Vivian Schiller Creates Member Station Backlash

[JimmyJames]

Without PTFP many of these stations couldn't get on the air to provide a non corporate, locally minded service.

So you think because of the Juan Williams issue, all of these stations that got NCE licenses in 07 should be screwed? It wasn't their fault.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Without PTFP many of these stations couldn't get on the air to provide a non corporate, locally minded service.

So you think because of the Juan Williams issue, all of these stations that got NCE licenses in 07 should be screwed? It wasn't their fault.

Who are you asking? There's no quote in your post.

 

[Talk_Dude]

As an FYI for everyone, this is what the PTFP is about -- $20,000,000 worth of pork, handed out in $200,000 chunks.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

As I write this, it is the night before election day 2010 and we have many dreams and/or worries about how the election outcome will affect NPR affiliated stations. Close your eyes and look into the crystal ball with me.

There will be a number of newly-minted conservative congressmen showing up for duty in January 2011. One in particualr has the attention of NPR stations out in the plains, the Western states, the non-industrial fly-over country. Newly elected Jethro Hotrocks from the 13th District of Timbuctu haw vowed he will cut out all Federal money going to Public Broadcasting. So a number of these stations get together and ask a couple of their good researchers to look for some facts-of-life about the Federal Budget that will help them maintain the status quo.

They find something buried down in the Defense Budget. Next they turn to the NASA Budget and find paydirt. Next year the Federal Government will spend more money paying for replacement toilet seats for the soon to be retired Space Shuttle than the entire cost of the Federal Subsidy to Public Radio.

They also find that the toilet seat contract goes to a corporation in the district of Senator Jack S. Phogbottom. They find out that the corporation strips off enough management fee to pad the pay package for top executives in the district, and the rest of the funds are then sent to China to pay workers to built the toilet seats.

The rural NPR stations are on-fire. They have a story to tell. Money for NPR is spent paying people who live in the USA in small and medium size communities. The toilet seats are an embarrassment to Congress. We can't wait to send our researches to Washington to testify at hearings on the proposal by newly minted Congressman Jethro Hotrocks.

Part Two follows in the next message.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

From the crystal ball, here is part two.

Top managers at NPR (national) headquarters have their own plans. They don't want the boat rocked too badly. They know that for the big city stations and for their national organization they could probably get on the phone and make a few personal visits and shake the pocket books of some national organizations and foundations for money in the amount equal to what they now receive from the government. But that presents a problem. Today when a big donor starts getting pushy about changing the direction of news coverage and other issues, NPR can push back and explain: As long as we get Federal funding, we cannot take sides the way your foundation is suggesting.

It turns out the key players in management and the board of directors actually want to walk the middle ground between the liberal and conservative forces, and making the Federal Funding out as "the bad guy wearing the black hat" is very useful to them in balancing the pressures of the listener-donors, the corporate and foundation donors, and the ever bothersome legislative types.

So top NPR types early in 2011 take a cab ride over to the capital to visit with Senator Phogbottom. They have a frank and cordial discussion. They suggest they are working on their station group that wants to get noisy and public on this issue of who is most worthy of Federal funding, and Senator Phogbottom agrees he will be working on the noise level of newly minted Congressman Jethro Hotrocks and some of his close associates who are beginning to gather around him.

Look! In the crustal ball... part THREE.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Part Three:
Senator Phogbottom picks up the phone late in the day and calls Rep. Hotrocks. Why don't you sent your aides home for the day. I want to come over and have some quality time. Just you and me. The senator comes walking through the door with a bottle of scotch and two tumblers. He pours. And they talk. Jethro, have you ever heard Justin Wilson, known as The Cajun Cook on TV? And have you heard his story about the four coon hunters and five dogs traveling in the middle of the night to reach their hunting camp. Everyone is asleep except the driver and he is getting lonely and a bit angry. He stops at the truck stop for coffee and as he closes the car door he hears a "meow". A cat wandering in hopes of some food. He grabs the cat by the tail, whirls the cat around his head a couple of times, opens the car door, throws the cat in among the sleeping dogs and hunters, slams the door good and loud and goes for coffee.

When he comes back out, the cat has long since disappeared and the hunters and dogs will be a long time even thinking about sleep.

Jethro, Do whatever you want with this bill of yours to strip all Federal funding from NPR stations. But if all these rural NPR stations show up and start talking to reporters about the pork in the Defense appropriations and the pork in the NASA appropriations and how much of this money pays the wages of people in other countries while NPR is paying the wages of people in Wyoming and Idaho and Iowa etc the hearing room is going to have a lot of static electricity floating around.

So Jethro, before you grab NPR by the tail and whirl it around your head and fling it into the hearing room, I want you to think long and hard what those other three hunters thought about that cat-tossing friend of theirs.

