
satisfied with the enterprise over which they presided. With few
exceptions through the years,
the Commissioners did not appear to him to be participating in
any NJPTV activities other than
the Board and Committee meetings, although there were, in fact,
a number of informal meetings
and telephone conversations between many of them from time to
time. It was left to the
Chairman, Vice Chairman and Frymire to carry on the
business of the Auth
ority. Their public
meetings, held for two or three hours every two months,
addressed constraints, reports on the
various divisions of NJPTV, and plans to expand service
through both technical additions and
new locations for crews and cameras.
So everyth
ing stood until the election, in 1974, of a new Governor,
Brendan T. Byrne. It was
not long before both Meade and Frymire became aware that the
new Governor, or at least
some people close to him, looked with considerable disfavor on
the nature and direction of
NJPTV:
54. •
Byrne called Meade shortly after his election on another topic,
and did some
probing about Frymire. "How good is that fellow Frymire?" the
Governor
asked. “Very good," was Meade's response, "despite fiscal
constraints and
freezes on
pers
onnel.”
•
Two close political friends of the new Governor, former CBS-
TV
New York
Commentator, Jerome Wilson, who was to become producer-
host of WNET's
new weekly program,“Dateline New Jersey," and Richard Leone
of Princeton’s
Woodrow Wilson School, and
subsequently State Treasurer (thus a member of
the NJPTV Commission), met with Meade to discuss the
situation. Both men
were very critical especially of the quality of the public affairs
programming.
Given inadequate budgets and continuing struggles by s
taff to keep a
respectable operation going, Meade was not especially receptive
to their
complaints.
A Change Of Management
5
•
Leone, who was interested in the field, and had done a study of
cable TV,
showed no confidence in the Eagleton Institute audience
studies, stating that he
55. simply did not believe that NJPTV had the audiences it claimed.
He felt it was
not adequately
related to its particular market.
•
At the first formal meeting between the Commissioners,
Frymire and Governor
Byrne, the Governor was presented with a tennis bag with the
legend: “I Love
New Jersey Public Television.” “Huh,” snorted
the Governor, “I'm
not sure
I
love it!”
In spite of the tone of this encounter, no overtly threatening
actions ensued, although the
Governor did begin to appoint a different type of person to the
Authority than had his
predecessors (see Attachment 1). Frymire didn’t sense anyt
hing more direct than vague hints
that the new leadership was dissatisfied with his stewardship.
The Commissioners, at least the
veteran ones, appeared to Frymire to be as supportive as ever.
What he was not aware of,
however, was the rumblings of dissatisfaction being expressed
in conversations among the
Commissioners. Since no formal meetings were set up to discuss
the complaints with him or to
lodge any formal complaints, Frymire assumed all was well.
Furthermore, Frymire felt some satisfaction and r
elief that the Governor seemed to be very
pleased by the results of his first “call-
in” report to the people over NJPTV airwaves. The
volume of calls was so huge that the telephone company was
crippled. Each time the Governor
returned every three or four months to repeat the format, the
56. results were the same, proving to
the Governor, as he said to Frymire, that NJPTV
did indeed have a sizable state-wide
audience.
Then two events occurred which seemed to Frymire to signal
that the incipient dissatisfaction
might erupt into specific negative actions. The first came as part
of the budget cycle in 1975;
the second was the sudden enthusiasm on the part of the
Administration and Commissioners for
a combined news show with WNET
which would replace NJPTV's
own p
rogram.
For years, New Jersey had been able to avoid a state income
tax, but Governor Byrne felt, in
view of the State’s perilous financial picture, that the time had
come. When it was not
forthcoming, he was faced with a $285 million deficit
in the state
budget and, pointing out New
Jersey’s constitutional balanced budget requirement, he said he
would have to cut expenses.
Following precedent established by many political leaders
before him, he slashed the most
visible and popular accounts: the extension service, libraries,
mental institutions and so on.
Public television's request was cut from $3.8 million to $1
million, a figure clearly below the
minimum needed to maintain operation. Although the
Commissioners ultimately persuaded the
Governor and the
legislature to restore their allocation to $3 million, the
Authority went through
a painful and debilitating exercise responding to both the
threatened cut and to the Governor's
57. instructions to come up with an alternative
method of providi
ng services to
the people of the
state.
