Tom Rieland, new general station manger at WOSU, has high hopes for the future and has many ideas to change and improve WOSU AM, FM and television stations.
Rieland, who took over the stations on Nov. 12 after the retirement of Dale Ouzts, said he wants to take advantage of the Ohio State campus and create a collaborative environment with students.
“We are looking into strategically using students more in our operation,” Rieland said. “We need them and they need us for professional experience.”
The stations need students to grow, Rieland said, because they do not have the budget to run on paid employees alone.
“Students revitalize an organization,” Rieland said. “They bring in new ideas.”
Lee Tashjian, vice president for university relations, agreed that the focus should be placed on strengthening student involvement. He said it is important to take advantage of the opportunity to link the community and academics.
Broadcast journalism is no longer a major at OSU, but both Tashjian and Rieland said they hope to involve students with broadcast interest and give them the experience they need to succeed in the professional world.
Nick Bronder, a senior in communications, is a student employee in the newsroom at WOSU. He said he would like to see a range of opportunities and be able to work in different departments besides the newsroom, such as marketing.
“Working there has helped me a lot more than the school of communications,” Bronder said. “You are working in a real environment where the student factor doesn’t really count.”
Rieland was chosen from a national employee search because of his experience in public broadcasting and his work with students, Tashjian said.
Rieland has prior experience working with students as director and general manager for the Center for Public Television and Radio at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He has worked at the University of Mississippi and in reporting positions at various networks.
“At the University of Alabama, he worked with the university community to have all academic areas well represented and getting students involved in the development of programs,” Tashjian said. “He has a high level of academic and university involvement in running his stations.”
Many aspects of OSU convinced Rieland to take the job. He said he liked OSU’s large service area and its ability to reach a large community. He also felt the OSU campus was resource-rich and full of potential partnerships.
“Columbus is a great city. I love it,” Rieland said. “There is so much going on, it’s a great experience so far.”
Though he would like to make some changes, Rieland said there are many good things about the WOSU stations. He said it is highly regarded and has good programming. The station is strong in local shows that keep a lot of people in the community watching and listening.
Rieland said there are so many television and radio channels that the stations need to focus on local and in depth programs. The stations need to take those programs and present them in different ways to distinguish them for the others.
“Our mission is to affect the community, to give more local programming, and to show off resources here at Ohio State,” Rieland said.
He said public broadcast has to change to survive and he wants to see the stations more toward digital technology.
“Digital technology can connect us up better than we are,” Rieland said. “We will really flourish with digital TV and radio.”
Rieland also recognized the need to plug into the Internet and would like to further develop WOSU’s Web site and tie it into the community.
Change is the key to the continuing success of WOSU stations. Rieland said change is coming in the industry, but the stations will be ready.
“It’s a challenge to develop new talent and stay ahead of technology,” Rieland said. “That’s my job, to keep us ahead of the curve.”