Want a refill in that tumbler? I gotta go. You can keep the glass if you like. By the way, I hear the station group knows that the toilet seats enter the country from China through the big port in your district. Your voters are going to love watching you on TV as you defend your bill and hear all the ills of funding toilet seats made in China. Think about something tonight. Maybe you would like to take a cab ride tomorrow and meet the folks from NPR who were in my office today. I'm sure they will be much more understanding of your bill after you explain it to them.

 

[JimmyJames]

That "pork" you call PTFP funds rural, community minded radio stations in towns where the commercial stations have gone satellite. Like KAXE in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, who do very worthy work in a town where most commercial radio is bird droppings.

 

[Talk_Dude]

That "pork" you call PTFP funds rural, community minded radio stations in towns where the commercial stations have gone satellite. Like KAXE in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, who do very worthy work in a town where most commercial radio is bird droppings.

Yeah, real "worthy work".

Gotta keep the liberal, cultural elites getting their dose of "it's good for you" radio. Forget about these stations:

KADU 90.1 FM Hibbing, MN Christian Contemporary,
WIRR 90.9 FM Virginia-Hibbing, MN Classical,
WIRN 92.5 FM Buhl, MN News,
WTBX 93.9 FM Hibbing, MN Hot AC,
KKIN 94.3 FM Aitkin, MN Country,
KGPZ 96.1 FM Coleraine, MN Country,
KMFY 96.9 FM Grand Rapids, MN Easy Listening,
WUSZ 99.9 FM Virginia, MN Country,
KQKK 101.9 FM Walker, MN Adult Contemporary,
KMFG 102.9 FM Nashwauk, MN Classic Rock,
KBAJ 105.5 FM Deer River, MN Classic Rock,
WMFG 106.3 FM Hibbing, MN Oldies,
WNMT 650 AM Nashwauk, MN News/Talk,
WMFG 1240 AM Hibbing, MN Sports,
KOZY 1320 AM Grand Rapids, MN Oldies,

The bottom line is, if the people in the area want what KAXE is broadcasting, then the people who live there will pay for it. If they don't want it enough to pay for it, then they can do without it.

Meanwhile, all the commercial stations have enough to do competing with each other to survive. You want to have a station partly funded by the government competing with them.

What's next? Government subsidies for a chain of coffee houses to compete with the places that have to actually make a profit to survive?

The last thing this nation needs is more socialism, and as bad as wasting our money on pork is, it pales beside the creeping growth of socialism. If you want government subsidised radio, I'm sure there are still some communist countries somewhere that you can move to.

 

[TheBigA]

So is the goal to do away with ALL pork? Or just the particular pork YOU don't like?

If they don't want it enough to pay for it, then they can do without it.

To quote Marie Antoinette: "Let Them Eat Cake!" We all know what happened to her.

 

[JimmyJames]

You left out the mileages of those stations and the degree to which they are satellite programmed. (highly) or not local to that area.

KAXE's programming is highly local, and very worthwhile. Stations like this should not be punished for NPR and Juan Williams. Their programming really screams "liberal elite doesnt it?"

WIRR - statewide MPR - no localism
WIRN - statewide MPR - no localism
WTBX - voicetracked from Duluth outside morning drive.
KKIN - 53 miles from Grand Rapids
KGPZ - satellite
KMFY - satellite
WUSZ - 59 miles from Grand Rapids
KQKK - 60 miles from Grand Rapids
KBAJ - simulcast from Duluth
KMFG - satellite

 

[MattParker]

To quote Marie Antoinette: "Let Them Eat Cake!" We all know what happened to her.

Only she never said it. The phrase comes from a book by Jean Jacques Rousseau written two decades before "what happened to her."

People need basic subsistence (i.e., bread). Nobody needs radio, especially local radio in small towns. It may be nice but it's not necessary. And maybe if listeners or businesses (advertisers or underwriters) aren't supporting it, maybe they don't think they need it either.

 

[TheBigA]

People need basic subsistence (i.e., bread). Nobody needs radio, especially local radio in small towns.

That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about community non-commercial radio. The people ARE supporting it, but they are poor. Most are unemployed or living on fixed incomes, and don't have a lot of extra money. That's why I used the Marie Antoinette analogy. It's easy for the queen to tell poor people how to live. She's rich. But poor people need help, not cake. They need jobs, and there aren't a lot to be had in rural areas. They're isolated, shut-ins, far from social services, and radio can reach them and help. In some areas, that's what's happening. For example, reading services for the blind. Community radio is an effective way of helping senior citizens who can't see any more read the daily newspaper. It's a thankless, payless job. Most people who do it are volunteers. But it's a way of helping people. I know that helping people is seen as liberal, but radio is supposed to serve the community. Not send them a bill.

 

[Talk_Dude]

So is the goal to do away with ALL pork? Or just the particular pork YOU don't like?

