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Indiana station to cut ‘This American Life’ in response to Pandora deal

This is just another example of how possessive public radio stations are with content they air, and why they squeeze the gonads of NPR every chance they get.
 
TheBigA said:
This is just another example of how possessive public radio stations are with content they air, and why they squeeze the gonads of NPR every chance they get.
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Well WBAA notes that Mike Savage the GM is also a board member of NPR. Mike Savage and his allies needs to explain all of this and how will WBAA attract donors if he cuts TAL off the line up please explain the replacement.

Mike Savage, also a member of the NPR board of directors, said the station will pull TAL from its program schedule in August. Savage’s post about his decision drew several responses on LinkedIn, including one from TAL host and executive producer Ira Glass.

Savage wrote that his decision “was not taken lightly and was made for a variety of factors — but one factor really stood out — the recent decision by Ira Glass to distribute the program to paid subscription service Pandora,” Savage wrote. (Pandora also offers free streaming, supported by ads.)

The station currently airs the program Saturdays from noon to 1 p.m. on its AM news station.
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RadioPatrol said:
Mike Savage and his allies needs to explain all of this and how will WBAA attract donors if he cuts TAL off the line up please explain the replacement.
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My view is it's a power play. West Lafayette isn't a major market, and TAL is a weekly show that isn't responsible for a lot of money at this station. But it's an opportunity for a member of the NPR Board to flex his muscles and get some publicity. Mission accomplished.
 
Soo... this was the news last week - this week, in an unsigned and undated mea culpa, WBAA said it wasn't dropping This American Life after all.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Soo... this was the news last week - this week, in an unsigned and undated mea culpa, WBAA said it wasn't dropping This American Life after all.
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Pretty funny. Thanks for that. As I said...mission accomplished.

I hope the people at NPR News are paying attention.
 
Nobody seems to have noticed but "This American Life" is not - NOT - an NPR program. It has never been an NPR program. It is produced by WBEZ, Chicago. It is distributed by PRX now and was previously distributed by PRI (owned by WGBH, Boston).

This has nothing to do with NPR. NPR does not have a dog in this fight. Again, people comment on public radio stories without knowing how public radio operates.
 
Oscar Madison said:
Nobody seems to have noticed but "This American Life" is not - NOT - an NPR program. .
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Nobody ever said it was. However, this DOES have something to do with NPR, in the way they manage members of their Board. If this had been another minor market station, it wouldn't have made news. The fact that the GM sits on the NPR Board makes it relevant to NPR digital policies. Understand? You yourself have said many times that the NPR Board is restricting that company from alternative means of distribution. Exactly the issue here. And at the end of the day, the station blinked.
 
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Oscar Madison said:
Nobody seems to have noticed but "This American Life" is not - NOT - an NPR program. It has never been an NPR program. It is produced by WBEZ, Chicago. It is distributed by PRX now and was previously distributed by PRI (owned by WGBH, Boston).

This has nothing to do with NPR. NPR does not have a dog in this fight. Again, people comment on public radio stories without knowing how public radio operates.
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Note the Top of the thread I stated that PRX owns This American Life.
http://www.jconline.com/story/news/2016/05/19/wbaa-backs-down-keeps-american-life/84630878/

Update This American Life stays on WBAA for now.

http://wbaa.org/programming-news
 
RadioPatrol said:
Note the Top of the thread I stated that PRX owns This American Life.
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In point of fact, PRX only distributes the show.

The show's website says this:

This American Life is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 2.2 million listeners. It is produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.
 
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RadioPatrol said:
Note the Top of the thread I stated that PRX owns This American Life.
http://www.jconline.com/story/news/2016/05/19/wbaa-backs-down-keeps-american-life/84630878/

Update This American Life stays on WBAA for now.

http://wbaa.org/programming-news
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Yes, you did. NPR was introduced into the conversation by others.

So, the Boilermakers have caved-in. But their knee-jerk response to kill TAL just illustrates how threatened the rusty tower fund raisers at the so-called "member stations" are by any prospect of new media. Like King Knute, they think they can command the tide not to come in - and the media landscape not to change. I feel badly for the students in Purdue's mass communications programs who pay good money to be taught by these people.
 
TheBigA said:
Looking at the curriculum, it seems that the GM at WBAA could benefit from auditing a few courses at Purdue. I notice there are no actual "radio" classes, but they do teach new media and new media content creation. Good idea.

https://www.cla.purdue.edu/students/academics/majors/comc.html
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I am an alumus of a land-grant university with public radio stations. Back in the day, it was run by the continuing education service and was a class operation. Somehow the faculty of mass communication program got it moved into their building and run by their department and the stations has since go downhill - way downhill. Those that can't do....
 
Oscar Madison said:
Somehow the faculty of mass communication program got it moved into their building and run by their department and the stations has since go downhill - way downhill. Those that can't do....
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Apparently not the case at Purdue. The radio station is located in the Elliott Music Hall, where classical music concerts take place. Similar to public stations in Cincinnati and St. Paul. From what I can see, no faculty are involved in station management.

I know of several college stations that have chosen to move out of classroom space and into their own dedicated office space. They often have the money to do it, and they can leave classroom space for its intended purpose.
 
TheBigA said:
Apparently not the case at Purdue. The radio station is located in the Elliott Music Hall, where classical music concerts take place. Similar to public stations in Cincinnati and St. Paul. From what I can see, no faculty are involved in station management.

I know of several college stations that have chosen to move out of classroom space and into their own dedicated office space. They often have the money to do it, and they can leave classroom space for its intended purpose.
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The station at my alma mater was also in an auditorium building. I suspect somebody had the bright idea to concentrate all communication arts and sciences related facilities in one location. Maybe that's the only way the faculty could get money for a new building and equipment. The station is run by professional staff but reports to college of communications.

In any case, it was a really dumb move to cancel TAL and then bring it back a day later. What's sort of strange is....
"After considerable listener feedback, This American Life will remain on WBAA. We are evaluating the schedule and working to select a weekend time that will best showcase the program on WBAA."

That sounds like it won't be on at the same time as before and this guy wants to bury it in some really dead time slot.
 
In slightly more positive news, WBAA has bought an FM translator for their AM station. The AM has a great daytime signal, but after dark, it's barely above the noise floor on most radios, unless you're within city limits or have a great antenna. W290CM 105.9 says on its transfer application it will serve as a fill-in for WBAA AM 920. Ultimately, I think WBAA should: 1. Look into producing some original content that has regional or national appeal and 2. See that the future for public radio in Indiana is probably going to involve more shared resources and statewide networking, which is starting to happen but isn't done yet. Is there a way to share resources for programs that aren't unique to WBAA to free up funds to produce programs that are unique? Or, does the audience really want a lot of "WBAA Local" programming? Maybe the audience just wants compelling radio, even if the vast majority of that is national or regional/statewide.
 
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