A Change Of Management
6
To many observers, including Frymire, the Governor’s action
and attitude appeared to be
something more than standard political budgetmanship. They
wondered if it was not a
deliberate threat on the Governor's part, a warning that unless
they became more responsive to
his concepts, he would move against them. Some saw his
behavior as the first serious attempt
to shake up public broadcasting in New Jersey and force it to
rethink its mission. At a
minimum, it seemed to be a vote of no confidence in the
Authority’s staff leadership.
The second incident involved the station's news program, far
and away the most popular show it
had on the air. Called "New Jersey News Report,” it offered a
half-hour week-
night review of
up to 35 "hard"
news stories about New Jersey happenings and personalities,
including weather
stations (commercial and educational) which showed virtually
no interest in their New Jersey
constituency. There was no attempt at analysis, little feature
material, and its budget did not
permit it to become as slick as regular commercial shows. Even
so, it was extremely popular in
southern New Jersey, an established, mostly UHF area (unlike
its northern counterpart). The
show was clearly the star performer for NJPTV, and represented
58. the best audience builder they
had.
Much to the surprise of Frymire and the staff, in the fall of
1976, Channel 13 suddenly offered
to provide $1 million for a jointly produced nightly
half-
hour show which would be carried on
both WNET and NJPTV. NJ
PTV would contribute $1.5 million. The show would be
controlled by an independent editorial board to be selected by
both stations. When it became
very clear that the Governor and his appointees on the Authority
favored the idea, some staff
members suspected that
the initiative for the whole idea had, in fact, come from
Trenton.
Certainly it was true that Governor Byrne had asked the General
Manager of WNET "When
are you guys finally going to do something about New Jersey
coverage?"
Dr. Meade and the
staff both took a stand in opposition to the initial proposal, but
as it was
refined, the Chairman became increasingly supportive, favoring
at least a detailed exploration,
and Frymire became increasingly opposed. In a memorandum to
the Commissioners in late
December, 1976 -- nearly two months a
fter the first discussions
of the plan -- Frymire wrote:
We have not, due to time factors, given joint study to any other
proposals or to
any budget less than the $2.5 million proposed by Channel 13.
There are other
alternatives which would, in my opinion, bring significantly
improved coverage
59. of New Jersey through joint use of the $1 million offered by
Channel 13 in the
news proposal. Staff will ask you to consider some of them
today.
But first, unless Channel 13
accepts the positions below, I recommend that the
Authority reject the Channel 13 joint news proposal.
The joint news proposal should be rejected on the basis of the
requirement for
Channel 13 to provide $1 million contingent upon NJPTV
providing $1.5
A Change Of Management
7
million and giving up control of NJPTV's most important
program service to an
equally weighted editorial board. Under any circumstances, the
Executive
Producer should be in charge of the daily operation of the news
program, but he
should be responsible to the NJPTV Director of News and
Public Affairs for
administrative functions and through him to any editorial board
for policy
matters. To do otherwise would be to create severe personnel
and
management problems for NJPTV administration and for the
Author
ity itself.
The joint news proposal should be rejected due to the negative
impact it would
have on NJPTV audience building efforts for Channel 50 and
Channel 58.
"I did not want to give our top programs to
our principal competitor in that
part of our
market."
60. Frymire said later. "Furthermore, I had a series of other options
for joint ventures, other ways
to use that $1 million from WNET which I thought would be
much better from our standpoint.
For example, I thought we could staff up our Newark studio and
co-
produce selected
programs with WNET in both the cultural and public affairs
areas; or we could expand both the
equipment and manpower in the Newark facility significantly
and let WNET use it two days a
week. In that way, I thought we could make the Newark
operation really operational, maintain
our own control over our popular news show, avoid all the
problems of a continuing joint
production effort, and sidestep the need to allocate or raise
additional dollars. But I could
hardly get the Commissioners to listen to me, much
less take my ideas seriously. I think my
attitude on all this left some Commissioners alienated, feeling
that I was being obstructionist."
Ultimately, the Commissioners voted to enter into negotiations
with WNET along the general
lines of their proposal, and a negotiating committee of
Commissioners subsequently worked out
an agreement. Frymire participated, but had no vote. The staff
was given the responsibility of
hammering out a specific contract which some Commissioners
later felt gave away more control
than they needed to. The new program was on the air in May,
1978 (2).
