Denis Roche describes himself as a beach bum.

“What makes me happy is warmth, salt water [and] sand,” Roche said.

This was one of the reasons for Roche’s resignation as general manager for WEIU, which went into effect Sunday.

Roche, who had been the general manager for nearly six years, had planned on resigning by Dec. 31. He was asked to stay on to help with the conversion of WEIU-TV from digital to high-definition, as well as the transfer of WEIU from the supervision of External Relations, under now-retired Jill Nilsen, to Blair Lord, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

When it rains, it pours

With the departure of Nilsen, President Bill Perry decided to change the name of the Office of External Affairs to the Office of University Advancement. Lord said this was because Perry wanted to have the vice president’s primary focus to be advancement.

“In looking at the portfolio for that vice president, he felt that he could reassign a couple of the units so the vice president could focus on fundraising and advancement duties,” Lord said. “So, WEIU and the Office of Planning and Institutional Research were reassigned to other vice presidents. WEIU to me because it has a significant student education component.”

Lord asked Roche to postpone his resignation so he could familiarize himself with WEIU while having an experienced person there to aid the transition.

“I smilingly remind people that I don’t know a whole lot about supervising broadcast operations,” Lord said. “In fact, I know nothing, in the sense that I have no prior experience with that. So I was a bit of a novice with the broadcast unit.”

The official transfer of WEIU from External Relations to Academic Affairs took place on Dec. 1, the same time Roche announced his resignation as general manager.

“In about the same moment I was told I would have WEIU, I was told by Denis Roche he intended to [resign] shortly,” Lord said. “That’s not a good combination to have no experience supervising the unit and having the supervisor for that unit that has the experience tell you that he’s not going to stay there very long.”

Working out the kinks

Lord understood Roche’s desire to resign and move to a warmer climate. The two men talked at length about the situation, and decided that, since the general manager position would not require Roche to be in the office on a daily basis, he could move to his Bonita Springs, Fla., property while aiding Lord in the transfer.

Roche’s background as an engineer was part of the reason Lord wanted him to stay on as general manager for the WEIU-TV conversion to high-definition.

“I thought it was a wise and prudent thing for me to do, to continue to have him engaged with that, even if that meant I had to set up an arrangement so he could interact with people and do his work from another location,” Lord said.

Roche has been in contact with the WEIU staff through phone calls, e-mail and video and phone conferences.

Lord said Roche is not the only Eastern employee to work from another location.

“We have two admissions counselors that work from Chicago, and we have a development officer who lives and works outside of Chicago,” Lord said. “So this is not a unique arrangement.”

Duties of a general manager

Roche had been at Eastern for nearly six years, serving as general manager for five.

As general manager, Roche was mostly involved in keeping the vision of the station relevant and bringing in more funding.

“WEIU is a successful enterprise inside of the university,” Roche said. “We have different streams for generating revenue, and so I keep my eye on all of those streams.”

Roche said most of the work he did as general manager was outside of WEIU; keeping in contact with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is responsible for one-third of WEIU’s funding, and the Illinois Arts Council. WEIU used to receive $225,000 in funding from the Illinois Arts Council. That money is no longer coming in.

“So, it’s up to me to help bridge that gap and figure out a way to keep everyone employed,” Roche said. “We are at the exact number of people we need to keep this place running properly.”

Roche said the general manager needs to be dialed in to all of the external areas that affect the station.

“I would say 60 percent of what I do, most people in the university don’t know about,” Roche said. “I’m constantly on the phone with people from all other parts of the country. This job requires, during the school year, travel for about three or four days a month, maybe a little more. So, it’s a lot involved.”

Roche said he does not believe a general manager should micro-manage the station, and he lets the other managers deal with smaller issues so he can focus on the external situations that arise.

“I always believe that, if you have a good system, and you try to plug the people in the jobs in the system where they fit best, then the system will run itself,” Roche said. “We’ve got across the board people who love their jobs, love working with students. We have a good crew. So, can this run without somebody being here for an extended period of time, say six months or a year? No, because there are just too many decisions that have to be made.”

Although he currently resides in Florida, Roche has been able to perform his job to the same degree as he did living locally. Since his departure, Roche has taken two trips to Eastern to attend meetings and make sure the transfer was running smoothly.

“This is a dean-level position, so like every other department head, there are university meetings that have to be attended,” Roche said. “But there aren’t as many for the general manager of this station because we are not involved in the day-to-day academics-we are an enhancement of the day-to-day academics.”

The search for a new general manager

Lord began planning for a search committee to find a replacement for Roche as soon as he was notified of Roche’s resignation, but was not able to put it into affect until the spring semester began.

“I appointed the search committee as soon as I possibly could after the semester started,” Lord said. “I had to wait for students to appear so I could have a student on the committee.” James Tidwell, chair of the journalism department, is leading the committee.

The position was posted on numerous Web sites, and the committee has been receiving applications. The recruitment plan has a start date of May 1, Lord said.

Roche said the new general manager would need to build up membership so the station can receive more funding.

“I’m not that comfortable on the air, but that’s a personality trait we now need,” Roche said. “We need visibility. We also need more of a song-and-dance guy. We need somebody who’s more of a cheerleader, who’s got that marketing background who understands that.”

Lord said he is optimistic that Eastern will receive many good candidates and find a good general manager.

Roche’s departing thoughts

“Essentially, I’ve been running this place for over five and a half years,” Roche said. “But I’m a beach guy, a beach bum. Money is not a main driver for me.”

Roche took a 40 percent pay cut to come to Eastern because he said he believed he could build up the station from a mediocre public station to what it is now, a nationally renowned, Emmy-winning station.

“When I came in here, we were doing a lot of things across the board very mediocre to poor,” Roche said. “And now we’ve kind of funneled that down to student programs of news, sports and radio, and that’s what we’re best at.”

Roche started out as an engineer. He became interim general manager a year later, and then was asked to apply for the general manager position. He originally planned on staying at Eastern for only five years.

“So, things having been straightened out so this place runs like a clock without me having to micro-manage anybody, it is an ideal time for me to gracefully step away,” Roche said. “I love the people here, I love my job; I just don’t love the weather.”

Sarah Jean Bresnahan can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].