Questions and Optimism for WNYC's Greene Space

The news ticker on the Varick Street facade of WNYC's Greene Space.

The opening programs at the WNYC Greene Space today showed off some of the thrilling, new things that New York City’s public radio station can do; it also showed the challenges and complexities of running a public event and broadcasting space.

With the Greene Space, WNYC now has a television studio; others might call it a radio studio that can be filmed. The space is a hybrid; WNYC is using the term “multi-platform.” There’s a glassed-in studio booth in the corner of the room, with an “On Air” sign above it, and enough dowdy-looking microphones to convey “radio.” But there are also high-definition robotic cameras silently moving around, and lots of screens, and these say “television.” This morning the cameras worked beautifully during the performances by jazz pianist Geri Allen and the youth choir the Inspirational Ensemble, generating first-rate live footage on the screens in the room. Tonight we watched WNYC’s first live Green Space video webcast from home, and it also looked fine, though we had to restart the stream occasionally. The bottom line: Anything that takes place in this room could wind up on the web or radio or television and it won't cost a huge amount to do it.

So what does the space at the corner of Charlton and Varick streets look like? The WNYC folks couldn’t stop remarking that it had previously housed a take-out soup shop. They’re a pretty sentimental bunch. The soup is gone (down the street, to be exact), and the new design and configuration leaves no sign of it. But we’re not sure WNYC has asserted its own identity enough. Outside there’s a ticker, which sounds audacious, but isn't; there are also words etched on the glass, but they’re barely noticeable. Inside, the space is big enough to seat 125 people -- about the size of a larger Starbucks in the city. The most memorable interior architecture is the curved wood paneling that forms the backdrop to the stage. It reminds us of Ikea furniture. And the most memorable aspects of décor are the lighting, those robotic cameras, and a shiny grand piano. Clearly the goal here was to make the space flexible so it can suit a number of purposes. The stage moves, as do the chairs (metal and black leather, quite comfortable). Screens can cover the windows.

What about those two walls of windows, connecting the space with the outside world? Will the sidewalk become a gathering spot for large groups of gawkers? Or will it provide that lovely, unplanned New York parade of pedestrians, some oblivious, some turning their heads, and only a few stopping to put their nose to the glass? Everyone wants to compare it to the ABC, NBC, and CBS morning show studios but everything downtown is on a different scale, and in any case, it's a different animal. Leonard Lopate acknowledged as much. “I was hoping I’d be doing an Al Roker thing,” Mr. Lopate said at the top of the program today, referring to the “Today Show”’s go-to crowd worker. “But there’s one guy locking up his bicycle out there, with his back to us, paying no attention to what is one of the most important events in downtown cultural life.” Oh well. Perhaps they'll stop in large numbers when Lou Reed performs tomorrow afternoon.

The Greene Space was funded with $6 million from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation and also with support from New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, which contributed more than $10 milion to WNYC's move into its new offices (in the same building as the Greene Space), including an appropriation of more than $3 million from the City Council. "This was money well spent," the chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee, Council Member Dominic Recchia, said this morning. The Green Space’s Executive Producer, Indira Etwaroo, came on staff two-and-a-half years ago, and has launched the space with a downtown, even Brooklyn feel (she previously worked at BAM). It's a little all over the map, but we like that. And it's already a hot ticket: Many of the opening events are sold out or close to it, even with $50 ticket prices.

How this hybrid space will be experiencd by listeners, viewers, and audience members may come down to how the talents at WNYC approach the task of broadcasting in it. Will they work as they do in their studios upstairs, or will they get their Oprah on? Will the presence of an audience transform the substance of these shows? Will the hybrid format draw new (younger and diverse) audiences? Only time will tell. We're sure they've been exploring these questions for a while and we look forward to the kinds of answers they come up with. We like the limited broadcast schedule for the space: just four shows a month (one each of the Brian Lehrer Show, the Leonard Lopate Show, Soundcheck, and Evening Music). It keeps the magic of radio in tact; how rare and lovely it is in this day and age to be able to just listen?

WNYC hopes the Greene Space will add up to more than the sum of its parts. “It will be a cultural anchor of lower Manhattan,” the chairwoman of WNYC, Nicki Tanner, said this morning. Operating a public venue can benefit the community by increasing foot traffic for dining and shopping, and making the Hudson Square neighborhood more attractive to residential and commercial tenants. It can also benefit WNYC in many ways including branding it as a cultural institution in New York City on par with the New York Public Library, Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “It’s about putting roots down in this city,” the president of WNYC, Laura Walker, said. “The Greene Space is the physical presence that every great civic institution requires,” Ms. Tanner said. It sounds a little quaint, but it works for us.

The Greene Space is an experiment worth embracing. We hope the expense of the endeavor doesn’t divert resources from WNYC’s core civic contribution: making and transmitting news, music, conversation, and upholding the art of storytelling. There are so many struggling arts presenters already. At the same time, we’re willing to be optimistic: The venue could become a steady source of income (we hear HBO will be renting the space to film a trailer). And there’s a lot of potential. Think of the credibility, the programming expertise, the existing audiences, and web and radio broadcasting capacities that make it possible to reach millions more: these could work together to very quickly establish the Greene Space as an important cultural venue, a boon to artists and to civic life.

“May the Greene Space be a place where curious minds become more curious, where hearts become more tolerant, and where spirits become more joyful,” said Rev. James H. Cooper, the rector of Trinity Church, which is WNYC’s landlord, at this morning’s ceremony. It certainly helps to have the landlord on your side.

A more direct convocation came from writer Sonia Sanchez at tonight’s concert, in a poem she wrote for the occasion: “On this day here at WNYC we hear a prayer on your tongue saying step step inside, I say step inside, step step step inside.”