The difficulties over the WNET arrangement were followed by a
series of events. For example,
Senate President Joseph Merlino of Trenton, characterized
as the “second
most powerful man
61. in the state,” put in a bill which would require the Governor
approve the Minutes of the
Authority before any of their actions could take effect. Frymire
suspected that his antagonism
developed out of a pair of incidents:
•
An NJPTV reporter asked Senator Merlino a question as he
came out of a
session. Apparently it offended him because he turned on him
and said "You
are an employee of the state, and you have no right to ask me
that kind of
question.”
•
Mrs. Merlino, in
charge of the annual state teenage art festival, asked the station
to cover a portion of the event in which she had particular
interest, but was told
they could not do so on what was only a single day’s notice.
A Change Of Management
8
It was during this period, 1976-
78, that some
observers noted a growing difference of opinion
between Frymire and members of the Authority over a variety of
issues. Some felt that it was
the legacy of what they saw as the continuing resistance of the
staff to the WNET idea even
after it became obvious that the Commissioners wanted to go
ahead. Others felt that Frymire
was not sensitive enough to the public relations activities of the
station, that the press they were
getting was neither adequate, nor imaginative enough, and that
the PR staff was not
sufficiently
active or energetic.
62. Following that was a lengthy series of discussions at Authority
meetings about the opposition of
staff to the broadcasting of certain public service
announcements. In 1973, the Secretary of
State called to ask that the station air a series of announcements
about where and how to
register by mail for the upcoming election, but was turned down
by Douglas Leonard, Program
Manager. The Secretary ultimately complained to Chairman
Meade and his announcements
were broadcast.
In 1978, a task force, made up of Commissioners, Friends and
staff, was established to
conduct a one year, lo
ng-range review of
the Station’s fiscal and physical planning. As a part of
that effort, the issue of the Community Services
Department came up. Disbanded in 1976 in
response to a $390,000 reduction in state funds, Community
Services was now being given
serious consideration for revival. Authority meeting discussion
of the task force findings are
exerpted below from the May, 1978 Authority Minutes:
Once again the issue relating to the disbanding of the
Department of Community
Services two years ago was discussed. Dr. Frymire thanked both
Mr.
Aumente and Commissioner Broadwater for their input. The
question is how
NJPTV should respond to community groups and organizations.
Dr. Frymire
reported that NJPTV is performing the essential functions and
he recommended
that no further specific staff be allocated at this time. He is
sensitive to these
needs as are the Executive Staff, Programming Department and
63. the new
Executive Assistant will also be assigned these duties.
Dr. Meade added that community service is a function
distributed throughout
NJPTV and, therefore, we are responding without any specific
staff allocated to
such service.
Commissioner
Broadwater felt that it is too much to expect the Executive
Director to reach out to maintain contact with people in the
community, but Dr.
Frymire assured her that we have a responsible staff and both
Focal Point
and
Express Yourself
are Black shows that are produced through this type of
contact and also our Spanish speaking staff are responding to
such needs
through the
Images Latinas
programs.
A Change Of Management
9
Dr. Frymire added that news and public affairs programs also
deal with
community-
oriented subjects.
Chairman
Meade said we do not have the capacity to meet all the
community
needs but we are doing more local programming than other PBS
stations and
that there are other services we deliver besides programming.
Mr. Aumente (representing the Chancellor of Higher Education
--
ed.) said that
64. he agreed with the Task Force recommendation and he still feels
we need a
Community Services Department in our budget. He is aware of
the fact that we
do not have the resources for it but he felt that to drop the
search for a solution
would be bad and that dialogue should continue on this subject.
More important, however, were the growing problems with
Commissioner Stephen Adubato
who opposed Frymire from his first day as a member of the
Authority. Characterized as a
feisty, brig
ht, street-
smart, effective community leader in Newark, Adubato wanted
NJPTV to
broadcast more ethnic programs and, according to some
observers, felt that the station’s
programming department was unresponsive and did not take his
concern seriously. Others
traced his growing antagonism to the fall of 1977 when his
brother, an Assemblyman, was
embarrassed on a candidate’s show when one of his opponents
suddenly pulled out a plucked
chicken, waved it before the camera, and said that
this is what the current
incumbent was doing
to his constituents.
