Current (https://current.org/2004/09/)
Bob Edwards tells the Boston Globe that his talk show debuting Monday on XM Radio will spotlight “a more relaxed me.” Also: an employee at Boston’s WMBR protests cuts in world music and Haitian-oriented shows at the station. (Via Romenesko.)
WBUR-FM in Boston has delayed the sale of its Rhode Island stations at least until it replies to demands from the state’s attorney general, reports the Boston Globe and the Providence Journal. The Journal also scrutinizes the payroll allocations among WBUR’s operations.
WBUR-FM in Boston ran up deficits of almost $5 million from 1999 to 2003, reports the Providence Journal. The Journal also reports that Rhode Island’s attorney general has asked WBUR for more financial information related to the possible sale of WRNI in Providence, and the state’s Governor is concerned as well. (More in the Boston Globe.)
Public radio listeners in Humboldt County, Calif., are upset about Oregon-based Jefferson Public Radio’s recent purchase of a local station that aired a continuous BBC feed, reports the Times-Standard.
The Washington Post briefly summarizes the threat satellite radio poses to public radio.
The San Antonio Current profiles Joe Gwathmey, a founder of NPR and manager of KPAC/KSTX. “I’ve always had a populist streak,” he says.
Longtime backers of Rhode Island’s WRNI-FM are considering ways to keep the station public, reports the Providence Journal. The Journal also reports that WRNI’s deficits topped $9 million in its first five years. And the Boston Phoenix calls on WBUR to be more open about its finances. The Phoenix’s Dan Kennedy asks a few more questions on his blog.
When Bill O’Reilly gets it right, it means the news about the news could well get worse.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting has duct tape to thank for its weathering of Hurricane Ivan, reports the Kansas City Star.
Terry Gross and Bill O’Reilly rehashed their earlier confrontation on last night’s O’Reilly Factor. “You pride yourself on being the toughest interviewer on TV, and to think that you couldn’t stand up to my slightly challenging questions,” Gross said. (Via Romenesko.)
CPB joined with the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to create a multiyear $3 million grant fund to aid local collaborative projects. IMLS is a federal agency comparable to the arts endowment.
Rhode Island’s attorney general has asked Boston University to pull back from selling WRNI, WBUR’s Rhode Island station, reports the Providence Journal.
Terry Gross appears on Bill O’Reilly’s show tonight, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. She’ll also show up on Hardball and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. (Fourth item. Via Romenesko.)
An Indiana man seeking to share time with educational FM stations has filed antitrust complaints in the proceedings, reports the Indianapolis Star.
An NPR listener complains to ombud Jeffrey Dvorkin that applause often follows audio clips of President Bush, but not Sen. John Kerry. You’ll now hear applause after both.
Boston’s WBUR-FM is selling WRNI, its Rhode Island station. The Providence Journal condemns the decision: “The people who have been so generous in funding the start-up and operation of WRNI have been treated shabbily.” (More in the Journal, the Providence Phoenix and the Boston Herald.)
Classical music, liberal-friendly talk programming and rock tunes couched in mellow ambiance might sound like familiar public radio fare. But they’re also three formats where some commercial competitors seek to stake a claim. Corporations big and small are prospecting all three areas for profitability, prompting varied reactions from pubcasters. Some warn against getting too comfortable with the newcomers, while others greet them as business partners. Coming in the new wave of would-be competitors:
Neo-Radio, a style of presenting contemporary music that, much like public radio, avoids hype and puts the listener’s desires first;
progressive talk, the left-wing’s alternative to Rush Limbaugh that recently got a boost when some Clear Channel stations began carrying Air America programming; and
a classical music network for commercial stations, under development by ABC Radio Networks and WQXR, the commercial classical station in New York.
Contrary to a myth popular in public radio, our audience is not going to die off anytime soon. The audience today is significant in size and influence and continues to grow even though Americans in general are listening to less radio than in the past. The primary audience indicators — loyalty, share and weekly cume audience — suggest there is room for even more growth. Fall 2003 AudiGraphics data show that 40 percent of all stations with an average quarter-hour audience of 2,000 or more have an average listener loyalty of less than 33.3 percent. That means that typical public radio listeners spend less than one-third of their radio listening time with their favorite public radio station.