Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio 
Fall 2001

       If you’re seeking a fun and relatively inexpensive local program idea, why not consider doing something with your area’s authors? Last November, KSJE-FM in Farmington, New Mexico, developed Write On Four Corners, which we call “a program of puns, pens and poems; stories, essays, novels, and notes; critique and comment by our best regional writers.”
        The idea for the show emerged at a meeting of our Northwest New Mexico Arts Council (NWNMAC) when several members, who happened to be published authors, lamented that writing good prose and getting it into print were often two very different issues. It seemed to be the old round robin: you couldn’t get a publisher or agent’s attention without previous publication, and of course without that attention, publication was impossible. Could the NWNMAC possibly help? 
        With one accord the group looked at me. On my daily program, Roving with the Arts, I supported local music, visual arts, and theater projects, they reasoned, so why not wordsmiths? I responded as most of us in public radio usually do: “Great idea, where do we get the money?”
        One of our unpublished authors on the board said she’d be happy to read for the resume credit and a copy of the program. Maybe other writers would feel the same way. 
I agreed to look into it. When I did, my general manager liked the idea, but since Farmington is a conservative town, he feared some topics writers could explore might not be appropriate to the KSJE audience. Our station attracts families and older listeners. Our stiffest competitor is the local religious station.
        We decided to include a clear explanation in our call to authors that submissions must be G-rated. But I had another problem as well. Not every unpublished author is a genius refused access to print by economics or politics. Plenty of wretched manuscripts would come across my desk, and I needed to keep them off the air. How would I define what to accept and what to politely reject?
        Members of the Arts Council provided the answer again: an editorial board. I approached an award-winning children’s author and an owner of our local bookstore, coffee bar, performance space, and art gallery who publishes non-fiction. They agreed to form the board with me. My general manager said he would read all manuscripts we proposed to accept for continuity. Together, we started developing the program.
        The first board meeting produced its name and a submission policy: “Subjects must be suitable for the entire family. We cannot air pieces containing hate, explicit sex, heavy violence, or profanity, nor can we accept writing that discusses extremely controversial issues such as abortion, religious doctrine, or political ideology.” We also decided to consider a wide range of genres: “Fiction, nonfiction, thoughts on the writing process, intercultural writing, poetry, storytelling, essays, reviews, and children’s books will be welcome for submission.” 
        The program would air Wednesdays at 10:30 as part of Roving with the Arts, would last 7 to 10 minutes, and would consist of an author reading from his or her manuscript followed by a short interview with me about the excerpt.
         I wrote the first call for authors and sent it out and, as the folk singers and sports announcers put it, “that’s all she wrote!” People were indeed willing to read for free, either live-on-tape or over the phone. Quickly we got enough interest and submissions to ensure that Write On Four Corners will reach at least its first birthday. Though most authors have submitted fiction or poetry, we’ve had non-fiction as well and have included programs about writing, such as storytelling, book discussion, and illustration.
        Authors whose work doesn’t fit our guidelines have supported Write On by passing submission calls to friends. Writers using the occasional “dirty word” have cheerfully cleaned up the language and used tone of voice to convey the general idea of cussing with a milder expletive. 
       Minor problems have occurred. Coming up with a tactful rejection letter took some thought. We finally settled on: 
 

        Occasionally the editorial board has disagreed on what to accept, and this summer submissions have been slow as everyone dashes off to the mountains and mesas for hikes and cookouts. 
        We also found out that ten minutes often was not long enough to accommodate all of an author’s thoughts. We let the program expand up to a half-hour when warranted. Otherwise, I fill the gap with classical music and other arts announcements. But all in all, Write On Four Corners has been a delight to produce. Audiences have responded warmly to it, and we’ll keep airing it as long as writers want to.