Since you asked for a direct response-here's mine:
I was harsh in my original scalding post about 89.3. You'll find my retraction a bit further down the thread from the original post. Blame a bad day or what have you--but I mistakenly lumped MSJ in with religious radio as a whole. I was annoyed because, as I've since outlined-I find it unfortunate when folks try to show how their non-profit is competing with everyone else (and who is everyone else? Is it worth caring that much if you already know you have a great product?). The non-comm band was not created to be a competitive platform against commercial stations. I equally lambaste college stations that try and emulate top-40 stations and NPR affiliates that seem more concerned about monthly fundraisers and top drawing shows than providing their community with a broad range of unique programming.
I don't disagree that MSJ fulfills its promise as a non-comm. I believed that from the beginning-but then made rash comments regarding the translator apps that perhaps were incorrect. MSJ cares about its local community.
However, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that the religious stations that broadcast blanket satellite programming (and then apply for several translator licenses to further relay this cross continent programming) are serving the public interest. You can't tell me that a local church couldn't provide cheaply made programming with ten times the value (in fact, I'd be happy to volunteer my services to help them get up and running). And you can't convince me that these satellite broadcasters don't have the money to help underwrite these stations I envision. And yes, I feel the same way about stations that stream commercial Jones, ABC, etc. 24/7 programming. That's a wasted license in my book, commercial or not.
Forgive me for being a bit wordy-but I think again this is a case of my poor wording more than anything--we likely see eye to eye on a number of points. So in the long of it-yes, I agree-you can appreciate if a station is doing its job well, even if you don't like the format. And yes, MSJ does a good job and provides something of great value to its listeners. But does it need Arbitron? No, not in my opinion.
I hope you had a good weekend as well. Enjoy the snow!
I was harsh in my original scalding post about 89.3. You'll find my retraction a bit further down the thread from the original post. Blame a bad day or what have you--but I mistakenly lumped MSJ in with religious radio as a whole. I was annoyed because, as I've since outlined-I find it unfortunate when folks try to show how their non-profit is competing with everyone else (and who is everyone else? Is it worth caring that much if you already know you have a great product?). The non-comm band was not created to be a competitive platform against commercial stations. I equally lambaste college stations that try and emulate top-40 stations and NPR affiliates that seem more concerned about monthly fundraisers and top drawing shows than providing their community with a broad range of unique programming.
I don't disagree that MSJ fulfills its promise as a non-comm. I believed that from the beginning-but then made rash comments regarding the translator apps that perhaps were incorrect. MSJ cares about its local community.
However, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that the religious stations that broadcast blanket satellite programming (and then apply for several translator licenses to further relay this cross continent programming) are serving the public interest. You can't tell me that a local church couldn't provide cheaply made programming with ten times the value (in fact, I'd be happy to volunteer my services to help them get up and running). And you can't convince me that these satellite broadcasters don't have the money to help underwrite these stations I envision. And yes, I feel the same way about stations that stream commercial Jones, ABC, etc. 24/7 programming. That's a wasted license in my book, commercial or not.
Forgive me for being a bit wordy-but I think again this is a case of my poor wording more than anything--we likely see eye to eye on a number of points. So in the long of it-yes, I agree-you can appreciate if a station is doing its job well, even if you don't like the format. And yes, MSJ does a good job and provides something of great value to its listeners. But does it need Arbitron? No, not in my opinion.
I hope you had a good weekend as well. Enjoy the snow!