Whatever the source of the antagonism, it was overt. Adubato
suggested to Frymire that he
resign when they met September 12, 1978 at the first Authority
meeting he had attended in
nearly a year.
Shortly before the regular Authority meeting scheduled for
September 12, 1978, Commissioner
Adubato called Chairman Meade and said he was planning to
offer a motion of no-confidence
65. in Larry Frymire. Meade suggested to him that the situation be
reviewed instead.
Consequen
tly, at the September meeting, the Commissioners went into
executive session for an
hour, emerging to vote favorably on a motion made by
Commissioner Adubato calling for "a
committee to evaluate the management requirements for the
future in relation to
the goals which
have been established by the Authority.” Dr. Meade then
appointed a committee to be headed
by vice Chairman George Connet and to be made up of Adubato,
Attorney General John
Degnan (Governor Byrne’s onetime chief counsel and chief of
staff, a
ttending his first meeting of
the Authority) and Robert Comstock (Governor Byrne’s former
press secretary, also attending
his first meeting).
“I saw that action as a real challenge, not at all as a threat,”
Larry Frymire said later. “I was
assured by Geo
rge Connett that it was not a ‘get Frymire’ move, but a serious
and responsible
attempt to look at our situation in light of the future needs of
NJPTV.
A Change Of Management
10
"Furthermore, I knew that we had met all of our stated goals and
objectives, with the exception
of the new headquarters building, that almost all
the recommendations coming from
a long-range
planning task force of the Authority, and the
Friends and Staff
66. had been adopted and put in
place, and that the establishment of a Long-Ra
nge Planning Committee of the Authority insured
continuing self-
analysis. Only last June, we had held a day-long intensive
review of our
programming, and in August we spent another full day
reviewing other functions with the
Commissioners. No serious criticisms were raised, and we all
agreed on a set of positive plans,
which have been or are being implemented.
“As the process went along, I saw no reason to be concerned.
The group told me their meeting
with the Associate Executive Director was ‘frank and positive’,
and their meeting
with the
director of programming was ‘friendly and good.’ My session
featured a 45 minute harangue
by Adubato, so it didn't really go anywhere and the Chairman
adjourned it. But the next time
lasted an hour and a half and it was a good discussion.
“I really can't figure out what is Adubato's problem, what he
wants. He talks about being
dissatisfied with the Newark coverage, both before and after the
establishment of a new WNET
show. He wants more ethnic programming, but our Black and
Hispanic staff have
been
producing half-
hour weekly programs for nine years. He's a volatile man with
strong opinions
who has provided a unique service for the people of Newark; a
real self-made leader. But I
don't know really what he wants. When he asked me to resign
back in September, all he said
was: 'changing needs and changing times --
67. people ought to recognize that, and move on.'"
It was after Frymire’s second meeting with the Connett
Committee that he began to feel he had
reason to be concerned. Connett, an old f
riend and supporter, drew him aside and said, "You
know, Larry, we’ve been getting a lot of negative vibes from a
lot of people about NJPTV and
its management. People just don't know you, and even the
Friends aren’t positive." Frymire
pointed out that he didn’t always agree with the Friends, and the
discussion ended there.
In November, 1978, the Board, at its regular meeting, went into
executive session to receive an
interim report from the Committee. Discussion was limited to
a review of a list
of interviews that
had been held, and those that the Committee planned to conduct.
The group reported that they
hoped to finish their work by mid-
December.
A few weeks later, Frymire, who had heard nothing further of or
from the Committee, called
Meade to ask
him what was going on and to suggest that a meeting be held. In
early
December, Connett and the Committee met with Frymire and
then asked Meade to call a
special executive session of the Board to hear its report. At the
ensuing session, held shortly
thereafter, the Commissioners met in executive session for
about an hour to hear and discuss the
Committee's report, and Frymire talked to them for about an
hour, reviewing his
accomplishments and the challenges ahead. They then went back
into executive session for
another hour. The Commissioners, for their part, had two
68. complaints, as Frymire recalled:
A Change Of Management
11
They said I was not a statewide personality, that no one knows
me among the state's
leadership. Therefore, NJPTV was not well known. They said I
had not success
fully
penetrated the business and foundation community for financial
support. I pointed out
that no one in the other
state-supported systems has either.
