Confessions of a public radio free rider (NPR)

Union Leader ^ | 4/16/05 | FERGUS CULLEN

[Drango]

Confessions of a public radio free rider

By FERGUS CULLEN

IT’S PLEDGE

week on New Hampshire Public Radio — sort of like sweeps week on the networks, but showing less leg — and I have two confessions to make. I’m a conservative who listens to public radio. That’s bad enough. Second, I’m what economists call a free rider, someone who enjoys the benefits of a good without paying for it. That makes me a horrible person.

I feel guilty about this, but I’m not alone. According to Mark Handley, NHPR’s president and general manager, about 150,000 Granite Staters listen to NHPR at least a little bit every week, with a peak of 40,000 to 50,000 tuning in for “Morning Edition” each day. But only 14,000 people are paying members. Statistically speaking, they can’t all be from Hanover (population: 10,850).

During past pledge drives, I’ve tried evasive maneuvers to avoid having a fund-raiser interrupt the broadcast every five minutes to remind me that I haven’t paid my fair share. In the mornings I’ve switched over to Imus, but then I have to deal with ads. In the afternoons I’ve tuned in to Maine Public Radio, but then I get the wrong forecast.

I’ve been afraid that if I give, I’ll end up on the liberal mailing list, like that year when I subscribed to the New Republic and was soon getting fundraising solicitations from Bill Clinton.

I rationalize not paying my part because I am often irritated by NPR’s subtle bias. Topics about the arts, the environment, or identity politics seem overrepresented, while stories about business seem underrepresented. I hear “right wing” or “Christian conservative” in a report and wait in vain to hear one that uses “left wing” or “secular liberal.”

As a conservative, I just don’t feel like I fit in with the NHPR community. You can tell a lot about NHPR’s membership base by the people who call in to talk shows: “Hi Laura, this is Deb from Durham. Love that funky theme music. Very retro. Anyway, I believe in moral relativism, of course, but isn’t it true that all Republicans are evil?”

You may see Volvos sporting both Howard Dean and NHPR bumper stickers, but have you ever seen George Bush and NHPR stickers paired on a pickup, or on any other vehicle for that matter?

Just when I think public radio is worthy of my financial support, I’ll hear something like breathless Terry Gross’s recent interview with Lynne Cheney. All Cheney wanted to talk about was her children’s book. All Gross wanted to talk about — as seems often the case — was homosexuality. The two circled one another for an entertaining 30 minutes until the interview ended with Cheney declaring, wholly unconvincingly, that it had been a pleasure.

NHPR’s local news coverage is quite good, and reporter Josh Rogers is credited with breaking two major political stories that led to the departures of Nick Vailas and Linda Pepin from public positions. But too often, the “PR” in NHPR seems to stand for lefty public relations. It’s as though members of every Concord advocacy group are on speed dial whenever a comment is needed about the disaster that will ensue if LCHIP or some social services program doesn’t get full funding. I suspect that every member of the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance (“Social, Economic and Political Justice For All”) is a card-carrying member of NHPR; certainly that organization gets a volume discount in free publicity. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen can’t buy a favorable mention.

Besides, I’ve told myself, I pay for public radio through my taxes. But it turns out you and I only pay for about a month’s worth this way. NHPR’s annual budget is $4.2 million, of which the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — our tax dollars — kicks in $295,000. That works out to about 25 cents per New Hampshire resident — still more than what it should be, which is zero, but nonetheless not as much as I thought.

Overall NHPR listenership has increased by about 50 percent since the station dumped classical music and went to an all-news format three years ago — what, public radio concerned about ratings? — and the average NHPR listener tunes in for 10 to 12 hours a week.

Like the kids from Lake Wobegon, I’m above average, and once again, I am trying to decide whether it’s time for me to pony up. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain, and I am confident NHPR will give me my money’s worth of reasons to complain.

Fergus Cullen, a Union Leader columnist, lives in Wolfeboro. He can be reached at ferguscullen@aol.com. His column runs every other Wednesday.

[Drango]

Topics about the arts, the environment, or identity politics seem overrepresented, while stories about business seem underrepresented. I hear “right wing” or “Christian conservative” in a report and wait in vain to hear one that uses “left wing” or “secular liberal.”

[Drango]

*NPR/PBS* Ping list

If you want on or off this *NPR/PBS* ping list, please FReepmail me or just bump the thread
AND indicate your desire to be included. You must opt in! Don't be shy!
This is a low to moderate activity list.

This ping list is a little out of date...The real ping list is on my other 'puter which is cranky today.

[George Smiley]

If Fergus pays taxes, then, in a small way, he IS supporting National Proletarian Radio.

[billorites]

NHPR pumps out hour after hour of ant-american bilge direct from the BBC on a daily basis. This apparently is to supplement the shortage of native grown anti-american tripe produced by NPR.

I would sooner eat glass than send them money. The beg-a-thon is going on right now.

[DoctorMichael]

Defund.

