WXXI going HD

[The Voice of Reason]

According to Scott Fybush, WXXI will be going HD starting August 1st. Fybush will be hosting a special edition of the AM station's talk show, 1370 Connection, to make the announcement. (I wonder why regular host Bob Smith wasn't asked?) As for HD radio I have no opinion one way or another. But I will say that what will improve WXXI is not new technology but its programming. Dump Diane Rehm, revamp 1370 Connection, and try to incorporate more local programs into their daily line up. As an example WAMC in Albany has the "Roundtable", and there is WBUR in Boston with their local shows.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

I wouldn't use WAMC's "Roundtable" as a good example of local programming. I've heard it on occasion while passing through Albany. I don't think it's very good. Sure, I've heard a segment or two that I did enjoy. But overall, I was not impressed. I have found 1370 Connection much more interesting. Also, WBUR can be compared to just a handful of public radio stations in the US. WBUR has a huge staff. It's well funded. And they do great work. But most stations in the public radio system don't have the resources to match what WBUR does. Good local programming costs a lot of money. I can already hear you, "Voice of Reason. WXXI's top management should give up it high salaries and benefits and fund local programming. Well, I won't get into that argument. By the way, lots of people love Diane Rehm, despite her voice problems.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I can already hear you, "Voice of Reason. WXXI's top management should give up it high salaries and benefits and fund local programming. Well, I won't get into that argument.

Hey, I made a promise that I would not broach that issue again and I've kept my word. But I'm glad you mentioned it. ;D

 

[Mark Giardina]

HD; don’t doctors prescribe penicillin for that ?

 

[Bob1370]

In answer to the Voice of Reason, I didn't do the show announcing the HD project simply because I had a vacation week scheduled for the week of the 30th for a long time. Scott handled it very well in my absence.

Sorry to disappoint VOR, but we had an up book this spring, and don't plan any major programming changes. When it ain't broke...

 

[The Voice of Reason]

In answer to the Voice of Reason, I didn't do the show announcing the HD project simply because I had a vacation week scheduled for the week of the 30th for a long time. Scott handled it very well in my absence.

Sorry to disappoint VOR, but we had an up book this spring, and don't plan any major programming changes. When it ain't broke...

Nice attempt at playing spin doctor, Doctor, but going from a 1.4 share in the winter book to slightly over a 2 share in the spring book should prompt your station to make some programming changes; unless of course you people want to continue to languish with a small audience. As for HD, how much of my tax dollars did this 'venture' cost?

 

[alw]

Nice attempt at playing spin doctor, Doctor, but going from a 1.4 share in the winter book to slightly over a 2 share in the spring book should prompt your station to make some programming changes; unless of course you people want to continue to languish with a small audience. As for HD, how much of my tax dollars did this 'venture' cost?

A) Moving from a 1.4 to a 2 share is a significant increase. It doesn't seem so in the commercial world (or at least some of it......a good many commercial stations don't exceed a 2 share), but remember WXXI does not play in the commercial world.
I don't see how Bob telling you that these numbers do not warrant a program change is spinning anything. They don't!

B) I don't know you VOR, but I would guess that your share of tax money spent may have covered the cost of , maybe, a microphone.

 

[Mark Giardina]

If one took WXXI's ratings and compared it against the commercial stations, below you will see where the station ranks.

I would have to agree with others that a 2 share isn't something to be ashamed of.

WBEE-FM
WHAM-AM
WDKX-FM
WRMM-FM
WBZA-FM
WPXY-FM
WCMF-FM
WDVI-FM
WKGS-FM
WFXF-FM
WZNE-FM
WFKL-FM
WLGZ-AM
WXXI-AM
WYRK-FM
WHTK-AM
WLKK-FM
WJZR-FM
WROC-AM
WBTA-AM
WPHR-FM
WRCI-FM
WUUF-FM
WWHT-FM
WSNP-FM
WYSL-AM
WEDG-FM
WGRF-FM
WTSS-FM
WVOR-FM
CFMX-FM
WBBS-FM
WBEN-AM
WGR-AM
WKDL-FM
WKUV-FM
WNTQ-FM
WNYR-FM
WYLF-AM

 

[SirRoxalot]

What About WXXI FM?

It's too bad that WXXI couldn't latch on to FKL or ZNE for simulcast purposes...

