Thursday, October 28, 2010
Good article on the current state of National Public Radio. I'm put out with my local outlet: I was on the Advisory Board of WBFO for a few years, and I believed that they were doing good work back then. Lately however there has been a trend towards repetitious and unimaginative programing-- Car Talk and Wait, Wait three times a week? On Point and Fresh Air twice a day? C'mon! As McKibben notes: "There are public radio stations so hidebound that they run the not-that-hilarious Car Talk twice each week. It’s a waste of the precious hours in the broadcast day to repeat the program, and it’s not a good sign for the future that program directors aren’t taking more chances. If they’re not careful, NPR could wind up without a farm team of experienced new program makers, and with the same demographic problem now crippling public television (to see what I mean, check out your public TV pledge drive and try to imagine what age group they’re appealing to with overweight doo-wop groups squeezing into sequined suits). Sound Opinions is as good a barometer as any; if your local public radio station isn’t airing it, they’re not trying very hard."
(All that said, this morning's piece on the current arts funding crisis in Erie County was excellent.)
Even the flagship programing produced by NPR could use a little rehab. Morning Edition hasn't been the same since Bob Edwards left, so now I listen to him on satellite radio. It means I'm missing local news coverage, but if what that amounts to is stuff like Rich Kellman's 4th Grade report about the little girl who told Lincoln to grow a beard what am I really missing?
(All that said, this morning's piece on the current arts funding crisis in Erie County was excellent.)
Even the flagship programing produced by NPR could use a little rehab. Morning Edition hasn't been the same since Bob Edwards left, so now I listen to him on satellite radio. It means I'm missing local news coverage, but if what that amounts to is stuff like Rich Kellman's 4th Grade report about the little girl who told Lincoln to grow a beard what am I really missing?
// posted by Bill @ 8:12 AM 
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