Too bad about the Laundry declaring bankruptcy, not just because it’s a terrific restaurant and a marquee name in the high stakes restaurant business on the East End (the original Laundry restaurant was started thirty years ago by a bunch of show business people who included Carly Simon and James Taylor), but because the Laundry is another scary example of the hard times even the best restaurants are having in the Hamptons. Mezza Luna in Amagansett, that cost a zillion dollars to renovate, closed for good in the fall and now a Spanish restaurant has moved into the space. Business is down everywhere, and most restaurants are running low-priced specials to lure in the customers. Turkey Tuesday at Shippy’s in Southampton, $14.95 all night, with all the trimmings…
They say that Madonna is evicting all of the horses that are boarded on her new ranch, formerly Kelly Klein’s Wild Ocean stables in Bridgehampton…
Even on the inside I’m on the outside with what’s happening at 88.3. Clearly things haven’t gone as smoothly as planned. The programming has changed–Bonnie Grice’s show “In the Morning” is on hiatus, at least, and several of the key employees have left. They’re trying to get lean and mean to survive. The search goes on to raise money and make the payments towards the purchase of the station from Long Island Univeristy.
If the ultimate goal of everyone involved is to assure this valuable asset flourishes in the East End (and Long Island at large–for it’s the only NPR outlet on all of Long Island) survive, then surely the best way must be to present a clear and candid explanation of what’s going on to the public.
Dr. Wally Smith, the station’s stalwart General Manager, and a bona fide legend in the public radio industry, shoulders on practically single-handedly to raise money and form a board of local folks, with the support of a handful of acolytes.
It’s curious the way the struggle of 88.3 to survive is being covered, or not covered, in the press on the East End. The Independent has mentioned the sale of the radio station in passing, if at all, as far as I know, even though Jerry Della Femina was contacted for his advice about the sale several months ago. Nor does the East Hampton Star seem to be following the drama of whether the station will stand or fall. Perhaps that’s because Joe Loucheim, the publisher of the Southampton and East Hampton Press, is on the board of the new 88.3, and he’s been a crucial advocate for the station since it was annnounced Long Island University was unloading it. It would be a shame for any newspaper in the community not to bring the attention to the public–and the high rollers–about the continuing plight at the station.
What’s the responsiblity of the local press to the public? To publish news that’s important to the community, good news or not.
I would love to see a newspaper out here that would publish the real stories of the Hamptons, but then it would never get any advertising. As it is, the local press is partisan and biased, and it seems to me that a lot of important stories don’t get reported in full, or reported at all, to satisfy personal agendas.
Certainly it is everybody’s agenda that we have a National Public Radio outlet on Long Island and that 88.3 survives and continues to serve the community.