Ethan Goldstine
Website originator, KCRW.org
In the early 90s I worked at KCRW as a producer of Which Way, L.A.?. I was a longtime techie so I had been following the development of a new medium, the Internet. I started thinking KCRW should have a crazy thing called a website. The station's IT consultant and I assembled a presentation, went into Ruth's office and closed the door. As we started talking she stopped us. "Forget about it, I hate computers." We knew better than to argue so we got up and left.
Months later, Ruth called me back to the office. "Ethan. Get us a website," she said.
It was 1995 and there were three companies in Los Angeles making websites. We hired Tag Media, a small firm near the station. As we dove into the project we learned about a new technology called Real Audio that promised to stream live audio to a user's computer over what was then a "14.4k," "28.8k" or if you were really advanced, a "56.6k" modem.
We launched kcrw.org (now https://www.kcrw.com) in August, 1995 and soon after began streaming live. We were only the second NPR affiliate online! The audio sounded like a partially broken PA system in a Manhattan subway train. (You can see a snapshot of the KCRW site in late 1996 here: https://web.archive.org/web/19961219065859/http://kcrw.org/.)
Despite her initial reluctance, Ruth became enthusiastic about streaming audio. In the late 90s KCRW even had two Internet-only shows, Hollywood Wrap and The Treatment. Both found slots on-air. The Treatment is still on, almost 30 years later! The station then created an all music stream and another all news. Both are still active.
As KCRW's Internet audience grew, Ruth was excited by a concept we had discussed early on. The web allowed KCRW to escape the constraints of its transmitters and its FTC licenses. KCRW could reach an audience from around the country and the world. I remember the excitement in those early years when, during a pledge drive, a volunteer would hang up the phone and say they'd just gotten a pledge from New York or Tokyo.
For me and for many others, Ruth changed our lives. Her five words, "Ethan. Get us a website," launched me on my life's career. After producing KCRW's site I teamed up with a friend to form a company. We developed an online detective story, which led to jobs making websites for others. We're still at it. We have been creating websites for large non-profits since 1998.
I am not the only one to benefit from Ruth's career advice or, more accurately, career assignment. Ruth sensed talent and launched many in their professions, from the kid she convinced to run the board early in the morning for the Clarence Thomas hearings, now a senior KCRW staffer, to many DJs, KCRW's president Jennifer Ferro and Warren Olney, then a TV anchorman.
Everyone knew Ruth was an amazing leader and a brilliant radio programmer. But setting people off on careers and changing their lives was one of her secret superpowers. I am forever grateful.
