Why do we need so many NPR stations? (You won't believe how many Southern New England has.)

2025-07-16 | dangus

[dangus]

NPR is warning that without federal money, some stations might even close down. Even from the point of a person who liked NPR, why would that be a bad thing?

The three states of Southern New England have a combined area of about 14,000 square miles, considerably smaller than several counties, like San Bernadino, California. Back in the days of VHF and UHF TV, you could cover the area with a single TV station, but the networks would put two TV stations in the region. If you wanted to splurge on radio stations, you could make the case for as many as four: one for Connecticut, one so that Rhode Island could have its own for state news and strictly in-state businesses, and if gave Connecticut and Rhode Island stations exclusively for their own state, you might want to put another station in Western Massachusetts.

But Southern New England has more than four NPR stations. Way more. It has 45. Four in Rhode Island alone. 12 in Connecticut. And 29 in Massachusetts. And none of them are AM versions of FM stations. Even though public radio basically quit playing music, they blanket the lower end of the FM dial.

It's pointless and absurd enough that just within the city limits of Boston, there's not one but three NPR stations, playing the same content. But there's also three NPR stations in the tiny town of Sharon, Connecticut, population 2,680.

College radio used to be so students can learn journalism, station management and DJ skills. It was the incubator of alternative movements in music. Now, most college radio is nothing but leftist propaganda produced hundreds or thousands of miles away. How does hosting NPR shows 24-hours-a-day help any communications students? "You'll lose local news!" the NPR supporters say... but "local news" means three minutes just before the top of the hour during certain, select news shows. Wouldn't you get far more if local universities actually produced their own content?

Let's look at more sparsely populated states. Shouldn't someone have to make the case that Vermont radio stations in Sunderland, Manchester (yes, VT), Battleboro, Randolph and Bennington couldn't provide the news that Rutland, Vermont residents need?

These stations get a lot of money from the federal government, but they also get money from the various states. Why are red states' governments shelling out to provide the Democrats 24-7 advertising?

(All station data comes from Wikipedia)

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: funding; npr

[GingisK]

The population is sparse up there for them to support radio stations directly. That is the truth.

[dangus]

>> An FM radio station in Hartford (central location) would not come in clearly in Stamford. <<

Nonsense. I got Hartford FM stereo just fine on the south shore of Long Island. Besides, NPR should be AM. I got New York AM just fine in Washington, and there’s (used to be?) quite a pool of Yankees fans who listen(ed?) to 770-AM NY down in Florida.

>> You could have repeaters, but several of the “NPR” stations are actually college stations (e.g. WSHU-Bridgeport, Sacred Heart University), and would exist whether they were formally NPR or not. <<

Yes, I make the argument that their communities and educational mission would be better served if they were NOT NPR stations.

[faithhopecharity]

we have several mostly-duplicative npr stations

one does original (music) programming
so that’s fine

another noticably does cover local community news so that’s okay

the others? the big ones that undoubtably soak up the most tax money? worthless, should be shut down or at least taken off the taxpayers’ backs

[dangus]

Let me put it this simply: The major networks actually DID get by with two stations in the area. Two were necessitated instead of one because if you’re in New London, pointed to get Providence, you might have trouble getting New Haven. Then again, if you’re in New London pointed towards New Haven, you’d probably get New York just fine. Easthampton, NY is further than New London from New York and they get all their TV from New York.

[stanne]

There was the car guys. They’re gone.

There was Lynn Rosetta Casper cooking show

Gone

Make them raise their own money. Bannon does it. Rogan does it

Tim Dillon Conan

The left can raise their own funds

Free republic operates on its own.

[subterfuge]

You have to have some way of “spreading the money around” as that communist Barry obama said.

[dangus]

It seems bizarre to argue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars promoting Leftist propaganda so a few thousand people in Alaska can have access to that news. I’m sure an Alaskan news program could be circulated to the various religious and commercial stations that greatly outnumber the public stations.

Let’s be real: the Senators from Alaska are pork-addicted Marxists who love NPR’s neo-Bolshevism.

[RetiredArmy]

When the money goes, they will start losing them as the Moola dries up.

[Dr. Sivana]

I got Hartford FM stereo just fine on the south shore of Long Island.

First, some stations have more wattage than others. WTIC-FM will travel farther than WHNC-106 FM. The elevation of the transmitting antenna also makes a difference, as does the location and quality of the antenna and receiving unit. Car radios tend to get better reception than indoor desktop radios. Long Island Sound also means nothing stands in the way of your signal.

