Jim King, whatever his value was to WVXU and creating the XSTAR radio network, seemed to be trapped in radio's golden age, and refused to not only embrace programming changes, resented the notion. His presentation..."that was Sara Vaughan, and before that Edie Gorme, and we began the set with...." was beyond boring. The guys was in love with his own voice and his own concept of what non-commercial radio was all about. The documentaries that Mike Martini produced, while ambitious in scope, were uninspired in production and style. This also pretty much defined what WVXU sounded like. King did resent the rest of the broadcast world; I had sent him a message a decade ago requesting information about a specific song he had played during "when swing was king", identifying myself. Working for the evil empire, though at the time it was pre-deregulation, he never even responded to my request. Rude, unprofessional, and very telling.
As to the current WVXU, I listen very frequently. I do think that NPR/PRI et.al. need to begin the process of incorporating more of the "What do you know" and "This American Life" programming. There's just so many hours in the day, and the weekdays seem pretty solid; you either like the hosts or you don't, but in terms of attacking issues in what I believe is a balanced approach, there's simply no where else on the dial to hear it. I can not, and will not wade through seven minute stop sets with lame promos and absolutely stupid and repetitive commercial messages to get to the so-called "content".