"Talk of the Nation" going off the air.

[progressivetalk]

According to the Huffington Post and the NY Times, NPR's weekday talk show, "Talk of the Nation" will be ending it's 21 year run on NPR on June 28th, and the host of the show, Neil Conan is also retiring after thirty years with NPR. On July 1, NPR will air in its place "Here and Now" to be co-produced by WBUR (Boston) and NPR. According to the article, the show will feature "more news and less opinion".

While I've stated in the past, I don't listen to NPR and "Talk of the Nation" that often, it's a damn shame that a show like that is leaving while radio is infested with human garbage like Limbaugh, Savage, Beck, Hannity and the like. For those who have taken issue with me on these pages for saying that we don't need a progressive station in Hartford, all I need to do is listen to NPR, what now??

 

[GlennO]

Only one hour on WNPR will be affected each weekday by Talk of the Nation's cancellation. This is hardly a complete format makeover. WSHU Public Radio runs more NPR programming. Even though WSHU listeners will notice the change more, the "more news and less opinion" approach will be more consistent with All Things Considered, which follows at 4:00. WNPR's 3 hours of locally produced shows tend to be more informational and less political anyway.

NPR was never set up to be a direct liberal counterpoint to the big commercial news talkers dominated by right wingers. It's more sophisticated and academic. Many public radio listeners - liberals, moderates and even a few conservatives - like NPR stations as much for what they aren't as what they are. They tune in WNPR or WSHU to get away from the nonstop right wing slant and the bombastic style designed to get the conservative base riled up. NPR provides an invaluable service as an escape from that.