[Kzyxtalk] NPR's All Things Considered

Wed Feb 19 15:07:26 PST 2014

Is the reason KZYX no longer has a full news hour, because NPR programming has priority and there is not enough $$ for both?  I'd like to know how KMUD budgets it's much smaller income to expand its already full news hour, with several reporters, and no NPR.
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 2/19/14, doug mckenty <dougmck at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] NPR's All Things Considered
 To: "kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
 Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 11:22 AM

 Tim,
 I thought the total programming fee
 of 32k included the 22k for individual programs plus
 membership fees like 8k for the NPR membership.  So the
 total payout for programming was the 32k number.  Perhaps
 you are right and they should be added for a total of
 55k.

 I stopped believing NPR
 programming after observing their coverage of the run up to
 the war in Iraq.  It has become my feeling that they are
 just another corporate news source heavily influenced by the
 corporate/government complex.  I know many believe it to be
 an alternative, but I feel they are one and the same.
  Their foreign policy is very one sided, from the point of
 view of the American military establishment, with little to
 no time for alternative perspectives.  The vast majority of
 their "experts" come from establishment think
 tanks such as Rand, Brookings, and the CFR, all of wich are
 funded by corporate or foundation money.  NPR is heavily
 influenced by the left/right paradigm which it then reduces
 to the two party system they present as functional, with
 little corruption influencing the game.  Alternative,
 independant, and third party factions are almost totally
 ignored.  

 NPR does very little
 investigative journalism of its own, and after years of
 paying close attention to alternative news sources, I have
 found that if an anti-government or anti-corporate meme
 starts to gain traction, NPR is always there to present a
 very softball view of what are sometimes serious
 civil/individual rights abuses.  

 I am also skeptical of its
 attitude that it is completely objective.  By giving
 equal credence to two points of view I often find that
 NPR's coverage manages to give a measure of authenticity
 to ideas that, on their own, would be completely
 ludicrous.

 The fluff pieces often
 stuck between NPR's coverage of real news reminds me of
 the soma pills taken in A Brave New World.  After an hour
 of NPR we are all meant to feel pacified.  There is nothing
 to worry about.  The USA is the greatest country in the
 world.  Its military spreads peace and democracy and its
 people enjoy freedom and abundance.  There is nothing to
 see here, move along.

 I just don't trust
 it.
 Having said that,
 I have never advocated ditching it at KZYX.  I know a lot
 of people do trust it, and a lot of them are paying members.
  I would just like to see less of it and more Independant
 and locally produced journalism and I would like to be able
 to have this conversation on the air instead of on this list
 serve.  I think discussion critical or complimentary of all
 news sources should be part of the function of community
 radio.

 Doug M.

 On Tuesday, February 18, 2014,  <nsi at mcn.org> wrote:

 Thank you, Rick. --beth 

 ----- Original
 Message -----
 From: "Mitch
 Clogg" <mitchc at mcn.org>

 To:<kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
 Cc:

 Sent:Tue, 18 Feb 2014
 20:38:24 -0800
 Subject:Re: [Kzyxtalk]
 NPR's All Things Considered

 Why are people so
 reluctant to cop to
       liking stuff on public radio? NPR, Public Radio
 International,
       Canada radio and a slew of others put superb stuff in
 the air. My
       main station is JPR. It's out of Ashland and beams
 here on AM 1300.
       The signal gets dirty at sundown. I have to drag
 myself away,
       every day.

       Mitch Clogg

       Mendocino

       On 2/18/2014 8:10 PM, Rick wrote:

         And now for
 something
             completely different:

           The subject of NPR's "All Things
 Considered" (ATC) on KZYX is
           an old, old worn discussion around here in
 Ruralland, but I
           would like to bring it up for discussion if anyone
 is interested.
           Unfortunately, I think Beth is right; there are
 probably only
           about 8 of us on this list and half of them are
 just just
           station lurkers or trolls, but I feel strongly
 about this
           subject

         I happen to like ATC.
             Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not a popular stance,
 but there
             you have it. I like the international coverage
 and some of
             the science stories I find really interesting
 and
             entertaining. Can ATC be lame? You bet it can.
 Sometimes I
             just have to cringe at the fluff stories and
 human interest
             filler, but I am willing to put up with the duds
 to get the
             occasional good story and their good stories can
 be very,
             very good. 

         The argument
 against ATC is not
             so much how lame it can be, but how much it
 costs the
             station. I believe the bill is about 60k a year,
 but I could
             be wrong. Maybe someone can give an accurate
 figure. Anyway,
             the new slot at 6 pm with PRI's "The
 World" I think is quite
             good and it complements ATC perfectly by going
 into some of
             the international stories in a deeper way. The
 PRI show must
             be much, much cheaper and even might be free. I
 don't know.
             Anyway, I think it is really good. My
 only criticism of
             The World is that it is heavily weighted towards
 interviews
             and talking heads rather than on the ground
 stories. 

         Two reasons for not
             getting rid of ATC to me would be: The
 international
             reportage, but perhaps more importantly, many of
 the donors
             to the station contribute because of ATC. Cut
 ATC and lose a
             lot of listeners as well as a lot of station
 revenue. I
             don't want to see ATC go, but can we afford
 to keep it and
             if we dumped it, would the loss in revenue from
 loyal donors
             negate the savings?

         Rick
         Little River

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