Who says a simple high school diploma can't take you places? Just take the case of R.C. Bauer.
Clear Channel Cleveland has just announced that the 10-year director of radio-news programming is leaving
WTAM-AM 1100 to step into the newly minted position of "Director of Information and Programming Services" for Clear Channel's
WFLA-AM 970 in Tampa. As Vice President of Programming Gabe Hobbs puts it, the 44-year-old Bauer will be responsible for the station's news, information, traffic, and weather content. Or, as a blogger on
Ohio Media Watch jokes, he'll be a "news director on steroids."
But let's analyze this: The Cincinnati-born Bauer graduated in 1979 from the city's School for Creative and Performing Arts. This is not just any high school; it's where aspiring stars like Nick Lachey learned to sing, act, and dance. In Bauer's case, it's beside the point that he didn't study journalism -- which, you'd think, would have formally trained him to be a news director. But from this hallowed hall of learning, Bauer managed to talk his way into newsroom jobs from Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Detroit to his decade-long stint at WTAM.
But Clear Channel Programming Director Kevin Metheny -- who is known by Howard Stern in
Private Parts as "Pig Vomit" -- backs up Bauer's credentials. "He is a close friend and the finest broadcast news director I have ever known. And I have known more than a few," Metheny wrote in an e-memo he sent to Clear Channel staffers last week. "R.C. Bauer is the perfect leader and strategist for the task at hand in Tampa."
Good thing too. We understand that the University of Tampa does offer journalism classes.
-- Cris Glaser
