National Programming? Come on...

Submitted by finalrune on March 6, 2007 - 8:35pm. ::

Well, if you wanted rants and raves, here's a rant and rave...

My local public radio station has an obsession with playing classical music--what's up with that? I think it's probably a nationwide epidemic, and it drives me batty because we have the requisite "classical" station in the area, why have 12-hours plus of classical music on the ostensibly "public" station?

I volunteer at a community radio station because it's actually accessible to average people. Our quality of programming is varied -- certain DJs excel above others, and you can't expect much from a completely unpaid DJ staff, but I'm consistently impressed with the effort that volunteers put in and the quality of programming. Yet, my local public radio station seems capable of hosting only a few nationally syndicated programs and endless hours of classical music. Where does all that money they beg for GO?

I know it's expensive to run a radio station, but com'n now... If a station is truly to be "public," it should reflect the local culture and color of the people, not cater to a very-nichely defined "public radio crowd." Otherwise, the programming remains unsurprisingly, predictable, and mostly bland.

(I do love my Ira Glass, Terry Gross, Selected Shorts, and more, but I'd love quality local programming even more.)

Oh... AND HOW 'BOUT THE RADIO DRAMA!

...Thanks ;-)
Frederick Greenhalgh
www.finalrune.com
www.radiodramarevival.com

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Frederick! How nice to see
Submitted by Dani Cutler on March 7, 2007 - 3:46pm.

Frederick! How nice to see you here!
Our public radio station is jazz.. I don't know if that is a step up or down actually. I think the music should be as ecclectic as public radio is supposed to be.
At the independent station I volunteer for, all the announcers have input to the music played. It's quite nice, because we are all involved in the content aired.

Perhaps this contest is a step in the direction of actually putting public radio more in the hands of the public?

~Dani

Truth Seekers
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Nice to see you too!
Submitted by finalrune on March 14, 2007 - 5:59am.

Dani,

Thanks for writing and your comments! I do hope this content helps put the "public" back in public radio -- I understand listener surveys statistics and all of that, but there's no reason public radio should be so dry and vanilla when we have such a crazily diverse country. And what makes these national shows so much better than what we could produce locally if we actually used the money donated by local citizens to produce it?

RadioDramaRevival has gone far without a dollar! It's crazy to think that NPR affiliates across the country can't do better.

Look forward to this contest and further discussion ;-)

Frederick

FinalRune Productions - Original Audio Fiction
www.finalrune.com

Radio Drama Revival! Podcast/Blog
www.radiodramarevival.com

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