One of my favorite people in community radio announced her retirement from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters at last week’s NFCB conference. Ginny Z. Berson is, until her departure, Vice President of the organization.
“I started working at NFCB after sixteen years at Pacifica [radio],” Berson explained to the stunned audience. “Most of them at KPFA. And when I left KPFA I was exhausted and burned out, and when I started looking for another job, I was attracted to NFCB because I was so completely not interested in NFCB.”
Lots of laughter followed this remark. “I wanted a job that would be a job,” she claimed. “Not a commitment, not a relationship. Not anything I would want or need to think about outside of nine-to-five.”
Yeah . . . right. It didn’t work out that way, Berson, a founder of the Furies Collective and Olivia Records quickly admitted. “I wanted something to do that I would not care about, and I failed miserably.”
She did succeed, however, in organizing 14 wonderful NFCB conferences, and helping to educate a generation of community radio builders—that wisdom culminating in the federation’s “5×5 model” for community radio stations.
Congratulations on your work Ginny. I am certain that you will continue to fail at not caring, and succeed at many more wonderful things.