That’s all they said, but it was clear that the situation was
untenable. It was kind of like
trying to get rid of a superintendent of schools or a minister. No
one wants him around,
but no one wants to hurt him either. So I talked to Meade, and
told him I would resign.
The Associate Executive Director resigned too, and we’ll both
be gone by April 30.
On March 20, 1979, the Authority made its formal
announcement of the appointment, with the
approval of the Governor, of Gordon MacInnes as the new
Executive Director of NJPTV.
(See Attachments 2 and 3)
(1) Divided into capital plans and operational plans, these
formal statements signed by the Chairman and the Executive
Director laid out objectives, backed by a description of how
New Jersey citizens would benefit from the proposed
action.
(2) The new show received mixed reviews at best, especially
from the audience for the old show. There was an
emphasis on analysis, a number of promotional spots, no
weather, and a diminished coverage of sports. On the other
hand the talent was excellent, the research and writing more
professional, and researc
69. h component and reporter
quality substantially upgraded. At any rate, Frymire and his
staff bore the brunt of the critical comments.
A Change Of Management
12
Attachment 1
NJPTV - Board of Commissioners
Appointments by Governor Hughes: 1969-70
Dr. Edward J. Meade, Jr.
Program
Officer
Public Education, Ford Foundation
George Connett
Vice President
Personnel-
Administration
Prudential Insurance Company
of America
John McDonald
Special Assistant to the President for
Community Relations
Rutgers University
Carlos Peay Attorney
Maurice Veneri AFL-
CIO President
Industrial Union Council
Mrs. Anne Martindell
Owner
Who’s Who in America
Donald Wilson Vice President
Time- Life
Appointments by Governor William Cahill -
1971-72-73
Henry Becton Owner, Chairman of Board
Becton-
Dickinson Industries
70. Nathan Friedman Attorney
Robert Crager C
ommercial Broadcaster
William Hatchett
Manager
, Special Employment
Programs
RCA
Calvin Louderback Vice President, New Jersey
Manufacturers Association
A Change Of Management
1
3
Attachment 1
NJPTV - Board of
Commissioners (cont.)
Mrs. Rosemary Fruehling
Assistant Professor
Secretarial Science County College of
Morris
Richard Schoch Senior Vice President,
Creative Director
Compton Advertising
Appointments by Governor Brendan Byrne -
1974-75-76-77-78-79
Stephen Adubato
Director
North Ward Education & Cultural
Center, Newark
Henry Becton Reappointed
Edward Meade
Reappointed
George Connett Reappointed
Robert Crager
Reappointed
Donald Wilson
71. Reappointed
Edith Luray
Producer, NBC-TV
Campaign Manager, Mrs. English
campaign for State Senator
(English is present special Assistant to the
Governor)
Barbara Broadwater
Administrative Aide
Mayor Errichetti -
Camden State Senator
Errichetti
Robert Comstock
Executive Editor -
The Bergen Record
Former
Press Secretary, Governor Byrne
Charles Nathanson
Private Consultant for City Planning
Personal Associate of Mercer County
and State Democratic Leaders
A Change Of Management
1
4
Attachment 1
NJPTV -
Board of Commissioners (cont.)
Susan Thomases
Attorney - Campaign Manager
United States Senator Bradley
Thomas Erhardt
Businessman, Union County National
Democratic Committeeman, Campaign
Manager, various Union County
Democratic politicians
By state statute, the following Cabinet Officers are members of
72. the Authority, ex-
officio with full
voting rights:
Attorney General
Treasurer
Commissioner of Department of Community Affairs
Chancellor of Higher Education
Commissioner of Education
A Change Of Management
1
5
Attachment 2
Trenton Times,
Trenton, N.J.- Thursday, March 15, 1979
MACINNES SLATED
FOR STATE TV JOB
By Jim Goodman
Staff Writer
Former state legislator Gordon A.
MacInnes Jr. is expected to be the next executive
director of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting
Authority.
MacInnes, 37, a former Democratic
assemblyman from Morris County, has
been
recommended by the authority’s screening
committee. The authority board will vote on the
recommendation on Tuesday.
