WBUR head resigns amid investigations
Jane Christo, who built WBUR-FM (90.9) from a broadcasting backwater into a public radio powerhouse even as she left a legacy of turmoil and turnover, resigned yesterday as general manager, amid allegations of mismanagement at the Boston University-owned outlet.
The fast-moving chain of events that culminated in Christo's resignation began three weeks ago, when WBUR announced that it planned to sell two Rhode Island public radio stations it has owned for six years.
As a backlash built, Rhode Island's attorney general, Patrick C. Lynch, ordered WBUR to turn over financial records relating to the stations. A week ago, Boston University announced its own investigation into WBUR. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, whose office also has received allegations of wrongdoing, would not confirm or deny it is investigating the matter.
Christo, 62, who has run WBUR for a quarter-century, will leave her post next Friday. BU spokeswoman Nancy Sterling said an interim general manager will probably be named next week. The university will conduct a national search for a permanent replacement, Sterling said. Christo announced her resignation shortly after 1 p.m. to about 85 staff members at the end of a weekly Friday lunch for station employees. She was smiling and energetic, but also teared up a bit, said one staffer who was present.
''The present controversy regarding my leadership of WBUR has become too large a distraction," Christo said in a written statement released to the media. ''I have decided to step aside so that the focus of the staff and management at WBUR can be returned to providing our listeners with the very best in public radio news programming. I am extremely proud of the significant contribution that WBUR has made to public radio here in New England and nationally. I am confident that when concluded, the internal investigation will show that the allegations of improper misconduct against me are baseless."
Boston University also issued a statement yesterday: ''We want to thank Ms. Christo for her many accomplishments over the years . . . With Ms. Christo's help, WBUR has become one of the preeminent public radio stations in the United States."
A source who has been briefed on the discussions over WBUR said three factors precipitated Christo's sudden departure -- the controversy over WBUR's decision to sell WRNI-AM (1290) and WXNI-AM (1230), the allegations that prompted BU's investigation, and WBUR's mounting debt. By 2003, WBUR owed BU more than $12 million.
''Everybody agreed the station needs to improve its financial position, and in order to do that you're going to need incredibly focused and strong leadership," the source said. ''Unfortunately, Jane is not in a position to provide that" The source said that Christo did not fight the idea of leaving, but that ''the university initiated the discussion." BU and Christo negotiated a financial settlement, said the source, who declined to discuss the terms.
Several observers reflecting on Christo's exit suggested that her vision for the station may have become more ambitious than its revenues could support.
''I think Jane created a great station, arguably the best public radio station in the country," said James Segel, chairman of the WBUR advisory board. ''I think that as that [revenue] flow diminished at the end of the '90s it was hard to reconcile the expenses with the revenues."
''There was clearly an ambition that just went beyond. . . She may have just underfunded her ambitions and she was frustrated," said Bruce Gellerman, a former WBUR employee. ''I think the story of Jane Christo is 'Citizen Kane.' It's Citizen Jane."
The buildup to yesterday's announcement began Sept. 17, when Christo met with backers of the Rhode Island stations and abruptly informed them of the plans to sell. Lynch asked BU to halt the sale. When Rhode Island's governor, Donald L. Carcieri, wrote to BU Interim President Aram V. Chobanian on Sept. 27, expressing concern over the sale, the university agreed to delay putting the stations on the market.
The Rhode Island controversy reignited longstanding concerns about WBUR's fiscal health and Christo's management. A number of complaints -- ranging from patronage hires to the station's spending habits -- found their way into the hands of BU officials, the Massachusetts attorney general, and the news media. On Oct. 1, BU announced its own investigation.
Between 2001 and 2003, WBUR amassed a debt that amounted to more than half its annual operating budget. According to financial documents that WBUR is required to file with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the station owed $12.4 million to Boston University by 2003, the result of three years of disastrous budgets. In fiscal year 2000, the station had a balanced budget. But in 2001, the WBUR Group (which includes WRNI and WXNI) ran a $4.5 million deficit. WBUR then had a $5.2 million deficit in 2002 and a $3.2 million deficit in 2003.
Gifts from listeners and corporate benefactors have grown steadily in recent years, from $4.6 million in 1998 to $7.9 million in 2003. But revenue from underwriting, or financial support from corporations, in exchange for on air publicity, was erratic.
Underwriting more than doubled from $4 million in 1998, to $8.6 million in 2001, then plummeted to $5.7 million in 2002 and crept back to $6.7 million in 2003.
Expenses also skyrocketed, in part because of WBUR's purchase of the Rhode Island stations. WBUR spent $14.5 million in 1999 and $25.1 million in 2001.
Then the station began cutting, bringing spending down to $22.4 million in 2003. The source who has been briefed on the WBUR discussions said the financial problems were rooted in the poor economy, combined with a variety of investments that WBUR made in WRNI and its own infrastructure, including towers to enhance its broadcast signal, and a new website. BU has been working closely with the station for over a year to improve its finances, the source said.
BU spokesman Stephen Burgay said the station's finances are improving. Although financial documents have not been completed for fiscal year 2004, Burgay said that the station had a $1.8 million deficit, and that its budget is projected to be balanced for 2005. He said last year's revenues grew by 8 percent, and they are expected to grow 12 percent this year, because of more gifts and underwriting.
One question BU is investigating is whether Christo filled the WBUR payroll with patronage hires. The Boston Globe developed a list of about two dozen current or former employees who are alleged to be patronage hires. In addition to family members (including Christo's son Zach) and relatives of other employees, the list includes about a dozen Albanians, who include several members of the same family. Christo's husband, Van, is the president of the Frosina Information Network, a cultural and information resource for Albanian immigrants, and Jane and Van have served as legal guardians for several Albanians who also worked at the station.
Fred Lyford, the CEO of Puritan Press, a New Hampshire printing company, said WBUR became a customer sometime after Jane Christo's stepson, Jeff, joined the company as a salesman in 1994. The station bought at least a coupleof thousand dollars worth of direct mailings and other materials from Puritan each year -- until Christo left in 2000.
''When he left us the business left with him," Lyford said last night. ''It was no surprise because we knew Jane Christo was his stepmother."
Christo helped build WBUR with a strong programming vision, a dominant personality, and a finely trained ear for what she called ''sound-rich radio." She first revamped the station by importing NPR news program such as ''Morning Edition" and ''All Things Considered" but then became an exporter of programming with such WBUR-produced shows as ''The Connection," ''Here and Now," ''Only a Game," and ''On Point."
But as the station grew to become one of public radio's most influential outlets, Christo became known for a management style that critics called imperious and unfair. In an interview for a 1997 Globe profile, Christo said: ''We've had a mission, high standards, goals. . . There have been people who haven't shared that." 