Big changes are always hard to wrap your head around, particularly when they're tinged with sadness.
This morning, after three cups of coffee and an intense Film Club of the Air , I found myself in an office, meeting with the heads of the new media and radio broadcasting departments at KPBS. I was still a little amped, and not particularly suited to digest the information I was about to hear.
The announcement? Pat Launer, who has been covering the theater community for KPBS for almost 20 years, will no longer be working with the station. No reviews. No These Days . No Patt? Awards.
I was stunned, especially since I was planning to have Pat on These Days for tomorrow's Weekend Preview segment.
It's a sad day at KPBS. It will be even sadder for the San Diego theater community. Here's why: Pat Launer is a tireless champion of theater in this city. She goes to over 200 plays a year. She sees everything, not just the big productions in town. She started the Patt? Awards,
the only
one of the few local awards ceremonies honoring the accomplishments in San Diego's theater scene.
Why would KPBS end their relationship with her? And why so abruptly?
I talked with Doug Myrland, general manager of KPBS. He said:
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The various entities using Pat's work, the Web, radio, and the Patt? Awards wanted to do broader arts coverage. Just doing theater was increasingly becoming a problem editorially.
[...]
KPBS' contract with Pat is with her company Patt? Productions and it was for a package of services. So we didn't close the door we just said we don't want all of the services you are offering. Now she may take her reviews and Patt? Awards somewhere else. But if she came back in the future and offered one of those services, we may be open to those discussions.
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I understand the whole fiscal year thing, but why on a Wednesday, in the middle of the week? What happened on Tuesday? Why not wait until Friday, when the natural ending of the work-week would compliment the ending of a professional relationship? It's a silly point, but when your work is cut short, it's like getting sucker punched, and you don't get sucker punched on a Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. You get sucker punched in a bar, on a Saturday night, when you're drunk enough to take the blow.
Now that I've had a couple of hours to digest the ripple effect of the change, I'm still reluctant to qualify it. Yes, we will continue to cover theater on These Days . Yes, I will cover theater occasionally on this blog. But can this measure up, in any way, to the breadth of coverage Pat offered? And with the same -- forgive me -- drama? The answer is clearly no.
But then where does that leave us? How will the arts coverage at the station recalibrate after this loss? I'm left with a lot of questions. But both Doug and radio program director John Decker assure me that KPBS remains committed to covering the arts.
There is one thing I know for sure. Pat, your distinctive voice will be missed.
-- Angela Carone produces arts and culture programming for These Days and Culture Lust . Please read our guidelines before posting comments.
