Public radio and television stations are able to produce quality programming because they receive government and corporate funding and listener support without regard to ratings, and, because they don't have to sell day parts, their goal is simply to achieve an aggregate market share. But many shows are, in fact, successful, even if they lack the audience base in some markets sufficient to generate profitable commercial station revenues. For example, when the 20+ year-old "A Prairie Home Companion" goes on the road, their multiple live performances in each market generally sell out. And the products they license generate revenues for PBS and NPR as well as for the show and Garrison Keillor. Oscar Brand's folk music program on WNYC is the longest-running show on radio, having been on the air continuously since 1945. And long before we had conservative talk radio, Bill Buckley's TV program was a television landmark for conservatives and liberals alike. And, of course, there's Sesame Street and all the other CTW programming, and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," shows that have made public television a household necessity for more than two generations.
Public television does, of course, have an advantage over public radio in that it usually occupies one of the major VHF channels, with, in some markets, another public station broadcasting on a UHF channel. But then some public radio stations, like New York's WNYC, broadcast on both AM and FM, generally with different formats, but with some programs, like "A Prairie Home Companion," simulcast. And WNYC-AM is hard to miss, as it is conveniently sandwiched between WABC and WCBS, instead of clustering with other non-coms and college stations at the low end of the FM band.
But, while commercial talk stations like WABC simply program their format during the week, they often get more creative on the weekends with niche programs like WABC's long running "Religion on the Line," Bob Brinker's "Money Talk," Mark Simone's popular saturday night oldies show (he used to do one exclusively on Sinatra), lone liberal Brian Whitman's sunday show (which also airs on KABC), self-made media phenom Matt Drudge's often news/embargo-breaking sunday night show, and the popular syndicated overnight program, "Coast to Coast," which airs all week with the legendary, and some times enigmatic, Art Bell back on the weekends. And then there's that brilliant day-long rock and roll retrospective that Johnny Donovan puts together each year, reminding us older folk that there once was a WABC that you could dance to no matter what your politics.
It is sad, though, that, on many stations, programming has replaced actual programs. If one of WABC's weekday shows drops in the ratings, all Phil Boyce has to do is replace the host, tweak the show's format a bit, and the slot gets a new lease on life. Of course, hosts like Rush and Sean Hannity would be hard to replace, but then their shows are so successful that they'll never have to be. But stand alone programs can be risky, especially when they are in competition with programs on other stations. I listen to WABC almost exclusively, pretty much day and night, but, on Friday nights, when the station airs those repetitive, albeit highly profitable, infomercials about John Wayne's colon, I jump ship for WOR's Joey Reynolds and hang there the rest of the night.