If they don't want it enough to pay for it, then they can do without it.

To quote Marie Antoinette: "Let Them Eat Cake!" We all know what happened to her.

The ultimate goal is to get rid of all pork. Ultimate goals are achieved one step at a time.

 

[MattParker]

That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about community non-commercial radio. The people ARE supporting it, but they are poor. Most are unemployed or living on fixed incomes, and don't have a lot of extra money. That's why I used the Marie Antoinette analogy. It's easy for the queen to tell poor people how to live. She's rich. But poor people need help, not cake. They need jobs, and there aren't a lot to be had in rural areas. They're isolated, shut-ins, far from social services, and radio can reach them and help. In some areas, that's what's happening. For example, reading services for the blind. Community radio is an effective way of helping senior citizens who can't see any more read the daily newspaper. It's a thankless, payless job. Most people who do it are volunteers. But it's a way of helping people. I know that helping people is seen as liberal, but radio is supposed to serve the community. Not send them a bill.

A, I can appreciate your good intentions. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, nor free radio, for that matter. There has to be a bill and somebody has to pay it. I have worthy causes (worthy IMHO) that I choose to support. And if somebody chooses to support community radio, more power to them. But when you call for the government to pay the bill, I don't have a choice. You and those who agree with you have decided for me what causes I will support.

What you are describing isn't serving the community. It's narrowcasting for a small niche.

Besides, a town small enough to "need" the kind of community radio you're advocating probably doesn't have a daily newspaper either (probably not even a weekly). And there are several services that provide books, magazines and even newspapers in audio form.

Sorry, it's not something I want to contribute to (or use my taxes for).

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind that, at least with regards to community radio, government isn't paying the whole bill. Just a small part. People who run these stations cobble together money from lots of places, including listeners. On the other hand, there are big chunks of money the government spends that also goes to small niches, especially when we're talking about aid to the handicapped, and the public doesn't get to vote on that either.

This government isn't run by individuals deciding how they want their money to be spent. If a couple doesn't have kids, why should their tax money go to education? Makes no sense to them. Why should young people support the elderly? Why should healthy people support the sick? Why should rich people give money to the poor? It's all a part of how a government works. If we're saying that government shouldn't perform any of these functions, that will leave a big group of people out in the cold, not just a small niche.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I have worthy causes (worthy IMHO) that I choose to support. And if somebody chooses to support community radio, more power to them. But when you call for the government to pay the bill, I don't have a choice. You and those who agree with you have decided for me what causes I will support.

Matt: this is not a thread about your personal political views. (Or mine for that matter.) It is a thread about an existing organization that performs a function called radio programming. That organization decided to terminate the services of an employee/contractor in a rather public way. And now the participants in that broadcasting organization find themselves at some cross purposes: The direction and needs of the centralized program producing structure versus the far flung organizations that possess the transmitters and towers and do whatever amount of programming they feel fits the needs (and the budget) at the community level.

Going forward we as a nation can choose to be more libertarian and tell both groups to get busy and find their own funding, or we can tell both groups we want to solve a lot of their problems with more funding than they get now. That's another argument for another day for another thread.... in some venue where POLITICAL VIEWS are primary.

If you are a student and practitioner of the function known as journalism, it matters not whether you publish the member newsletter for Catholic diocese, the house publication for the state chamber of commerce, the daily newspaper in a city like Atlanta or a magazine like U.S. News and World report, or whether you run the news unit for CBS or for the Fox network, there are ethics and standards for journalists. Ms. Schiller and NPR and Juan Williams got tangled up in an awkward situation. It would not matter whether NPR was fully donor funded, partially government funded or if NPR was converted to a fully commercial operation. The issue would still be the same. What is a person who hires out as a JOURNALIST expected to adopt as work rules and rules of ethics.

As I recall, Dan Rather, who worked for a fully commercial operation called CBS, at the end of his career got caught up in a situation where he let his journalistic standards get tangled up with a personal feud or political issue when he tried a bit too hard to make George W. look bad. Public funding taken out of your pocket was not an issue. But Dan Rather and Juan Williams may someday find themselves in the same chapter of a text book that aspiring young journalists will read during their college days.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Keep in mind that, at least with regards to community radio, government isn't paying the whole bill. Just a small part.

Small part or large part, it doesn't matter. The golden rule applies. "He who has the gold makes the rules". The idea of a "public" or "community" station that is beholden to the central, federal government for any or all of its operating funding will be more inclined to support the political agenda of the incumbents in government who control that funding.

If you support state-owned media so much, why do you insist on remaining in a nation where the news media is supposed to be independent of government control. If you want "Pravda radio", move somewhere that has government-run media.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

If you support state-owned media so much, why do you insist on remaining in a nation where the news media is supposed to be independent of government control. If you want "Pravda radio", move somewhere that has government-run media.

