Tanka Koonce profile, continued.

How long have you been news director at WCBU?

Officially seven months, and I was the unofficial go-to person the five months proceeding.   

Tell us about your staff (size, beats, etc.?)

We have three full-time professional staff, and two student reporters, and we work on a loose beat system. 

 
I split my time between administrative duties, assignment editing, and reporting.  I cover the Pekin and Peoria City beats.

Morning Edition Host & Reporter Denise Molina spends the first half of her day on the anchor desk.  Her beats include regional transportation issues, The City of East Peoria and Peoria Public Housing matters.

Reporter Kenton McDonald is the newest member of our team.  He arrived at WCBU from WNIN, Evansville, in mid-March.  He is our only full-time dedicated reporter.  His beats include Peoria Public School District 150 (Education), Peoria County Board, the regional port authority (still fledgling), and Springdale Cemetery that became publically owned about five years ago.

Student reporter Sarah Goldstein is preparing to leave us for graduate school.  She’s sharing/transferring the Peoria Public School beat to Kenton. 

Our other student reporter Lauren DiSandro is a freshman at Bradley University.  She grasps the press releases we put in front of her and is gathering the skills to turn that information into broadcast copy. 

We are not territorial about our beats.  We often have to cross over based solely on who’s available at the necessary time.  Our beats exist ideally for each of us to hold some knowledge of our assigned subjects. 

The other matters I lookout for and we share include:

Business & Economy:  Caterpillar, the Peoria Next business incubator, the Illinois River, The Peoria Rivermen, and the Peoria Chiefs  

Higher Education: Bradley University, Illinois Central College and the University of Illinois College of Medicine

Science & Medicine: OSF and Methodist Medical Centers, Proctor Hospital, and the U.S.D.A. Ag Lab

Environment: Illinois River Restoration, Ozone matters

Arts: Peoria Symphony, Two Ballets, Lakeview Museum (growing), The Art Guild, and the Contemporary Art Center

Courts & Cops: Right now we have three Peoria Police Officers charged with brutality and official misconduct.  We’ve also been covering Ali Al-Marri who was designated an enemy combatant under the Bush Administration. 

What kind of surprises have you experienced as a new news director?

How much time do you have? 

In early November we finished the presidential election cycle as a two person news staff.  That featured the 18^th District open Congressional Seat, a tough race for an open state house seat and a heated Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Race, to name only the highlights. 

We went live election night with two political scientists on the anchor desk with me, operations, engineering and news staff, including students and volunteers all manned a post with students pulling in election numbers. 

You already know our last elected Governor was arrested, impeached, then indicted and is now preparing to stand trial. I spent more time making on-the-fly programming decision than I could have ever imagined in my first days on the job. 

December 9^th, I awoke at 6:09 to a phone call from my Morning Edition Host.  The first words out of her mouth were, “The Governor’s been arrested!  What do I do?” 

I said, still mostly asleep, “You mean he’s been indicted?”   

“No” she said.  “He’s been arrested!” 

I could hear the unsettledness in her voice, but still couldn’t wrap my head around it.  “Was he driving drunk? Did he kill somebody?” I said.       

“No! The feds came to his house and arrested him this morning…” She went on to explain the early details that further unfolded as the day- and weeks went on.

I was still stuck on why they had arrested him and not waited for the indictment.  That is, after all, the dignified way we handle our political corruption in the great state of Illinois. Our Morning Edition Host went on the air the next break with wire copy about the debacle. 

I got a Starbuck’s Double Espresso Shot can from my kitchen, went to the shower, dressed and flew to work, working my phone with my political friends and associates to better understand what had taken place.  I also started trying to secure the feed of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s pending unanchored press conference.

NPR folks provided us the feed with the help of WCBU Operations Manager Daryl Scott.  I anchored Fitzgerald’s Live Statement later that morning, Morning Edition Host Denise Molina served as my producer, and we used AOL Instant Messenger Chat to communicate during the time we filled before Fitzgerald’s remarks.  It all fell together though I’m still not sure how. 

