PBS North Carolina CEO David Crabtree joined High Point University President Nido Qubein in the Power List interview, a partnership for discussion with some of the state’s most influential leaders. Business North Carolina’s annual Power List publication spotlights the state’s powerbrokers.
David Crabtree was among North Carolina’s best-known journalists when he was appointed to lead PBS NC in April 2022. The Goodlettsville, Tennessee, native decided at age 14 he wanted a broadcasting career. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Middle Tennessee State University. He worked as a government publicist and at stations in Nashville, Greenville, North Carolina, and Denver before joining WRAL, a dominant TV station in eastern North Carolina for decades.This story includes excerpts from Crabtree’s interview and was edited for clarity.
You have had a very successful career in the broadcast world and in other areas. Tell me how you started at WRAL.
I had spent six years in Denver and I was on my way to Philadelphia for a job as an anchor when my agent called and made me aware that Capitol Broadcasting was interested in me.
So I listened to them and on the strength of their reputation and the strength of the ownership of Jim Goodmon, I decided to move to Raleigh, thinking I would be in Raleigh three, maybe four years. That morphed into 28 years as the primary anchor, a reporter, talk show host and just about anything I was asked to do. And it was the best move of my career. The marketplace was very good to me.
C-suite people, middle managers, entrepreneurs and business owners are often called on to give a speech or to be on television. What are the two or three pieces of advice you would give them?
No. 1, be open. That means to answer the question that you’ve been asked. If you feel it’s the wrong question or if you feel that question could be better framed, it’s OK to stop the interviewer and say, “I really appreciate that question, but to get at the essence of what you’re looking for, here’s the way I might frame that.”
The interviewer may not have the same tools and vernacular that you have. They may have just asked the wrong question. Don’t over-explain, but give them an answer and don’t dodge a question.
Even if the interviewer uses the wrong word, don’t put yourself in a position to give an answer along the lines of, “It depends on what the definition of is, is.”
Is appearance important for interviews?
If you’re on television, don’t give the viewer a reason to be distracted. You may wear something that your wife or your partner says is awfully boring. That’s OK, you don’t want to be flashy. If you give a viewer anything that distracts them, they will not hear what you just said, and then become disinterested and maybe leave the conversation.
And always look at the interviewer. Don’t worry about the camera, the camera will
follow you.
More and more, people care a lot about why should I bring a family here or why should I have a job here or locate my workforce here. What would you tell those people considering coming to North Carolina and the economic impact that could be created here?
For those who are looking to expand, we want them to know what is here beyond basketball, beyond the legacy of tobacco, beyond barbecue or beyond what North Carolina has traditionally been associated with.
This is a state with great pockets of education and great healthcare, and a population that wants to learn and is eager to do better than the generation before them.
And no matter what side of the political aisle you may find yourself, there are people who are serving in this state who truly care about the future of North Carolina and the region.
We don’t have a border around this state to say we don’t want others coming here. We are open and saying, bring us your ideas, bring us your interest, bring us your new way of thinking. We will find a way for all of this to meld and
become better.
And by the way, Mr. Businessman, you may be a catalyst for parts of the state that remain marginalized and still need growth. You will find workers who will work hard for you, but have had a difficult time finding traction over the past few years. You may be the opportunity that saves a community
I believe we have a legislature and an administration that’s looking to find ways to make it beneficial for you to move here. And we carry those messages through our airwaves, our website and all of our platforms at PBS North Carolina.
Some people feel that the media is very selective in what it covers and is biased. What is your take on this?
I’ve had this question asked during my entire career. If we are having a conversation and we agree with each other, there’s no bias, right? It’s when we disagree, all of a sudden, well, you’re biased about that.
None of us are robots. We each have an opinion about something. Therefore, I would say it’s OK to say I am biased. I have an opinion about something. Then take a couple of steps back and look for your objectivity.
It is what some people call bias. I call it the myth of neutrality. We’re not neutral on things. We look to be objective and hopefully we don’t step so far back that we lose our influence on what we’re trying to say.
Viewers need to be savvy. If you only want to live in an echo chamber, there are ways to do that. Cable outlets provide an echo chamber for anyone.
If you’re looking for real information, listen and watch what is given. Then, if you can, do a little more research on your own.
I was on Capitol Hill three weeks ago visiting with our congressional delegation. Oftentimes I will hear, “You know David, I don’t care for PBS.” There’s a perception of a progressive or liberal bias by PBS.
So I look around the room and see pictures of children and grandchildren. I ask, “what do your children watch?” And I hear them say, “I don’t know what my wife would do without PBS in the morning.”
I cite visiting with the members of the delegation for this reason. To a person, I was humbled when they looked at me and said, “You have always been fair with me and I value the fact that even though you were tough in interviewing with me, you were fair and gave me a platform to answer a question.”
If you provide the space for people to be heard, then they’ll give you a chance and maybe say, “Oh my gosh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I may still disagree with you on that, but you’ve given me something to think about.”
If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.
People will tell me sometimes, “We don’t know which side of the aisle you’re on. We don’t know where you stand.”
And I say, “Well, I like that you don’t. And by the way, what difference does it make?”
I am pro-business and I’m pro-compassion for humankind. At the same time I don’t see any reason why the two can’t exist.
The two are interconnected in many, many ways, David. Let’s talk a bit about business leaders who are dealing with all kinds of geopolitical and economic trends. Events demand that a leader stand up and speak in ways that can inspire, inform and involve people. What is your advice to those leaders?
They have to be consistent in their messaging for everyone hearing it, whether you are speaking to a staff of 50 or 500, or if you’re the president of a university, there could be thousands of faculty.
But just like a large television audience, your message is being received by one person at a time. The human nature of that person, particularly if they work within your organization, asks, what does this mean for me?
So you have to have that knowledge, you have to be open, you have to be honest and if you can’t speak to everything at that moment, let people know you are working on this and I just can’t go into detail now.
But when I can, I will be back and we will discuss this.
If you’re called to lead, then what does that mean, versus just managing a process?
Managing is very mechanical. Leading is relational, it’s not just transactional. It means taking risks. It means sharing your vision. It means standing where you believe you have to stand and saying, here’s the direction we’re going.
Prevailing winds can be very deceptive.
Absolutely. They may be strong for the moment and lead you right into the rocks.
Tell us about your experience, early in your career, working for Tennessee’s governor.
I worked for the legislature in Tennessee as press secretary, then I worked for a governor, and I had to testify against that governor in court. He went to prison and died a pauper selling cars. And 900 people came to his funeral.
Are you free to tell us his name?
Ray Blanton. He was elected in 1974 and served one term. I testified in his federal trial in 1981 or 1982. He died in 1996. (Blanton was convicted on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy, and extortion for selling liquor licenses. He had a 22-month prison term.)
As a young man, I saw a lot of things. I saw the underbelly of government. Governing is very hard. Campaigning is not as hard.
You earned a master’s degree in theology at Duke Divinity School in Durham. Why did
you do that other than so God could forgive your sins from political science and grammatical errors?
I met the dean of the divinity school while waiting on a flight at the airport in Nashville after my granddaughter was born. He invited me to an event the divinity school was hosting at Sea Island, Georgia.
I realized that there was so much I still wanted to learn about my own faith and my moral compass. Then a good friend of mine who became my mentor at the divinity school, and is now a bishop in England, said “Come to my classroom and give it a try.”
Well, I was hooked.
It took me 10 years taking one course a semester to finish. It was the most transformational time not only for my spiritual core, but in the way I treat people and the way I react with people now in a leadership position. It’s all connected. ■