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This Rhode Island Life

A veteran of NPR’s famed Chicago affiliate steps in to take the helm of the Ocean State’s

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Torey Malatia, the new general manager of RINPR, the state’s lone National Public Radio affiliate, has some big shoes to fill – literally. Malatia’s predecessor, Joe O’Connor, who helped take what was then called WRNI from a small offshoot of Boston’s WBUR and turn it into the full-fledged local news source it is today, had the resume of a newsman and the physical presence of the center on a basketball team.

While Malatia is shorter in stature, as he is quick to point out upon meeting, his resume stands tall: he led Chicago’s WBEZ, one of the bigger and more influential NPR affiliates, for nearly 20 years. While there, he co-created the wildly popular This American Life, along with host Ira Glass (he recalls brainstorming it over lemon vodka at Chicago’s equivalent of the Russian Tea Room), and helped launched NPR’s beloved news quiz show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.

What would bring such an accomplished broadcaster to tiny Rhode Island, luring him away from one of the biggest media markets in the country? “What’s attractive about Rhode Island is the opportunity to build here, because there’s a pride in place,” he explains. “People tell me there’s also kind of an inferiority complex – for me, that’s the same thing. It all comes from caring about your place. The folks who care about Rhode Island want to see it recognized.”

Malatia’s tenure at WBEZ demonstrates that he’s not just paying lip service to the joy of building. While today it is known for its nationally syndicated programs, This American Life and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, when Malatia joined the station in 1993 it was a fledgling operation that had only gone independent from the Chicago Board of Education, which founded WBEZ in 1943, three years prior. During his time there, WBEZ evolved into Chicago Public Media, which broadcasts on three FM signals across a wide swath of Illinois, produces two nationally syndicated programs, offers robust web and podcast programming, and operates a separate public media service in nearby Indiana.

RINPR, in Malatia’s estimation, offers a similar set of challenges and opportunities. It, too, broadcasts across three signals around the state, though that’s more a reflection of each one’s limited geographic reach than any sort of empire building. The staff is small, and the station’s revenues must grow before he can add to that core. But Malatia also inherits a very talented and dedicated team (including veteran reporters like Ian Donnis and Scott MacKay), the support of an enthusiastic audience, and a community that’s willing to help. Malatia notes that in the brief time since his arrival, he has received countless offers from Rhode Islanders willing to pitch in time, expertise and advice.

The web is something Malatia has identified as one of his biggest challenges. RINPR’s website offers a live stream of the station, along with some blogs and recordings of broadcasts, but it’s not the robust, multi-platform content-delivery vehicle that he envisions. He believes that in today’s media market, the live broadcast signal is only one part of the station’s responsibility to its audience, and asking listeners to rely solely on it for news and information is unrealistic and a disservice. “We’re not serving in the way people wish to be served right now,” he concedes.

“We’re asking people to behave in a way that they don’t normally behave with any other source of journalism they encounter, and that’s wrong.” He believes that a beefed up web presence is not a way to drive more listeners to the FM dial, but rather a vital source of content for an audience that’s not necessarily tuning to hear it live.

As we head into an election year, Malatia will have a very high profile opportunity to make his imprint on the Rhode Island media market. Public radio is a very particular brand of journalism – moderate, level-headed, spoken in calm, modulated tones that stand in stark contrast to the hysterical braying across the talk radio dial – fighting for attention in an overheated media atmosphere that rewards being the fastest, loudest and most sensational. “You can’t scream louder than the noise,” Malatia notes. “All you can do is be a steady beacon of the light. The thing about theater, drama, hysteria – it’s tiring. After a while, if you have any kind of real curiosity left about what’s going on in the world, you’ll seek out people who are reporting with more of a sense of respect for your intelligence, who aren’t screaming at you or trying to make theater out of it.”

RINPR already has an audience that looks to it as that beacon; now Malatia is tasked with making it shine brighter.

351-2800, www.ripr.org

This American Life, wait wait don't tell me, torey malatia, WBEZ, npr, WRNI, rhode Island public radio, east side monthly, john taraborelli, ian donnis, scott mackay

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