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Governor threatens to defund Rhode Island PBS

The situation is very simple: Small states are being run over by bigger states. A few months ago, the state of NJ sold its public broadcasting system to larger non-government operators in NYC and Philly. I could easily see WGBH making a similar pitch to take over Rhode Island's system. So the state government no longer has the expense, but the people lose a local voice. That's what this is about. It hasn't hit RI yet, but NJ has no commercial TV in state, and most of the popular radio stations have left. That could be the future of RI.
 
At least if WGBH assumed WSBE ownership, the good news is that it'll now have overnight programming on a regular basis!

TheBigA said:
... NJ has no commercial TV in state...
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Legally, WWOR is based in Secaucus, but they serve the New York area. Then there's ethnic and infomercial powerhouse WMBC in Newton. :eek:
 
TheBigA said:
The situation is very simple: Small states are being run over by bigger states. A few months ago, the state of NJ sold its public broadcasting system to larger non-government operators in NYC and Philly. I could easily see WGBH making a similar pitch to take over Rhode Island's system. So the state government no longer has the expense, but the people lose a local voice. That's what this is about. It hasn't hit RI yet, but NJ has no commercial TV in state, and most of the popular radio stations have left. That could be the future of RI.
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TAX PAYER MONIES should NOT be funding any Public Broadcasting at all. Let them go out and sell and make it a profit station.If not plan "B".Let WGBH take over.

As for the local voice.I can live without Gary DeGrades Voice overs.Let's not throw money at this station so we can hear Gary.
The programming is'nt even that great. There is only one program I like that that air "Vicor of Dibley".
 
kenwood101 said:
TAX PAYER MONIES should NOT be funding any Public Broadcasting at all. Let them go out and sell and make it a profit station.
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Sure...you see what a great job Clear Channel has done.
 
Some people in RI may also get WEDN-TV (PBS) channel 53 from nearby Norwich, CT. I'm certain that might be true in maybe Westerly, but not in Providence or Warwick.
 
@newsbot: Forgot about WMGM in AC (which serves the Philadelphia DMA). Thanks!
 
KML-224 said:
Some people in RI may also get WEDN-TV (PBS) channel 53 from nearby Norwich, CT. I'm certain that might be true in maybe Westerly, but not in Providence or Warwick.
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If you have Directv in Providence you receive WEDN.Directv has always carried WEDN before they added added WSBE and just kept running with it over WGBH.I always thought that was strange.
 
I agree with not funding any media via taxpayer dollars. That being said, having WSBE-TV as a relay for WGBH would be horrible. What is it about R.I. that we (I now live in Middleborough, Ma. but still consider myself a Rhode Islander) have to capitulate to Boston about EVERYTHING, mediawise? WEEI's here, FNX was here, WBNW was on 550 years ago, WRNI started as a WBUR relay, WJMF is a WCRB/WGBH parrot, etc.. PROVIDENCE IS NOT BOSTON! We should not look to them to solve our problems! We need to keep it our own. Yes, I have DirecTV & no longer receive WSBE-TV (not even on rabbit ears, thanks digital broadcasting!) but I've financially supported them in the past before! WSBE-TV needs to stay R.I.! It can't switch to commercial TV anyway because it's on a non-commercial channel allocation.
 
I think there was actually a time when WSBE WAS a relay for WGBH. Looking at old schedules, and from my own personal memory, WGBH and WSBE had practically the exact same afternoon schedules. Throughout the 90s, WSBE had a very limited selection of children's shows compared to WGBH, and some promos and station IDs they used were very old and outdated looking. Then by 2002, they really began to improve their kids shows, adding an equal amount of kids programming in the afternoon and in the evening, and in 2003, they finally changed their logo from the big green 36 to "Rhode Island PBS." I STILL have not been able to find anything on YouTube with the classic "36" logo to this day. I really don't think WSBE was very well-known back in its heyday, as I think most people in RI back then simply watched WGBH because it had so much better quality.
 
I seem to recall there being discussion in the '80s of having WGBH handle operations of WSBE. Anyone else? I'll have to dig through the Globe archives.
 
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