Gov. Brendan T. Byrne met with
MacInnes recently and told him he had no
objections to the appointment.
MacInnes was a member of the State
Assembly in 1974 and 1978, and he was
previously a special assistant to Gov. Richard J.
Hughes. Before that he was an official in United
Progress, Inc., Trenton’s anti-
73. poverty agency.
For the last eight years, MacInnes has
directed the Fund for New Jersey, a private
foundation.
The Foundation's principal client was the
Center for Analysis of Public Issues in Princeton.
MacInnes said today that the foundation gave
the center an average of $75,000 a year during his
tenure.
MacInnes has no direct expe
rience in
television, but has served as a consultant for
WNET-TV
(Channel 13) in New York and was a
director of the Fair Broadcasting Coalition in New
Jersey.
Sources said that the main reason for
MacInnes selection was that the committee felt
he would be able to
raise private money for the
television authority which operates a network of
four stations within the state. The station now
operates almost entirely on public funds and has
had little success in getting donations from its
viewers.
MacInnes was one of
three finalists
interviewed more than a week ago by the
screening committee. Sources said the other two
finalists were from out of state.
A former Byrne aide who had sought the
job, Herbert Wolfe, was not among the finalists.
Wolfe is a former
editor of the Trenton Times and
was Byrne’s first information director.
Edward Meade, Authority chairman,
74. refused to confirm that MacInnes has been
recommended by the screening committee. He
said he has not seen the committee's final report
and pointed out
that the committee is made up of
a minority of the authority.
Other sources said, however, that there
was very little chance of the authority overruling
the screening committee.
MacInnes was elected to the Assembly in
the 1973 Democratic landslide led
by Byrne. The
Morris County Democrat was identified as part of
the Byrne team early in his tenure in the
Assembly, but split with the governor several
times and was not considered a "team player" by
administration officials.
MacInnes sought reelection in 19
75 but
was defeated in his heavily republican district.
Administration sources have insisted that
the governor would not attempt to influence the
selection of the new director, but Byrne did retain
his right to veto any appointment. The governor
reportedly told MacInnes last week that he would
not object to his nomination.
The new director will replace Lawrence
Frymire, the first director of the authority.
Frymire was forced to resign in December after a
management study report charged that the
Authority lacked strong leadership and had not
attracted many viewers. Frymire’s resignation is
effective April 30.
A Change Of Management
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6
75. Attachment 3
The Star Ledger
, Thursday, March 15, 1979
JERSEY TV MAY PICK EX-
LEGISLATOR AS CHIEF
by Dan Weissman
Former Assemblyman, Gordon A.
MacInnes, Jr. will be the next director of
the state's Public Broadcasting Authority, a
job that pays in the
mid-$40,000 range,
sources said yesterday.
According to the sources, MacInnes, who
was among the strongest supporters of Gov.
Brendan Byrne’s income tax while he was in
the Legislature, will get the appointment
confirmed Tuesday when the authority
meets. One source said “that information is
impeccable.”
The sources said MacInnes was supposed to
be named to the job last Tuesday. But the
action was delayed because “three members
of the authority wanted to talk to him first.”
MacInnes would say only: "All I know is I
was asked to be one of three finalists to be
interviewed last Saturday.” The commission
is meeting next Tuesday, when it hopes to
reach a decision.
MacInnes said he had no knowledge of who
would get the job, which becomes vacant
April 30 when Larry Frymire will leave.
MacInnes served one term in the Assembly,
winning election in a predominately
republican Morris County district in the
Byrne 1974 landslide.
MacInnes quickly became one of Byrne’s
76. staunchest legislative allies.
Prior to his election victory, the 38-year old
MacInnes was a special assistant to former
Gov. Richard J. Hughes.
A graduate of the Woodrow Wil
son School
of Princeton University, MacInnes was
considered one of the so-
called "Woody
Wilson gang” when he worked for Hughes,
now Chief Justice of the State Supreme
Court. Also counted in the association were
Byrne’s former treasurer, Richard C. Leone
and Treasurer Clifford Goldman.
“The Governor's office has nothing to do
with it. The authority had a search
committee, and it put ads in the papers,” said
one source, who added:
"But I'm not going to say MacInnes didn't
see the Governor."