 

[The Voice of Reason]

A) Moving from a 1.4 to a 2 share is a significant increase. It doesn't seem so in the commercial world (or at least some of it......a good many commercial stations don't exceed a 2 share), but remember WXXI does not play in the commercial world.
I don't see how Bob telling you that these numbers do not warrant a program change is spinning anything. They don't!
B) I don't know you VOR, but I would guess that your share of tax money spent may have covered the cost of , maybe, a microphone.

Look at previous rating books going back, say 5 years, you will see for yourself that the stations have lost audience. I will grant that AM's numbers are low because of their night-time pattern change. But there was a time that AM had over a 3 share (12+), something they haven't accompished in a long time. As for their FM station, again look over a period of a few years, and you will see a loss of audience
If this station can afford HD, along with moving WRUR's tower from downtown to the WXXI transmitter site on the hill in Brighton, plus all of the "underwriting" I hear, why then do I, and other taxpayers, need to subsidize public broadcasting in the first place? I have no problems if people want to donate, but lets be honest here, some public broadcasting operations, like WXXI, are a money-making organization. I rather have the money in my pocket than buying WXXI a new microphone. If you want to shell out the cash for that piece of equipment, be my guest.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Most NPR stations get very little support from out tax dollars. Most have gone to fundraising and plain old underwriter's messages which sound more and more like commercials every day.

Thank goodness for the NPR stations who disseminate information without the slant and endless commercial clutter.

As for HD if the station does it right there are grants and ways to get the needed equipment at a much lower cost.

 

[Bob1370]

"why then do I, and other taxpayers, need to subsidize public broadcasting in the first place?"

As far as public radio operations at stations like WXXI or WNED...YOU DON'T subsidize it.

Every dime of the operating expenses of WXXI, WNED, WNYC, WAMC, and the other major community-owned noncomms comes from membership money, private donations and underwriting paid by businesses. Not a dime comes from any level of government.

It's private money, and in the case of membership, we don't even assure its tax-deductibility, unlike commercial stations whose revenue is 100% written off by advertisers as a deductible business expense.

Rush Limbaugh's program gets a degree of tax subsidy (because of the deductibility of every dollar of his show's revenue as a business expense) that public broadcasters can only dream of.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Be that as it may, I'm sure that there are many commercial broadcasters who would have loved to have gotten a $70,000 grant for their HD conversions via CPB like WXXI-AM did.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Be that as it may, I'm sure that there are many commercial broadcasters who would have loved to have gotten a $70,000 grant for their HD conversions via CPB like WXXI-AM did.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was the creation of the Johnson Adminstration thus gets funding from the federal government, Therefore the $70 thousand dollar "grant" WXXI received for HD conversion came from tax dollars. Thus my point was proven: WXXI receives funding from taxpayers, despite what Bob 1370 says. :

 

[Philip_Airtime]

I'd like to put it in on the record that public radio stations DO receive subsidies from the federal and state governments for operating expenses. Bob is simply wrong when he says not a dime of operating funding comes from any level of government. I checked the WAMC website. They cite the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (federal) and the State Education Department (state) as sources of funding. WNED's website includes an audited financial statement that includes revenue provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bob, even your own station's financial statement shows revenue from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and State Education Department. So, you can't make that statement. The entity WXXI gets government money. And your financial statement doesn't differentiate where the money goes. I would assume the budget line "total program services" in the expense column includes TV and radio broadcasts.

When NPR nearly went out of business in the 1980s, the CPB adjusted the way it funds public broadcasting so that NPR would no longer get a direct subsidy. NPR does receive some federal money for special projects. But for the most part, it is true that NPR doesn't receive much government funding. What CPB did was to increase its appropriations to local stations. NPR then increased its fees to its member stations for programming. And that's the way things have been working these past 25 years. It's true that stations depend much more on listener and underwriting support these days than federal money.

To those who say they don't like any of their tax dollars going to public broadcasting, I have this to say. I don't like my tax dollars buying $400 hammers. I don't like my tax dollars paying for a hog museum in Iowa. I do like that a few cents of my taxes support the excellent work of public broadcasters. And millions of Americans feel as I do. The two times that Congressional Republicans tried to eliminate funding for public broadcasting in recent years, they heard a resounding no from the public, and those efforts failed.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I'd like to put it in on the record that public radio stations DO receive subsidies from the federal and state governments for operating expenses. Bob is simply wrong when he says not a dime of operating funding comes from any level of government. I checked the WAMC website. They cite the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (federal) and the State Education Department (state) as sources of funding. WNED's website includes an audited financial statement that includes revenue provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bob, even your own station's financial statement shows revenue from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and State Education Department. So, you can't make that statement. The entity WXXI gets government money. And your financial statement doesn't differentiate where the money goes. I would assume the budget line "total program services" in the expense column includes TV and radio broadcasts.

