NPR is really bad at honoring deceased contributors

[FM 100 Means Music]

Dr. Billy Taylor passes away and it takes two days (December 30th) for Terry Gross to mention it on "Fresh Air," at the very end of the episode, and then proceeds to pay "tribute" to Dr. Taylor by playing one of his songs and talking the closing credits over it rather than let the piece play by itself or devote the entire show to interviews with Dr. Taylor's friends and loved ones..

It takes three weeks for Live at Lincoln Center to get their act together and re-run Dr. Taylor's "retirement" show from two years ago, rather than, you know, broadcast a live tribute with various jazz greats from Lincoln Center instead.


Cleve Matthes dies and his passing is given a two-minute "tribute" two days later on the show he helped make great, All Things Considered.  NPR proceeds to spend more time focusing on the death of Sargeant Shriver (for his "lifetime of service") than on a man who helped launch public radio and was one it its primary beacons of truth and quality journalism.

 

[uncamark]

Dr. Billy Taylor passes away and it takes two days (December 30th) for Terry Gross to mention it on "Fresh Air," at the very end of the episode, and then proceeds to pay "tribute" to Dr. Taylor by playing one of his songs and talking the closing credits over it rather than let the piece play by itself or devote the entire show to interviews with Dr. Taylor's friends and loved ones..

It takes three weeks for Live at Lincoln Center to get their act together and re-run Dr. Taylor's "retirement" show from two years ago, rather than, you know, broadcast a live tribute with various jazz greats from Lincoln Center instead.


Cleve Matthes dies and his passing is given a two-minute "tribute" two days later on the show he helped make great, All Things Considered. NPR proceeds to spend more time focusing on the death of Sargeant Shriver (for his "lifetime of service") than on a man who helped launch public radio and was one it its primary beacons of truth and quality journalism.

It seems to me that shows like "Live at Lincoln Center" (which is not an NPR program and I believe is independent of all three major programming services) are programmed months in advance and that it's difficult to move things around, even if it's satellite-delivered.

As for Matthes, it seems to me that NPR policy is to avoid self-aggrandizement as much as possible under the belief that the listener cares more about the news than NPR itself--a stance that Pacifica could do well to emulate.

 

[MattParker]

Fresh Air is also put together in advance. And it is ridiculous to suggest that an entire show be devoted to an obscure jazz musician.

And in you are so concerned about Cleve Matthews, maybe you should spell his name correctly. The fact is few people have heard of him. More people have heard of Sergeant Shriver. Probably Matthews would have said Shriver's passing is the more important story.

 

[TheBigA]

Fresh Air is also put together in advance. And it is ridiculous to suggest that an entire show be devoted to an obscure jazz musician.

I'd suggest the NPR audience might know him better as the host of NPR's Jazz Alive from 1977 to 1982. He continued to host numerous NPR jazz programs and specials until 2002.

 

[MattParker]

Fresh Air is also put together in advance. And it is ridiculous to suggest that an entire show be devoted to an obscure jazz musician.

I'd suggest the NPR audience might know him better as the host of NPR's Jazz Alive from 1977 to 1982. He continued to host numerous NPR jazz programs and specials until 2002.

Maybe. This assumes there is one NPR audience (singular). In some ways, NPR functions sort of like ABC did in the late 60s. There's the NPR News and Information Network. The NPR Classical Network. The NPR Jazz Network. And the NPR AAA Network. Some smaller stations do block programming and take content from more than one network. Even then, there is considerable churn as stations shift from one format block to the next. The Jazz audience may know this guy. But his passing may not be a big story to other NPR audiences. Fresh Air is one of the few NPR programs that seems to cut across format/audience lines.

When I first read the headline for this topic, I thought the original poster was talking about big money donors. It seems he may be talking about former staff members (a news director and a former program host). In general, broadcasters are way too self-absorbed and self-referential. They assume because someone is important to them personally or to their organization, it is a personal loss to everybody. Well, it's not. Broadcasters too often program for themselves, not the audience. Exhibit A: NBC went way overboard on Tim Russert's funeral coverage. If NPR showed restraint in publicly lauding their own, good for them.

 

[uncamark]

I'd suggest the NPR audience might know him better as the host of NPR's Jazz Alive from 1977 to 1982. He continued to host numerous NPR jazz programs and specials until 2002.

Maybe. This assumes there is one NPR audience (singular). In some ways, NPR functions sort of like ABC did in the late 60s. There's the NPR News and Information Network. The NPR Classical Network. The NPR Jazz Network. And the NPR AAA Network. Some smaller stations do block programming and take content from more than one network. Even then, there is considerable churn as stations shift from one format block to the next. The Jazz audience may know this guy. But his passing may not be a big story to other NPR audiences. Fresh Air is one of the few NPR programs that seems to cut across format/audience lines.

