Fresh Loaf

For months now, Councilwoman Mary Norwood has insisted, promised, all but swore on the baby Jesus that if she’s elected mayor, Atlanta’s next police chief would be hired from within the ranks.

Despite her denials, many observers figured she must already have someone in mind. Otherwise, it wouldn’t seem to make much sense to narrow your options like that. Sure, Pennington didn’t work out so well, but it’s considered a best practice for cities of our size to conduct a national search for such important positions.

Still, Norwood repeatedly defended her decision at one forum after another, explaining that she wanted a chief who was already familiar with the local geography. As she told the AJC: “It takes them a long time for them to figure out where Adamsville is, where Moores Mills is and Browns Mill is.” (Psst — that’s why Al Gore invented GPS.)

Well, WABE radio reports that, just yesterday, Norwood flip-flopped and signed a pledge sponsored by a local human-rights organization stating that she’d undertake a national search for the next top cop.

(more…)

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In late April, award-winning reporter Odette Yousef of WABE 90.1 FM traveled to Ethiopia with the Carter Center to report on trachoma, an eye illness that can lead to blindness and which has ravaged the African country.

Once a common malady in the United States, trachoma is now concentrated in some of Africa’s most poverty-stricken countries — Ethiopia being one of them. Nearly 85 percent of its population is at risk of acquiring the bacterial illness, which thrives in areas with poor sanitation and hygiene. In Ethiopia, its most common vector is a fly that feeds off ocular and nasal discharges. The lack of clean water for hygiene and large numbers of people living in close quarters only makes trachoma more difficult to tackle.

The Carter Center has launched trachoma control programs in several African countries, but Yousef says Ethiopia has been the biggest challenge. She traveled with the center’s health staff to the country’s northwestern state of Amhara, where the Atlanta-based nonprofit hopes to effectively control the illness by 2012.

Yousef’s five-part series is airing all this week on WABE’s morning newscast. For those of you who might have missed her reports, the station has posted the full series and a large amount of content, including video and photos, on its blogs site.

(Photo by Odette Yousef)

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Denis O’Hayer, a 33-year news veteran and one of the state’s best political reporters, is joining local NPR affiliate WABE 90.1 FM.

Starting on February 2, O’Hayer will locally host Public Radio International’s The World from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., NPR’s All Things Considered from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and American Public Media’s MarketPlace from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. These programs present a mix of local, national and international news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and features on business and economics.

During his 11-year tenure with WXIA-TV, O’Hayer regularly covered local affairs, politics and government – including the Georgia Legislature. He also served as a reporter and anchor for election coverage on 11Alive, My ATL TV and 11Alive.com.

“Denis brings with him a wealth of experience as one of Atlanta’s brightest and most competent reporters in the business,” said John Weatherford, Public Broadcasting Atlanta Senior Vice President and General Manager. “His career in television and radio will complement the station’s efforts to continue to deliver reliable news and information. Our entire news department is looking forward to working with Denis.”

…

“I am thrilled to work with WABE,” O’Hayer said. “The station has established itself as the city’s public radio station and provider of news. The station has a strong credibility all its own, and I’m looking forward to this new journey.”

If you don’t recognize his name, you can rest assured you’ve seen O’Hayer’s face before. He’s the scrappy guy with the gray beard.

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Starting in 2009, Atlanta will be home to StoryCorps‘ super-cool “StoryBooth” project — a radio initiative that highlights the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people.

Atlanta’s NPR affiliate, WABE 90.1, reports:

Atlanta will host StoryCorps’ second permanent StoryBooth in the United States beginning in 2009.  Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA) will initially house operations for the Atlanta StoryBooth project.  Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights will permanently house the Atlanta StoryBooth project upon the Center’s opening in 2011.

NPR stations, including WABE, regularly air StoryCorps during “Morning Edition.”

PBA Senior Vice President John Weatherford calls StoryCorps “the nation’s largest and most remarkable oral history project of our time.”

The project, which was founded in 2003, has archived over 24,000 personal interviews of nearly 50,000 participants.  Archives are preserved at the Library of Congress.

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Steve Goss, host of “Morning Edition” on WABE 90.1 FM (our local NPR affiliate), was kind enough to invite me on the show to talk about the Black Mafia Family.

BMF was a $270 million cocaine enterprise that had ties to some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Its co-leaders, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother, Terry “Southwest T,” were sentenced in September to 30 years in federal prison.

My BMF interview with Goss aired this morning, but you can still listen to it online.

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Just like changing Georgia’s Sunday liquor laws, every couple years a group of NPR-addicted folks bring up the idea of urging WABE, Atlanta’s public radio godsend, to drop its six-hour afternoon block of classical music and replace it with more news. Independent-bookstore owners and dentist offices shore up their resources and successfully quash the uprising. And Lois Reitzes, she of soothing voice and limitless classical music know how, continues to guide us through the day.

Local new-media maven SpaceyG wants to start another insurgency.

I can’t take it any more… 6 hours of classical music programming a day at WABE = 6 too many. Apparently I’m not the only one. So I started a Facebook Group called 6 Hours A Day = 6 Too Many! Please join the group if you’re on Facebook. And let’s let WABE know, by Fall Pledge Drive time too, that we’re very unhappy out here on the receiving end of the airwaves with being held hostage to 6 hours of tedious classical programming a day… especially when we could be hearing some news and talk and other more timely and progressive PUBLIC programming.

I’d be careful, Spacey. Don’t you know Reitzes is part of Atlanta’s Jewish Radio Mafia?

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WABE’s Odette Yousef reports the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s inventory is at an all-time low.

Food bank CEO Bill Bolling blames the flagging economy. Donations have dipped while demand has surged, he says.

Georgia’s unemployment rate hit a 15-year high of 6.2% in July.

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WABE-FM (90.1), Atlanta’s den of wicked liberal propaganda NPR affiliate and classical-music powerhouse, has posted its Beltline pieces — originally aired during “Morning Edition” — as podcasts here. While I haven’t had a chance to check out all the selections, the station consistently produces quality work, and this offering should be an interesting take on the project.

Now if they can only produce a series of lullabies narrated by Lois Reitzes, I’ll be happy for the rest of my life.

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