10 Questions with ... Abby Goldstein

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I started in radio in Beaumont, TX at my college station, KVLU, where I hosted a late-night jazz show. I moved to Dallas in 1989 and spent six years on the air at KERA when it was a dual format NPR news/Triple A station, followed by several years in commercial radio at 93.3 The Zone, 99.5 The Wolf and 95.3 The Range, doing fun things like producing street festivals and booking local bands. In 2000, I went back to KERA and spent five years as PD before taking the VP/Programming job at New Hampshire Public Radio. In 2012, I became GM of 91.3 WYEP in Pittsburgh.

1. How did you become interested in radio?

My mother was radio fanatic who grew up listening to the great Golden Age of radio. When I was a kid, we listened to Jean Shepherd and Earl Dowd's Banana Paradise on WOR as well as classical music and opera. In my teen years, I gravitated to early AOR and was a huge WPLJ fan. When NPR came along in the '70s, my mother was instantly hooked, and we've been a public radio family ever since. When we moved to Beaumont, TX in 1978, my mother became involved with KVLU, the public station in town, and she eventually became Membership Manager. That's where I got my start, as a weekend board op and announcer at KVLU.

2. Tell us about this new initiative WYEP is a part of with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and the City of Pittsburgh's Office of Nighttime Economy.

Well, it's no secret that Pittsburgh has been getting a lot of national attention over the last few years. The city has been written up in national publications for everything from its food scene to its architecture and affordable cost of living. Pittsburgh's high culture, such as its symphony and theatre, as well as our national franchise sports teams have always been a huge source of civic pride.

But in none of this national coverage has Pittsburgh's incredible local music scene been showcased and there has been growing interest among a group of community leaders to change that perception. The more we started asking questions, the more obstacles we discovered and that's how this initiative was born. A large group of Pittsburghers attended a Responsible Hospitality Institute conference in 2016 that was focused on nightlife and being a sociable city and out of that conference, this partnership came together. We sought help and found it in Sound Music Cities, who we contracted with to do a study of Pittsburgh's entire music ecosystem and make recommendations for improvements. The study points to five areas for improvement including leadership development, audience development, professional development for musicians and regulatory reform. There is a lot of genuine enthusiasm for this work and now that the final report has been issued, we're excited to have a whole lot of partners to help move things forward.

3. You have always been committed to public radio - can you explain why that is the best home for you?

This is a mission-focused enterprise and that's what inspires us to do what we do every day. We like to say that content generates audience and engagement, audience generates revenue and revenue drives mission. The end goal here is to do something extraordinary and meaningful for the community. It's the most rewarding work I've ever done.

4. What are the biggest challenges facing public radio today?

All media faces big challenges today. For public media, demonstrating our relevance to the communities we serve will help us continue to build strong support and build more opportunities for public service. We must remain relevant to an audience that has many more choices than they once did. We must deliver unique value that keeps our community engaged with what we do.

5. WYEP has a long music-radio history in Pittsburgh but I suspect you were drawn to joining the organization for broader reasons. Tell us about that.

Certainly, WYEP's history in Pittsburgh is remarkable; it's kind of known as the station that wouldn't die. There was a year-and-a-half in the '80s when the station was forced to go dark; they came back with a sense of resilience and urgency. That's a huge statement for the station and for the city that supports it. We have a passionate and dedicated team, and I'm proud to work with them every day.

6. Tell us more about the station's multi-use facility.

It's the first LEED-certified broadcast facility in the country and we use it for a variety of events. Hardly a day goes by when the space is not being used for something, especially now that Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting holds the licensed of both WYEP and WESA. We have live music performances, forums, workshops, donor events and we just launched the Pittsburgh page on VuHaus with the video content we shoot in our own performance space.

7. Tell us about the education outreach the station does.

We are focused on a program called Reimagination, which is a recording project for area teen musicians. Each year we recruit a group of teen artists from the region and give them an allotment of studio time at the Church Recording Studio, a top-notch professional studio in Pittsbugh. They are teamed up with professional producers who coach and mentor them and help them through the recording process. Each band or solo artists records an original song and we release a CD every year. Grammy winner Daya was on our first Reimagination album and we are blown away each year by the talent and fearlessness of these teen artists. Reimagination, Volume 5 was released this past May and we're gearing up for Volume 6 that begins production in the fall.

8. What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

That what we do every day is a constant source of delight for millions of people.

9. If you wanted to completely change careers today, what would you do?

I'd either be a chef (probably a pastry chef) or a food writer.

10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ...

... a piece of chocolate and a good, hard laugh.