Officials at public radio powerhouse WBUR-FM are likely to get what they originally wanted -- an engaging issues-and-ideas program that can be broadcast in Rhode Island on WRNI-AM and in Massachusetts on WBUR -- when a reinvented version of One Union Station goes on the air in January. But it remains to be seen whether the new show will uphold the pledge of significant Rhode Island-oriented programming that WBUR used to attract millions of dollars in donations for WRNI (see "A question of promise," News, November 2).

The revised One Union Station, slated to debut in January as a two-hour evening program on WBUR and WRNI (1290 AM), will be quite different from its predecessor. Two of the show's three hosts, Jon Saltzman and Jill Kaufman, as well as producer Ellen Liberman, are among the nine WBUR/WRNI staffers whose jobs were eliminated last week by WBUR. Tom Ashbrook, who became a favorite within WBUR as the host of Special Coverage, will host the new OUS, and the show will originate -- to an unspecified degree -- from both WBUR in Boston and WRNI in Providence.

WBUR spokeswoman Mary Stohn says One Union Station will draw heavily on experts and other resources in Rhode Island, and she cites the purchase of a new satellite connection as an important step for improving WRNI's audio quality. Other impending changes include moving Deb Becker and Robert Ames, the respective morning and afternoon news anchors, from Boston to Providence; an expanded mid-day news report on WRNI, anchored by Pamela Watts; and the launch in March of a one-hour weekly program, Rhode Island Weekly Edition, to be hosted by Watts. As far as One Union Station, "I think you'll find that the show will be much better than it was," Stohn says.

Not everyone's so bullish, though, and some observers question whether Ashbrook's reportedly sizeable salary was a driving factor in determining who got axed at WBUR and WRNI. Stohn wouldn't specify Ashbrook's salary or comment on the process used to determine which employees would be laid off -- a move blamed on a 35 percent decline in corporate underwriting revenues.

For his part, Saltzman, who is looking for another print job after coming to WRNI last year from the Providence Journal, says, "Obviously, I'm very disappointed." Based on the feedback from a range of listeners, "I think we were doing a really good show that was still in its formative stage."

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: November 23 - 29, 2001