Local NPR station moving from its beloved home

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The Captain Davis house on Water Street in Woods Hole. GBH is selling the building that has housed CAI radio for 25 years.

For more than 25 years, Islanders have listened to awardwinning public radio shows like “The Moth,” the Friday morning news roundup, and “The Point,” which all have been produced from the historic Captain Davis house in Woods Hole, just a short uphill climb from the Steamship Authority terminal. 

The landmark building, which has served as the studio and newsroom for the Cape and Islands local NPR station since its founding, is being sold.

Officials with GBH, the Boston-based public media powerhouse which owns CAI radio, reassured listeners that the local journalism they have supported for the past quarter of a century will not change, but they noted that the local station is running at a deficit.

“CAI has been operating with a budget deficit, making the current location unsustainable,” Susan Goldberg, GBH’s president and CEO, is quoted in the statement. “The proceeds from the sale will support our journalism.” 

The statement also noted that GBH would be looking for a new location for CAI.

The details of a purchase and sales agreement for the Water Street location have not been disclosed by the parent company, GBH, a nonprofit organization that is home to many of the nation’s leading public media programs including “Masterpiece Theater,” “Frontline,” “American Experience,” and many others. News of the sale has come as a deep disappointment to many in the community. 

Jay Allison, a pioneering public radio producer who created “The Moth,” and who is the founder of the station, said that he was caught off-guard by the decision, and he’s not only sad, but disappointed in how GBH went about making the decision.

“It’s a spreadsheet decision,” Allison said. “And I think it’ll end up being a spreadsheet mistake. But I hope not.”

The station’s founder said that GBH did not reach out to the station first before making the decision, noting that they could have tried an alternative by working with the community and creating a more collegial approach. 

He said that the Davis House is more than just a piece of property; it’s a building that is connected to the community — surrounded by other institutions and educational nonprofits like the Woods Hole Library, historic society, and science institutions — and it provides easy access for Islanders who want to drop in, right next to the Steamship terminal. 

There are also intangibles that make the building special, like its connection to history — the building dates back to the 1800s, and was the home of a sea captain.

“It is at the hub of movement here,” Allison said. “It has beauty and soul; those kind of ineffable things in the long run end up being heard on the air.”

Aside from the local CAI station, Allison produced nationally broadcast programming at the Davis house, including “The Moth” and “This I Believe,” and he helped to start the Public Radio Exchange (PRX).

Still, he understands the difficult position that GBH is in, given the landscape of local media, with newspapers closing regularly and NPR stations across the country struggling. As reported in the Boston Globe in June, GBH laid off 4 percent of its staff amid a budget shortfall.

“All media are having a tough time these days, and it is critical that we survive, because without it we are sunk,” Allison said. “GBH, for 25 years, has been a strong supporter of us.”

With GBH’s decision to sell the building, there is a question of where the station headquarters will be relocated. 

“We’re looking for a new home nearby, and will provide uninterrupted service during the move,” the statement read. “We’re selling the 19th century captain’s house in Falmouth that has served as home for Cape and Islands Radio for 25 years so that we can relocate to a purpose-built studio in the community, and invest even further in local coverage.”

Mindy Todd, station manager, chose not to comment.

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Full comment from GBH:

“We’re selling the 19th century captain’s house in Falmouth that has served as home for the Cape and Islands Radio for 25 years so that we can relocate to a purpose-built studio in the community and invest even further in local coverage. CAI has been operating with a budget deficit, making the current location unsustainable. The proceeds from the sale will support our journalism. We’re looking for a new home nearby and will provide uninterrupted service during the move. We’re grateful for our loyal listeners, members and donors, and all that makes Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket special. At a time when many local news organizations are shutting down or reducing their reporting, we are acting to ensure that the Cape and islands have a trusted public media outlet serving your needs well into the future.”

– Susan Goldberg, GBH’s president and CEO

14 COMMENTS

  1. Waiting for details: Perhaps a better headline would have been: “Woods Hole and the listeners of WCAI stabbed in the back by under-the-table sale of irreplaceable assets”?

  2. They said they will be providing uninterrupted service, and will have a new, hopefully, better and more permanent home. That sounds positive. 😁

  3. There’s the right way to do this, and the wrong way. ‘GBH choose the wrong way, which is stunningly tone deaf, both because it’s a pubcaster whose years of experience would suggest they knew it was a dumb move, and because the founder is one of the cosmic class acts in public radio.
    Unnecessary and foolish, ‘GBH should take several steps back and act like public radio adults.

    • Trump will expand public broadcasting.
      He will make it a a cabinet level agency.
      Bannon will run it.
      We will finally get the truth . . .

  4. Tom, I’m heartbroken 💔 that so many people support Trump politics. Trump destroyed the livelihood of so many farmers. Practically destroyed our steel industry. Created a relationship between our adversaries of China and Brazil…it’s an endless list of destruction.
    Help us all if Republicans prevail in this election.

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