State Funding To Public Broadcasting Stations To Be Cut Further in 2010

[Element9]

And yet, this might be good news for NPR types:

Congress sets CPB funding. In a pre-holiday conference committee the House and Senate have approved allocating $445 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The fiscal 2012 appropriations bill is 8.1% increase over 2009 levels. It includes another $25 million for the build-out of the public radio interconnection system linking stations.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Congress sets CPB funding. In a pre-holiday conference committee the House and Senate have approved allocating $445 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The fiscal 2012 appropriations bill is 8.1% increase over 2009 levels. It includes another $25 million for the build-out of the public radio interconnection system linking stations.

An 8 percent increase! I wish I got an 8 percent raise last year or in 2010.

Meanwhile someone please enlighten me how pumping more tax dollars into CPB is going to stimulate the economy?

 

[SirRoxalot]

"The build-out of the public radio interconnection system linking stations" sounds more like creating a network, requiring even fewer local jobs. Hmmmm.

 

[TheBigA]

The public radio interconnection IS a network, and it was started in 1971. It's called National Public Radio. Perhaps you've heard of it. The MOTC (the satellite interconnect) was built in 1979, and it replaced the 5khz long line system. The MOTC has been rebuilt several times, and is they key resource of the public radio system. It is not owned or controlled by NPR, but by the stations. And yes, it means fewer local jobs. NPR affiliates tend to run about 70% national syndication, including such well-known shows as All Things Considered and Morning Edition. One of the trends of the last ten years has been for stations to replace classical music and other local shows with more national news & talk. And for some reason, it has led to an increase in audience and fundraising. In many markets, like Boston and San Francisco, the NPR station carrying national news is doing better than the local commercial news station.

 

[TheBigA]

Meanwhile someone please enlighten me how pumping more tax dollars into CPB is going to stimulate the economy?

Who said it's going to stimulate the economy? The government spends billions on lots of things that don't stimulate the economy. That isn't a requirement.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Who said it's going to stimulate the economy? The government spends billions on lots of things that don't stimulate the economy. That isn't a requirement.

Obama has been telling people that stimulus funding will help bolster the econony and create jobs. Show me how many jobs will be created at CPB or NPR.

There shouldn't be government funding for NPR or CPB. Instead funding should come from viewers, listeners, and underwriting. This is nothing but a left-over from LBJ's Great Society; and we've seen how the Great Society worked out when it comes to wasting government money.

Why should my tax dollars go towards something I don't support? Like bailing out failed banks while their CEO reap millions in salaries and bonuses or General Motors?

 

[TheBigA]

Obama has been telling people that stimulus funding will help bolster the econony and create jobs.

The money going to CPB isn't part of the stimulus funding.

 

[fybush]

I believe the "public radio interconnect" referred to earlier is actually the statewide fiber connection that went into place a couple of years ago to provide easy, efficient sharing of programs among New York's public TV stations. Since there's lots of capacity on a fiber, it's my understanding that some of that bandwidth is now being used to distribute content among public radio stations around the state, too. I may be mistaken on that.

And with the understanding that I speak here, as always, only for myself and not for any of my employers: I do think there's a decent case to be made that an increase in funding for public broadcasters can bring local economic benefits. The math doesn't seem all that complex to me: an extra dollar in income for a conglomerate-owned commercial broadcaster is likely, in large part, to go out of state in the form of profits to corporate HQ in San Antonio or Las Vegas or Bala Cynwyd, rather than being used to boost local employment in Buffalo or Rochester.

An extra dollar in income for a public broadcaster can't be taken as a corporate profit, of course, and while some portion of it may go out of town in the form of increased fees to NPR/PRI/APM/etc., a lot of the projects I'm hearing discussed in the public media universe right now are specifically aimed at increasing local news and public affairs coverage. That means increased local employment, keeping those dollars being spent in western New York. I'm biased here, and would never claim otherwise...but the idea of more radio and TV people being employed locally sure seems like a good idea to me.

 

[TheBigA]

I believe the "public radio interconnect" referred to earlier is actually the statewide fiber connection that went into place a couple of years ago to provide easy, efficient sharing of programs among New York's public TV stations.

I was led to believe this referred to the national system, not a state system. But the national system is available for state networks. I know California and Texas use the national network for their local service.

I'm hearing discussed in the public media universe right now are specifically aimed at increasing local news and public affairs coverage.

That would be great, but it also necessitates local fundraising, and local financial support. That hasn't been easy to guarantee, regardless of the quality of programming.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I'm hearing discussed in the public media universe right now are specifically aimed at increasing local news and public affairs coverage. That means increased local employment, keeping those dollars being spent in western New York. I'm biased here, and would never claim otherwise...but the idea of more radio and TV people being employed locally sure seems like a good idea to me.

That would be a wonderful thing to happen. Yet one must take into consideration that numerous broadcasting operations, both commercial and non-commercial, are looking for ways to trim their budgets. Bringing extra people on board to increase local news is something I will believe when it actually occurs.

 

[audio4tv]

And yet, this might be good news for NPR types:

Congress sets CPB funding. In a pre-holiday conference committee the House and Senate have approved allocating $445 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The fiscal 2012 appropriations bill is 8.1% increase over 2009 levels. It includes another $25 million for the build-out of the public radio interconnection system linking stations.

This is for the replacement and build out of the public radio satellite system, to keep it current, including satellite replacement, equipment at stations and at the NOC and backup NOC. This has been something that has been an ongoing part of CPB allocations for quite some time. The PRSS, which is a trust, is not NPR. It is the distribution mechanism used by public radio, and includes independent producers, NPR, PRI, APM, Pacifica, and others. Currently, it uses Galaxy 16. More info at www.prss.org.