[Gig] Rick Klein:  ‘Never Boring’

Courtesy MPB

Executive Producer Rick Klein in the Mississippi Public Broadcasting control room.

by Thomas M. Forrest
August 20, 2008

In January 1982, Rick Klein and his wife moved to Jackson, where the Louisville, Ky., native began working as a producer/director at Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Now an executive producer at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Klein has worked on several television shows for the station, including “Simply Science” and “Mississippi Outdoors.” His newest concept, a Web-based show called “Don’t Lecture Me,” is a peek into the lives of people passing through or living in Mississippi—from Jackson artist Josh Hailey to the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary to author Kevin Sessums—and viewers can watch it all on the Web.

Sitting in the MPB control room, Klein, 60, told the Jackson Free Press about the new show, authors he has enjoyed on “The Conversation Show” and his favorite Sesame Street character.

Klein’s Top 3 Sesame Street Characters

Grover
Big Bird
Ernie over Burt

How did you get into public broadcasting?
I got into public broadcasting in 1978 at Kentucky Educational Television. After a five-year stint with a commercial station, I decided I wanted to do something different from commercial television, which was a real grind. Then I went to the educational network. They said that they were interested in quality over quantity. In commercial stations, there is a lot of quantity. I was very pleased with that mentality, that they were interested in producing quality programming, and I found a home.

What was the inspiration for “Don’t Lecture Me”?
They say, “For every door that closes, a window opens.” One of our programs that we were doing here, “The Conversation Show,” had been put on hiatus. This particular program was a great conduit and a great medium to highlight authors who came through Jackson. … When “The Conversation Show” went away, they said, “Let’s do something with the new media,” and I said: “Well, I have an idea. I would love to do something similar to ‘The Conversation Show’ but totally opposite: quick, immediate, low production value, quick turn around and highly accessible to our viewing public.”

Another advantage to doing a program with the new media is that it is available 24 hours a day. People do not have to wait until Friday at 8:30 to watch … Rachel Ford interviewing Joseph O’Connor at Lemuria bookstore. You can watch that anytime you want, so that is a true advantage of how to use the new media. One door closed, another window opened, and I jumped at the chance to do this. I will go on to say that it is a little bit opposite of what I came to public broadcasting for. I love doing long-term, long-format programming where we have a chance to develop everything, but this is what we call quick, down and dirty. The concept is one camera, one light and two microphones.

Have you enjoyed the quirkiness of the authors (on “The Conversation Show”)?
Yes, because when you talk to somebody who has created a work, it is almost intimidating to talk to them about it. I find it to be a skill that, unless you are an author or a grammarian, how can you talk to another author about their work. They amaze me how they are able to string words together. I find them fascinating, and I try not to talk to them if I have not read their book or at least enough to know what to talk about. One of the most fun authors to talk to was John Grisham. I told John Grisham something that kind of shocked him. I told John Grisham that I would not want his job. I do not think that I could handle the freedom of an author. The fact that the author is so self-disciplined and so skilled at writing that they could, on their own, write; it is amazing that these authors can do this.

What is the best part of your job at MPB?
The thing I like about my job is the breadth. There are so many things that we do here that it is never boring. You have the opportunity to one day be with an author, the next day with a politician, the next day fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, talking to foreign ambassadors, working with talented musicians. The variety that we have here is what I really like best.