Oh, come on! Let's talk about radio. If you and Matt want to talk politics, get together and go start your own blog.

But while we have Pandora's box open, let's look at the trinkets in there. From the beginning our nation has been in the business of delivering the mail. From very near the beginning our nation has been in the business of operating state run banking. From early in our history we had government funded canal systems. From the time the "choo-choo train" made it's appearance, the government assured that it would run with massive land subsidies. And in those land-grants were blocks set aside for the building and funding of schools.

When the Federal government set aside a block of frequencies for a form of radio that has developed in the mold we now call NPR, the government was simply following 200 years of previously established precedent

Have you not noticed that Presidential elections are very close these days to being 50/50? From where I sit, that means that every Libertarian out there, we will probably find another citizen who is very sympathetic to what you would call Socialist views. For every Libertarian we find out there we may find 20 or 50 citizens just right of center. And for every hard core socialist out there, we may find 20 or 50 citizens just left of center. All those people hovering near the center-line are not making noise about funding NPR (or PBS). They are clucking their tongues about the corruption of classic journalism.

To suggest that BigA or anyone else should leave the country because they have a different view than yours about how the economy functions is just a bit heavy-handed. Isn't that message the mirror image of Pravda? Do what our land tells you to, or get out, or we will imprison you.

And THAT is the philosophical border line that true journalists do not cross over. Journalists (on the radio, in the paper, on TV... where ever) try to always REPORT the news but never MAKE the news. That is the boundary line that apparently both Juan Williams and Vivian Schiller stepped over and started this whole discussion.

 

[MattParker]

GRC: I'm not quite sure how we got into community radio. We started out talking about Vivian Schiller and an article suggesting many NPR "member stations" may have felt blind-sided. No, this forum is not about my political views. It's about everybody's political views. Especially when the topic has anything to do with public radio (leading inevitably to comments about government funding, which apparently is a sore point for many).

The topic really wasn't Juan Williams and whether he should have been fired. It's about the handling of the firing, the effect of that handling on member stations and their subsequent reactions to it. But since you mention it, I should point out Juan Williams was billed as an "analyst" - he is supposed to comment in that role. He worked at Fox News, too, and he was supposed to comment over there. Reporters are supposed to be objective. Analysts, commentators and columnists are not. At Fox News, he gave a personal reflection during an interview. Jeez, NPR hosts are always doing that and on NPR's air. The problem here is that NPR is steeped in political correctness and Vivian and other PC types did not like the comment he made. I say it was hypocrisy to suggest that he was not supposed to make comments. They apparently wanted to fire him and were waiting for an excuse. I haven't read Juan's contract but I also suspect they didn't really need an excuse but were too cowardly to just fire him (we know they didn't have the guts to fire him face to face).

Dan Rather got caught up in a situation where management caved to political pressure. He read copy somebody else wrote (his principal function). The administration didn't like what he read and turned the screws. Evening News ratings were down any way (although not as far down as today but down). Dan was getting big bucks for bad ratings plus unwanted attention from the government. So management dumped him. He was a scapegoat for the suits. The story he narrated was valid.

A: The idea of school taxes is everybody pays. Your parents' taxes came nowhere near covering your tuition. Someone paid once a time when you were in school. You pay as an adult. That said, I do have an issue with all these special needs niche programs judges force on school districts at great cost to tax payers. School taxes are an investment in future taxpayers, not lifetime tax consumers.

Social security is supposed to be an insurance/pension plan. Problem is politicians keep adding benefits and giving them to people who did not spend their entire careers making payments for those added benefits. So younger workers do have to pay to make up for the lower payments older people made when they were younger. Plus politicians keep stealing from social security and younger workers are supposed to make that up, too. If we had universal single-payer health care and universal pensions like the EC, that would be one thing. What we have instead is health care, pensions and subsidies for squeaky wheels, entitlement groups and victim groups. Everybody else pays for it. The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many. Illogical.

 

[Talk_Dude]

If you support state-owned media so much, why do you insist on remaining in a nation where the news media is supposed to be independent of government control. If you want "Pravda radio", move somewhere that has government-run media.

Oh, come on! Let's talk about radio. If you and Matt want to talk politics, get together and go start your own blog.

There is nothing more fundamental in the world of radio, especially public radio, than the funding that keeps it on the air. The backlash against Vivian Schiller by NPR member stations is about the funding of member stations. The Vivian Schiller incident has caused many private contributors to stop pledging money to their local NPR station. It has also caused those same people to call for the government to stop funding public radio.

Read any operations manual about how to work any radio transmitter. Among the the first steps are (1) plug it in and (2) turn it on. If you haven't paid the electric bill, when you do step 2, nothing happens. So discussing how Vivian Schiller's antics have impacted the funding of public radio is 100% on topic.