An interview with Charles Monroe-Kane

Behind the scenes at Wisconsin Public Broadcasting

An interview with radio and television's Charles Monroe-Kane

by Susannah Michaels, Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin Public Radio's Charles Monroe-Kane is the marketing director and a producer on the program To the Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK). Talk to him for even a few minutes, and you will hear how passionate he is about the program he works on. Since he's been marketing director, he has translated that passion into more than doubling the number of stations that carry the show, from 70 to 180. As a producer, he's led us to explore a wide range of topics. To name just a few: climate change, the Iraq War, fonts, literature, Islam and the history of time. Monroe-Kane is also the host of Director's Cut, which airs on Wisconsin Public Television. On that show, he interviews independent Wisconsin filmmakers. A new season started Wednesday, April 7, with a special episode that features Meg Hamel, the director of the Wisconsin Film Festival. Normally, the show airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Before coming to WPR, Monroe-Kane lived in Europe for nearly ten years. There, he ran a record label in Amsterdam, did anti-nuclear activism in Belgium, ran a circus and started an Internet café in Prague. In 2000 he moved to Chicago, where he interned at WXRT for the now national radio program Sound Opinions. His first paid job in radio was as co-host of LesBiGay Radio--a daily, drive-time, call-in show for the Chicago LGBT community. In 2002, Monroe-Kane joined Wisconsin Public Radio as a producer for To the Best of Our Knowledge. In 2005, he also became marketing director for the program.

Susannah Michaels: As listeners, we hear TTBOOK as a polished product with a theme, interviews, music and connecting narrative. In a nutshell, tell us about the process for making an hour of TTBOOK. What is your favorite part and what is your biggest challenge when making a show?

Charles Monroe-Kane : TTBOOK is a new blank tape every week. As producers, we are given pretty much complete control over what happens during the show. And, as producers, we take turns doing the hours. It's the genius of TTBOOK, in my opinion. We pick our own themes (by far, that's the hardest part). We choose the guests. We edit the interviews. We pick the music (my favorite part; it's like doing the soundtrack to a film). A three-interview show, a seven-interview show. Lots of music and outside elements, or no production at all. First-person narrative or political analysis. We let the content of that week's show be our guide. But it's not just producer freedom that makes TTBOOK work. Having the experience of Jim Fleming as host and the talents of Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson as interviewers combined with the expertise of Caryl Owen as technical director for the polish. I mean, TTBOOK is a radio producer's dream.

SM: You recently did a five-part series, "Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq," for TTBOOK. What did you learn from that project that you didn't know before doing it?

CMK: I learned, as Dave Isay would say, that "listening is an act of love." Deborah Scranton, director of the documentary The War Tapes, who is featured in the series, tells this story: After screening her film at Sundance, she had a number of Iraq soldiers present to answer questions. After a while a woman rose and emotionally asked what Americans could do for the troops--job programs for veterans, scholarship funds, better PTSD therapy .... A Marine interrupted her and said, "Listen. Just listen." I found his request to be reasonable and used it as a guide in the production of the series.

By the time I started producing this series, the U.S. date for military withdrawal was already set. Most Americans had their opinions on the war in Iraq and had pretty much moved on. And when we did hear the sparse news from the war, it was from the military analyst, the politico or the pundit. But what about the women and men who actually fought over there? What did they have to say? Just one example to illustrate the difference: Donovan Campbell, a former Marine lieutenant on the death of one of his men on April 6, 2004, said, "When you're an officer and lose someone, it's always your responsibility. It may not be your fault. But it's still your responsibility." Talking heads are rarely that wise. Or that honest.

SM: You've been hosting the program Director's Cut on Wisconsin Public Television for the past year and a half. How has that program changed in that period? And are there really enough Wisconsin filmmakers to keep it going?

CMK: When it first started, Director's Cut stood alone as a half-hour interview program, during which we showed clips of the movie we were discussing. It quickly became apparent that we had to show the movie in its entirety, so we added Director's Cut Presents, which airs immediately after Director's Cut.

But the main thing that has changed is that the host doesn't suck as much as he used to. Seriously, some days I enter the studio with a bunch of professionals--from my amazing producer to the director to the camera folks and sound people and props and all the people it takes to make a TV show--and think, "What the hell am I doing here?" This is my first time hosting a TV show and the staff at WPT are very patient with my naiveté and mistakes. I am getting some great advice and just try to make next week's show better than last week's show. Or at least I try to remember which camera to look at.

A lot of people ask me are there enough good Wisconsin films to fill a weekly TV program. To be honest, there are more than enough. I believe strongly that other public television networks and stations should follow our lead and have their own version of Director's Cut to highlight their own local independent filmmakers.

SM: You lived in Europe for nearly ten years. What brought you back to the United States?

CMK: I was living in Prague running an Internet café. We had a listening room where patrons could choose the audio content. One day I heard this amazing show from the United States called This American Life. It floored me. I was hooked. I wanted to not only listen but participate. I was looking for a change and that was that--public radio got in my crosshairs and here I am.

SM: You've been an entrepreneur, you've worked in the music business and in radio and TV, part of your job is marketing, you studied pottery and theology in college. But I sense that you aren't done innovating and trying things. What are you planning to add, or what would you like to add, to your life experience in the next ten years or so?

CMK: I would like to NOT give my children too many reasons to need a therapist when they grow up. Seriously, parenting is a challenge. Way harder than anything else I have ever done.

But professionally,I would like to help TTBOOK (and public radio) reach its full potential. Everyone is so afraid of the web. They see it as competition. No way! I mean, we're public radio. We rule the terrestrial plane. We need to rule the virtual one as well. We are trusted. That is our currency. I want to be an integral part of cashing that in.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in the April 2010 issue RadioWaves, WPR's monthly eNewsletter. Sign up here for RadioWaves, to stay informed about what's going on at WPR--both on the air and behind the scenes.