Large cities still have NPR music. Here in Phoenix, the main station, KBAQ, is classical music 95% of the time. The news station is relegated to a secondary FM digital signal, with smaller stations that are secondary to KBAQ music.

The AM stations like WABC in New York, KDKA in Pittsburgh, and WLS and WBBM in Chicago, have a clear channel, and what Rush Limbaugh used to call a "50,000 watt blow torch". Those do NOT get handed out easily, and most are heritage stations. If NPR in CT wanted to move to AM, it would NOT get a 50,000 watt station, like WTIC-1080 has. It would more likely get 5,000 watts like WPOP. Some stations only have 1,000 or 2,000 watts and are obliged to signoff at sundown.

So, yes, I have also listened to the blowtorch WBBM-AM Chicago continuous on a drive from Chicago to Connecticut, only losing the signal in New Jersey. (That works better at night, when the stratosphere provides "bounce")

I would agree with you that there is no need for true college stations to be NPR.

In the era of podcasting the wholde college broadcasting thing should perhaps be rethought. Unfortunately government funding (of all kinds not just NPR) inhibits organic change in college responses to changing technical and social environments.

[PGR88]

Why do we need so many NPR stations?

Because without "Antiques Roadshow" on 24/7, American society could possibly collapse?

[jonatron]

Why is NPR in Boston allowed to air commercials on behalf of their sponsors?

[frank ballenger]

I’ve commented on this for years.

Origin was conservative Henry Luce type rich men owning Time & Life in print, Hearst with many newspapers and a handful of conservatives who owned many dozen radio and tv stations. People said “how can a small voice of an alternative viewpoint be heard?”

But now ALL the NPR and PBS views are strongly leftist propaganda. The staff of 87 journalists at the NPR headquarters consists of 100% registered Democrats. Maybe they can have diversity by adding Socialists. /S

Also note that nearly every university and large college in the US has an NPR station and all large cities have them.

Example: For NPR, Detroit, Wayne State University, U. of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University and Toledo are all represented by stations which can be accessed by people in the Detroit four county area. NPR has 36 radio transmitters within Michigan.

10 Michigan PBS TV stations including overlap on cable providers which have 3-4 regional stations plus nearby Toledo, OH.

All with constant left leaning propaganda only.

[11th_VA]

I don’t disagree -

[dangus]

Don’t worry. NPR doesn’t play classical music, anyway. That’s a local station playing some vestigial music programming. NPR stations do also play some BBC America news, Pacifica, American Public Media, Public Radio International, etc... they’re still all Leftist trash funded significantly by taxpayers.

[bk1000]

Shut it down.

Actually, I don’t care if they broadcast, I just don’t want my tax dollars supporting it.

[x]

Boston University students were always angry because the university president turned their FM station over to NPR and “All Things Considered.” I’d suppose that the people at Boston’s own public broadcasting outfit WGBH (NPR, PBS) weren’t too happy about the competition either. I don’t mind so much when I can pick up the NPR jazz station in Worcester, though. That’s not often.

[x]

The Boston NPR stations have repeaters like that on Cape Cod, Nantucket (for the summer crowd), and even in Rhode Island.

[dangus]

Antiques Road Show is not NPR. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting pays local radio stations to buy NPR programming. Those local radio stations can still buy content from other sources, although most use it to buy content from other leftist government propaganda news outlets, like Public Radio International. This is why NPR is so panicking about losing Congressional funding while simultaneously insisting they don’t get THAT much federal funding.

Oh and the local stations which get funding from the CPB are required by law to buy a certain amount of content from NPR. It’s pass-through funding. If you accept $X from CPB, you must spend Y% of $X and Z% of your total budget on NPR broadcasting.

[uranium penguin]

Central mass...

I get no less than 4 NPR radio stations. in @ 90% of the times I scroll through. They are all airing the exact same material.

I suspect that the college/npr stations. if NPR went away, those stations would do 100% better. As now they would broadcast their won shows and their own materials.

And let’s face it. Students can read the standard AP drivel and DNC talking points far more straight and without the patented “NPR-Breathless” “I’m better than you” “ PBS branded Smug” voices.

[dangus]

Also, I feel you’re picking on a nit to justify a broader, invalid point. Let’s say it takes six stations to blanket New England with non-stop 24-7 government propaganda with a certain level of ease of tuning in and a certain level of clarity in the signal. That still means that almost 90% of NPR stations can be eliminated with no decline in service... and we’re talking only (allegedly) about 30% of their funding coming directly from taxpayer dollars.