When I first read the headline for this topic, I thought the original poster was talking about big money donors. It seems he may be talking about former staff members (a news director and a former program host). In general, broadcasters are way too self-absorbed and self-referential. They assume because someone is important to them personally or to their organization, it is a personal loss to everybody. Well, it's not. Broadcasters too often program for themselves, not the audience. Exhibit A: NBC went way overboard on Tim Russert's funeral coverage. If NPR showed restraint in publicly lauding their own, good for them.

On the other hand, I suspect that when one of their more noted on-air people dies, they'll do more than a couple of minutes, since the listeners knew who they were. For example, I suspect that when Susan Stamberg leaves us, we'll get about 8 minutes, including her cranberry relish recipe, considering she co-hosted the first "ATC." And I would suspect that when Bob Edwards passes on, they'll do a respectful 5 minutes or so and get accused by the Edwards faithful as hypocrites (although the people who kicked Edwards upstairs aren't around anymore, AFAIK).

 

[MattParker]

On the other hand, I suspect that when one of their more noted on-air people dies, they'll do more than a couple of minutes, since the listeners knew who they were. For example, I suspect that when Susan Stamberg leaves us, we'll get about 8 minutes, including her cranberry relish recipe, considering she co-hosted the first "ATC." And I would suspect that when Bob Edwards passes on, they'll do a respectful 5 minutes or so and get accused by the Edwards faithful as hypocrites (although the people who kicked Edwards upstairs aren't around anymore, AFAIK).

Stamberg joined ATC in its second year. And they need to lose the cranberry recipe. OK, post it on the website but it is completely out of place on a news magazine and in any context it's bad radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Fresh Air is one of the few NPR programs that seems to cut across format/audience lines.

Fresh Air is also not produced in Washington or subject to their priorities. So they do what they want, and the shows in Washington do what they want.

I did a search at NPR.org, and every show, including Talk of the Nation, did some sort of tribute to Dr. Taylor.

http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=billy+taylor

Most of them were short (2-4 minutes).

 

[MattParker]

Fresh Air is also not produced in Washington or subject to their priorities. So they do what they want, and the shows in Washington do what they want.

[sarcasm]Really? Gee! Maybe that's why they call it "Fresh Air from WHYY."[/sarcasm]

My point is: It is a show that fits multiple public radio station formats - audiences. I am surprised Talk of the Nation would devote airtime to Taylor, since it targets the talk audience. Fresh Air started as show about the arts and added current affairs as it evolved. So a Taylor obit would fit but not a Taylor tribute for the whole show.

 

[TheBigA]

When I first read the headline for this topic, I thought the original poster was talking about big money donors.

Me too, and that reminded me about Ted Stanley. At one time, NPR didn't have as many benefactors as they do now, so they few they had became mini-celebrities. That was the case with Jennifer & Ted Stanley. So when Ted died last year, his passing was noted on ATC:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121880221

 

[MattParker]

When I first read the headline for this topic, I thought the original poster was talking about big money donors.

Me too, and that reminded me about Ted Stanley. At one time, NPR didn't have as many benefactors as they do now, so they few they had became mini-celebrities. That was the case with Jennifer & Ted Stanley. So when Ted died last year, his passing was noted on ATC:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121880221

I had thought about Jen and Ted, too, as I read the headline. I heard a story that during a pledge drive at WNYC one of the volunteers answered the phone and a guy who said he was Ted Stanley wanted to make a contribution. The volunteer said, "Sure. Right." And hung up on him.

 

[aaronread]

Fresh Air is also put together in advance.

Not by much. Most episodes take a day or two to arrange, record, edit and broadcast...but that can vary a lot. For example, a movie review can take a week or more between when the reviewer sees the movie and the actual review airs...or it can be one day. It varies.

Going the other way, I don't think Terry ever quite does an interview live anymore, but I'm positive she will sometimes do interviews in the morning and the crew turns them around quickly enough to make the 12 noon ET satellite feed. Depends on what's happening in the news.

That sort of quick turnaround is not uncommon in the NPR world. A lot of the national interviews you hear on Morning Edition and All Things Considered are recorded in advance...but only by minutes. Maybe an hour, tops. Newsmagazines don't like doing interviews live if they can help it...the guests tend to be more nervous and thus give weaker answers, and recording in advance makes the wrapup/goodbye SO much more organized. (trust me on that one)