Thank you for pointing out what most of us already know is true –that is public broadcasting operations does receive tax dollars. Maybe not as much as they used too, but they still receive taxpayer funding on top of the money gathered from donations and, in the past few years, commercials. I’m sorry they can call it “underwriting” but they are nothing but mini-commercials. It puzzles me why Bob Smith, who is a learned gentleman with a PhD, would compose a letter claiming that the station he works for does not receive government funding. Mr. Smith laments about the tax breaks commercial stations receive, but on the other side of the coin is it fair that commercial radio must also vie for advertising dollars against stations licensed as a non-commercial entity that airs ‘underwriting’? I will not disagree that there is a need for NPR and public radio. However I will point out that some (not all) public stations who cry poverty during pledge drives have the latest state-of-the art broadcasting equipment in modern updated studios. In the case of WXXI not only are they broadcasting in HD, but they have the financial means to move a college radio station tower from its current location in downtown Rochester to a site in the town of Brighton. This station (WRUR) is licensed to a local college and is used by WXXI to sublimate the loss of signal on their AM station during night pattern. I wonder if someone at WXXI can enlighten us as to how much the University of Rochester, which has over a billion dollars in endowments, helped pay for this tower move? Could they also provide us with a dollar amount of how much WXXI spent to modernize that college station with equipment paid for with funds generated by donations, underwriting, and yes, taxpayer dollars to WXXI? Putting aside for a moment the issue of tax dollars, let me ask if Mr. Smith believes it is only fair that his station be accountable to those who donate money to WXXI? Are these donors informed that a portion of their money goes to a college station that agrees to carry Morning Edition and All Things Considered, but part of the programming day is turned over to college students or that the morning announcer on WRUR also happens to be the husband of the Senior Vice President of WXXI?
One time I heard during a pledge drive a comment that donating money to WXXI is like investing in a stock. I happen to be an investor in the stock market and know where my money is going and how much it earns. Can people who invest in (some) public broadcasting stations make the same claim? Accountability Mr. Smith - your station owes that to the general public, and by issuing a statement that WXXI does not receive one dime of federal tax dollars to fund that station’s operation seriously reduces the creditability factor when it comes to the truth.

 

[Bob1370]

What everyone has done here is confuse subsidies for childrens' educational programs on our sister TV station, and the equipment used to produce them, with subsidies for running our radio stations--which we don't get.

It's understandable, and it's common. The financial statement of the organization as you see it online is pretty bare bones and doesn't detail what every line item is actually about.

Hope this helps.

 

[alw]

Bob:

I suspect that no matter what you write here it will fail to convince certain other posters in any way.
I have found that public broadcasting is a hot button to some and no argument will make any headway at all.

Public and commercial broadcasting are 2 different animals, neither one better nor worse than the other. Probably the major difference that riles up certain folk is the business model. I've learned to listen, nod and smile when confronted with what amounts to nothing but political rhetoric (and almost never constructive). Those who can't abide whatever they think pubcasting stands for will never come around.

I'm afraid that whatever you say to clear things up, will fail to do so.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

The issue here is Bob saying public radio stations don't receive federal funding. And that's just plain false, Al. Perhaps radio-TV combos funnel all their federal money to TV so that technically no money is spent on radio. I would assume that's what you're saying is happening at WNED and WXXI. But that's the choice of your management. All I know, Al, is that WBFO, WAMC, WRVO and other radio-only operations receive federal and state funding. And that's okay! There is nothing wrong with that. I'm a beneficiary of that. What I don't like is Bob making blanket statements that all public radio stations don't get government funding. It gives readers, at least to this board, the wrong impression. And I don't think it's good for those of us in public radio to be fighting about this, so I will stop here.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Be that as it may, I'm sure that there are many commercial broadcasters who would have loved to have gotten a $70,000 grant for their HD conversions via CPB like WXXI-AM did.

My source, the CPB: http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/financials/funding/2005/newyork.html