Published by

Get to Know WNYC's Goli Sheikholeslami

Goli Sheikholeslami, president and CEO of New York Public Radio, hadn't been in her new job as head of NYPR for too long when the pandemic hit. She joins to talk about her background and how COVID-19 has affected her job and WNYC.

[music]

Brian: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again everyone. With me now for a few minutes, the President of New York Public Radio Goli Sheikholeslami, who arrived in October of 2019, what we now call back in normal times, and was just settling in with some creative long term planning for the station, which she was talking to us all about, when all of a sudden, just like four months into her time here came the pandemic, and everything changed.

It was exactly one year ago this week that Goli's job got consumed with arranging for most of us to start working from home and to somehow keep WNYC on the air, doing journalism in an unprecedented year, and sounding pretty much like itself. Let's debrief just a little bit and in a way help you get to know our still new station president. Hi, Goli. Thanks for coming on the air with us.

Goli: Hi, Brian. It's wonderful to be with you.

Brian: First, can you tell our listeners a little of your personal story like what you did before coming to WNYC and what drew you to work in news organizations?

Goli: Sure, I'd love to do that. Immediately before coming to WNYC, I was the President of Chicago Public Media. I had a job very similar to the one I have today, running the public radio station in Chicago. What drew me to working in news organizations is very much tied to my personal story. I tell people that I immigrated to the United States when I was 10 years old after the Iranian Revolution. My family is Iranian, and after the revolution, we left Iran to come to the United States. America welcomed my family with open arms and gave us asylum, and allowed us to really rebuild our lives.

I would say that my life experience has always made me mindful of the privilege of living in a democracy, and mindful of the institutions that support a healthy democracy. I always think first among them is really access to a free press, and accurate, objective, truthful information. I think when I walked into the newsroom, I went to the Washington Post in 2002 to start working there.

When I walked into the newsroom at the Post, I just knew that I had landed where I belonged, that I had the privilege and I have had the privilege for the last 20 years to go to work every day and know that we are doing something good, something that really is essential to a healthy civic society. Really, it has always seemed like the greatest privilege to be able to have a job that allows me to do that.

Brian: That was great. Take us back to last March. What did you think your main projects were at the time, and how did the implications of the pandemic for the station gradually or suddenly become clear?

Goli: When I got here in October of 2019, and I think in those first few months before the pandemic hit, I don't think I was thinking in terms of projects, I think that I've always felt that public radio has this essential function to play in our communities. I've always thought of it as how do I help the organization extend and expand our service to the community, and what can we do that others may not be able to do? I think that when the pandemic hit, I would say, it didn't so much change things that as it really sharpened our focus and my focus and it brought us an urgency to the work.

For me, the past year has been perfect demonstration of the importance of local news. One of the things that again, I took away from my experience working at the Washington Post is that the turmoil that we have seen in news organizations, just as a result of the internet and how it has upended the economic model that has supported journalism, and it has had a much larger impact on local newsrooms.

I think that when you think back to March, and how we really as a newsroom, and as an entire organization started thinking about how do we really get this necessary information to our community, and what are those essential questions? Are schools open? Are schools closed? Is it safe to travel? Those really core local matters as much as the pandemic was a global event, the impact is very, very local.

Making sure that we were focused on giving access to that information, and also bringing people together so that they had an opportunity to connect once we were all stuck in our homes. Those really became the main focuses for me, and for everyone else, I would say in our organization.

Brian: From a management standpoint, and if you're just joining us, folks, my guest is the President of New York Public Radio, Goli Sheikholeslami, from a management standpoint, what are the biggest challenges or lessons of the pandemic, then for you? Can you give our listeners a little behind the scenes glimpse?

Goli: I would love to. I think that the biggest challenge initially were really the technical and operational challenges. I think that if you had asked me or our chief technology officer here before the pandemic hit, would it be possible to run a 24/7 broadcast service remotely? I think that the answer would have been maybe, but not a really good idea. Let's not try that. We had to figure out how we run WNYC as a 24/7 broadcast service, we run WQXR as a 24/7 classical music service. We had to figure out how to do all that work remotely.

Our engineering team really was heroic, and I know you've spoken about them many times on your show, but they built 18 studios in people's homes for our hosts. They figured out how to technically make all of our remote work possible, and that I would say, was really the biggest challenge initially. As you said, in the intro, I think the thing that we are all most proud of is that for our listeners, it really was seamless, that many people when I would say to them, "96% of our staff is now working from home. We have a very small core team of folks that still have to come in every day to do this work, but other than that everybody is at home." It was unbelievable to them that we could really make all of this happen without being physically at the station.

Brian: I'll take this opportunity to just second that motion and say that I try to make sure to give public thanks on the air from time to time to the engineers and others who've had to continue going into the studios, like our daily board operators for this show who depending on the day might be Juliana Fonda like today, Matt Morando, Liora Noam-Kravitz, Milton Ruiz. I hope the listeners know those names by now. From the credits for the dedication that they've shown going in. Listeners can forget sometimes how different it is day-to-day for the in-studio workers. I can broadcast from my apartment, for example, from the table just outside my kitchen.

The experience for you the listeners is pretty much the same as it always is. Radio is magic that way, but that's not true for engineers who are essential workers in person in a transformed world. Six stars on a scale of one to five, four cheers not three, for Liora and Milton and Juliana and Matt and everyone else a few more steps removed from the show, and Wayne Shulmister who came up here on two different occasions to install the home studio and everybody and everybody.

All right, Goli before you go, how about a little lightning round as listeners are still getting to know you. In normal times, when you turn off the radio, what do you do for fun?

Goli: In normal times, I would most probably spend time with friends and family usually at a restaurant or a cafe, I would say.

Brian: Do you have a best thing and worst thing about the days you work from home?

Goli: I have to say, the best thing about working at home is, I have neighbors with a four-year-old and a two-year-old that I adore. I love hearing them running up and down the hallways and I get to open the door. We have an impromptu five-minute little break from the day and a playdate in the hallway. That, to me, I love hearing their little voices outside my door.

Brian: That's even better than my next-door neighbor, Ruddy the dog, who's made the occasional appearance on the show. When you watch television, are you more drawn, during the pandemic, to let's get serious shows, or more let's get away from it shows?

Goli: I'm definitely in the let's get away from it camp.

Brian: Like, British baking show? Antiques Roadshow?

Goli: Should I really admit to you what I have done in-- I've watched-

Brian: That's up to you.

Goli: -12 seasons of Grey's Anatomy.

[laughter]

Brian: Good choice. Can you name one thing you're really looking forward to doing again, once the pandemic lifts?

Goli: I'm looking forward to sitting in a crowded, noisy bar, with a good friend and drinking a Manhattan. [chuckles]

Brian: Yes, drinking a Manhattan in Manhattan. Finally, do you have a favorite WNYC thank you gift? You are not obligated to say, "It's a Brian Lehrer Show mug."

Goli: Well, I love my Brian Lehrer Show mug. I would say I also love my WNYC socks and my WQXR umbrella, which is always with me.

Brian: Loving all her children, equally.

Goli: [chuckles]

Brian: Goli Sheikholeslami, the President of New York Public Radio. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for coming on for a few minutes of letting listeners get to know you a little better, and talking about managing us through the pandemic. Thanks, Goli.

Goli: Thank you for having me.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.