          After the former Governor’s arrest there were numerous statements, announcements and the actual impeachment proceedings that all needed some level of news attention.  That was coming at the same time President Elect Obama was making his cabinet announcements.  We were regularly talking about whether to carry the Blago related speeches live and if there was a feed out of Chicago or Springfield we could pick up? 

What I didn’t realize we were doing in those crazy moments was solidifying our team ability to rise to an occasion.  As a result I have a profound respect for the people I worked most closely with at that time, and now know I would trust them with my life if I needed too. 

          Oh, and less than 10 days after Blago’s arrest we experienced the death of the sitting Mayor of Pekin.  The day of his funeral proceedings there was a massive winter storm moving in, and former Peoria Congressman, now U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was being announced as President Elect Obama’s choice for the job.  Merry Christmas!  That was December 19^th. 

          The news pace in the region is still palpably different: President Obama visited Caterpillar in February, the heavy equipment giant has cut more than 25,000 workers across the globe, with more than 3000 cuts locally, and Senator Roland Burris visited on his so called listening tour.   

Burris’ February visit was the first time he voiced his October/November fundraising efforts for Blagojevich, related or not, to the Senate Seat.  He made the comment with reporters in a back room of the Peoria County Democratic Dinner.  It’s the same issue that recently came to greater media attention when the FBI tapes were released. 

His ‘listening tour’ started and seemingly ended that night in Peoria.  He fell silent the next day when he was to meet with reporters again the next day.  I’ve saved his audio from the Dem Dinner on my computer desk top. …And the beat goes on.       

          The things I’ve written about are the peaks.  None of it includes the regular public meeting coverage we do, the municipal budgets and deficits we cover, the search for and hiring of full-time reporter Kenton McDonald, and the local municipal elections that have happened since.                         

What do you feel like you want to know to do your job better?

          I wish I had the ability to see my newsroom/our news product from the outside.  That way I could see what others see and could better identify and presumably shore-up any areas of weakness.  I’m IN IT so much getting perspective has been a challenge. 

What challenges do you see ahead?

            The biggest challenge we work through almost daily is using our limited human resources as wisely as possible to the greatest possible benefit of our news content.  We cover a lot territory.  I likely need to pull-in our scope a bit to be able to turn more features, and achieve more daily web content.  A part-time reporter/anchor could also go a long way toward our efforts.     

Now that you're in charge, are there changes you'd like to make in the way your newsroom operates?

            Our web content remains an underperforming point for the moment. We are behind what most rooms are doing, though that will likely be changing soon. 

          I’m still fishing for a way to archive our stories.  We still use paper copy for our newscasts.  We save our stories on the computer in either Microsoft Word or AP NewsDesk.  Our current archive method is stacking the scripts in a basket until it gets too full and then we move the scripts to a file cabinet.  That is, until we retire them to paper box for storage.  It’s cumbersome and ineffective when we need/want to review a story for background. 

          I would like it if our news staff could receive e-mail on their cell phones.  The business world is capable of this, and I believe we should be too.  It stands to make us able to go further faster.  I would also like to incorporate/transfer our weekly/daily news assignment board to an electronic file.  That information currently lives in file cabinet ‘day file’ system and on a wipe-off board on the wall.  This is boiled down to a dollars and cents. An additional ten or twenty dollar monthly reimbursement for my staff to have a cell phone data package is not in our budget right now.  It will need to wait until the economy is performing better.  And then I am prepared for a bit of a negotiation.  

The way we pull and compile election night numbers also needs some refining.  I’m not sure what we do to address it besides investigating what AP has to offer on election night and how much it costs.  Nevertheless it’s a subject that stays on the back burner as it is not a daily, weekly or even monthly issue. 

----
  If you know of a PRNDI member whose newsroom is doing something new and/or interesting, or if your newsroom is, contact Michael Leland (Leland@wpr.org) and we'll tell the rest of PRNDI about it.