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WBUR joins the NPR vs Twitter Boycott

I wonder if NPR might even go as far as ordering member stations that haven't voluntarily done so to stop using Twitter or else lose CPB funding funneled through NPR or even be stripped of NPR membership/affiliation.

It would be an extreme action, but I think the chance of it occurring is greater than zero.
 
I wonder if NPR might even go as far as ordering member stations that haven't voluntarily done so to stop using Twitter or else lose CPB funding funneled through NPR or even be stripped of NPR membership/affiliation.

It's the other way around. CPB funding goes directly to the stations, and they in turn use it to pay for programming, some of which comes from NPR. NPR is basically run by the affiliates, who sit on the company's board of directors. So NPR really can't force stations to do anything. However, I can understand them all being sympathetic to this.
 
Speaking of WBUR, some changes coming to the weekend:


Main addition is Latino USA with Maria Hinojosa.
And the big subtraction was a weekly "interdenominational" service from a church, presumably Christian. I wonder if WBUR will feel heat from the far right for the decision to take the service online, or if the far left has been in management's ear about WBUR using the money of donors who may be non-Christian or nonreligious to put a church service on the radio.
 
And the big subtraction was a weekly "interdenominational" service from a church, presumably Christian. I wonder if WBUR will feel heat from the far right for the decision to take the service online, or if the far left has been in management's ear about WBUR using the money of donors who may be non-Christian or nonreligious to put a church service on the radio.

I don't know about this particular church, but most interdenominational ones that I'm familiar with are very liberal. The ones I know are not strictly Christian, and are great places for families of mixed religions.
 
I don't know about this particular church, but most interdenominational ones that I'm familiar with are very liberal. The ones I know are not strictly Christian, and are great places for families of mixed religions.
"Interdenominational" doesn't have to mean the same church every week, it could be a rotating set of churches (or synagogues, or even mosques) such that, over time, the net effect is interdenominational. Though a better word for that might be pan-denominational.
 
"Interdenominational" doesn't have to mean the same church every week, it could be a rotating set of churches (or synagogues, or even mosques) such that, over time, the net effect is interdenominational. Though a better word for that might be pan-denominational.

The article identifies that it came from Marsh Chapel, which is on the campus of Boston U. So it's the same church every week.

Marsh Chapel’s interdenominational worship service, a long-standing tradition on WBUR, will transition to a live-streaming format on wbur.org.

This may be one of those things the station did for the licensee.
 
The article identifies that it came from Marsh Chapel, which is on the campus of Boston U. So it's the same church every week.
This may be one of those things the station did for the licensee.
It was/is. This has always been aired by arrangement with licensee BU, who insisted that it air in stereo (have to air the full acoustic ambience of the church organ), so it’s one of the two times per week that WBUR switches on their stereo carrier, the other being the Latin music show Con Salsa Saturday nights at 10pm.

I doubt the decision to take it to streaming only has anything to do with political or ideological pressure of any sort, but more likely that the station may be seeing a ratings drop from their usual NPR programming during that Sunday late morning slot when it airs. WBUR is very concerned about ratings, even on Sunday mornings.
 
The fastest-growing religion in the U.S. is "none". (Not necessarily a lack of spirituality; just a lack of adherence to any organized religion.) So that could be part of why the church service got dropped from the on-air schedule.
 
I wonder if NPR might even go as far as ordering member stations that haven't voluntarily done so to stop using Twitter or else lose CPB funding funneled through NPR or even be stripped of NPR membership/affiliation.

It would be an extreme action, but I think the chance of it occurring is greater than zero.
NPR doesn't have that power as a program supplier
 
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