EVER SENT MONEY TO A PUBLIC RADIO STATION?

[MattParker]

There's a thread going on the national TV board called "Ever sent money to a PBS station?" How about public radio? Have you ever coughed up at pledge time or in response to a mail piece? Why did you send money? Or not send money?

Me: I don't send money to my local station because (1) they seem to have more than enough money from corporate advertisers and (2) they pretty much throw money around. On top of that, corporate sponsors seem to be allowed to use news stories to promote their own industry agendas. And they don't run Morning Edition when it's convenient for me to listen (they seem to be in love with the BBC).

I do listen to public radio but not my local station. I give money to the station whose Internet stream I listen to most (KCRW World News, on the other side of the country). I hadn't planned to. I wrote them about a problem and they came back with a very courteous and thoughtful response (and even fixed the problem) - a little of that goes a long way.

I did stop giving for a long time after Nina Totenberg became an activist-participant instead of a neutral observer when she de-railed Judge Ginsberg's Supreme Court nomination for - horrors! - smoking grass in college. You can't trust anybody who didn't do weed in college. In Totenberg's case, Dow Jones fired her for plagarism but NPR hired her any way.

 

[amfmxm]

Yeah, I send my minimal $35 to our local public radio station every year, and a similar amount to our (unrelated) local public TV station. I do it as a gesture--I fully understand that my $35 or $50 isn't critical to their existence--but I do it in the spirit of "Hey, if all this station's listeners or viewers toss in a few bucks they'll be in High Cotton." And since I think public broadcasting is important, it's a way of backing up my beliefs with a financial token.

Why don't I contribute more? Well, having worked in public radio & television management for many years at both the local and national level, I recognize that pubcasters piss away tons of money on stuff that doesn't matter and generally have f*cked up a great idea.

But still there are the gems: "Frontline," "Nova," "American Experience" on the TV side... "Morning Edition," "ATC," and "PHC" on the radio side.

Worth $35 or $50 a year? Yeah, definitely.

 

[SML]

There is little or no connection between PBS (Public Television) and public radio. NPR (or PRI) is not PBS. Equating the two is revealing in one way or another, that is for sure. Apples and Oranges.

 

[amfmxm]

There is little or no connection between PBS (Public Television) and public radio. NPR (or PRI) is not PBS. Equating the two is revealing in one way or another, that is for sure. Apples and Oranges.

Aside from the fact that so many of the nation's public radio stations and public TV stations are owned and operated by the same organizations?

Yeah, I know the difference. I worked for NPR. My kid works for PBS. I've worked for a couple of licensees that had member-stations of both entities. Apples and Oranges? Not really. Plenty of differences... and plenty of similarities.

But, okay. Take my posting above, scratch out references to either TV or radio (one or the other), and it still works. If you believe in their inherent value, toss 'em a check. If every listener or viewer chipped-in, most of their financial problems would be solved.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I never gave them a dime, and never will.

 

[petsy]

Yeah, through the mandatory license and my taxes. ;D

 

[SML]

$2 a year. Yup, that is a big deal all right.