......and if that doesn't finally kill it, revoke their FCC license.

[Prospero]

EXACTLY! Dad Gummit! In NC, 42 percent of the costs of the Public Radio and TV is TAXPAYER SUPPORTED.

I'm getting tired of this Viewer Supported hogwash. It's past time they at least Thanked the taxpayers.

[billorites]

"All Gross wanted to talk about — as seems often the case — was homosexuality."

Well, aren't we a little homophobic today, hmmm?

[MplsSteve]

Absolutely. Defunding is the right thing to do.

NPR has no right to even 1 cent of public money....regardless of how little they claim they actually get.

[C210N]

This "conservative" seems to be a stretch...

often irritated by NPR’s subtle bias...

"subtle"? makes me laugh.

I pay for public radio through my taxes

that's one way to say it, if NPR don't bother you much. I'd phrase it: "I'm forced to fund this one sided trash by Pols I've voted against every November"

I’m a conservative who listens to public radio.

Actually, I just needed to read up to this point. Bye Bye.

[Gefreiter]

This fella forgets that Ray Kroc's widow gave NPR hundreds of millions of dollars last year.

Properly endowed and shepherded, coupled with tax money, other grants from corporations and foundations, all could carry NPR in perpetuity without begging.

This fund drive stuff is little more than marketing these days, marketing the NPR brand as the sole trustworthy voice for the poor, downtrodden, underdog everyman.

My 2 cents. Two cents I'm keeping, NPR, so quit begging.

[martin_fierro]

All Gross wanted to talk about — as seems often the case — was homosexuality.

Imagine that.

[Drango]

Also...did everyone see that Tavis is back on the tax dole?

The Tavis Smiley Show to Premiere on Public Radio International(R)

                 

The Celebrated Host to Engage a Provocative Array of Guests, Opinions, Topics
                              in Two-Hour Format

    MINNEAPOLIS, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Radio International (PRI)
announces the April 29, 2005, premiere of The Tavis Smiley Show, a high-energy
exchange of views, information, and insight, featuring the incomparable Tavis
Smiley and guests. The two-hour weekly show will offer a unique blend of news
and newsmakers in expanded conversations, along with regular high-profile
commentators such as Cornel West, Connie Rice, J.C. Watts, and Michael Eric
Dyson. The Tavis Smiley Show will be available to PRI's 727 affiliate stations
nationwide for broadcast and simulcast streaming. Produced for Friday evening
broadcast, it is part of a PRI program initiative designed to help public
radio stations grow audience and attract new listeners after evening drive
time. Stations will also be able to air the program throughout the weekend,
providing additional tune-in opportunities in their markets.
    Eleanor Harris, senior vice president and head of PRI Marketing and
Distribution, says, "Tavis Smiley deserves to be heard on public radio. His
show is extraordinary, and we are proud to partner with him to bring his much-
needed perspective to the discerning public radio listener. PRI and our
station affiliates are committed to broadening the range and reach of public
radio programming, and The Tavis Smiley Show is a key component of that
strategy."
    Smiley states, "There is no place like public broadcasting for the
critical conversations that help bridge America's cultural, political, and
social divide. Radio has been and always will be an important part of my
mission to bring empowering and enlightening information to diverse
communities."
    Tavis Smiley is one of America's most prominent media personalities. Texas
Southern University honored him with the opening of The Tavis Smiley School of
Communications and The Tavis Smiley Center for Professional Media Studies,
making him the youngest African American ever to be so honored. He hosts Tavis
Smiley on PBS, is a regular political commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning
Show, and now returns to public radio on PRI with a two-hour weekly edition of
The Tavis Smiley Show.
    Recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, including one from his alma
mater, Indiana University, he established the Tavis Smiley Foundation "to
enlighten, encourage, and empower black youth." He has authored eight books --
including The Unfinished Agenda of Brown v. Board of Education, Keeping the
Faith, and On Air: The Best of Tavis Smiley -- and has his own imprint (Smiley
Books) with Hay House. He lives in Los Angeles.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-11-2005/0003163885&EDATE=

[Tijeras_Slim]

Homegirl needs three pints of "O" positive and a sunlamp.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Ask NPR to send a transcript of their interviews with the Swift Boat Vets before sending them any money.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We're ALL paying for NPR, and the price just keeps going up and up, but Bush is (sort-of) putting a stop to it, by not funding it in advance. We'll see, but I'm sure we'll be paying for this for decades to come.

"Specifically, from 2000 to 2001 the U.S. Congress provided $340,000,000 (14.9%), state governments contributed $331,203,000 (14.5%), and local governments contributed $60,933,000 (2.7%). Therefore, according to CPB, in the fiscal year of 2001 it received more than 742 million dollars directly from one PUBLIC treasury or another.

Further, we find out that Congress appropriated 377.8 million dollars for CPB for the 2004 fiscal year, and that the Bush Administration DECLINED to approve in advance funding for 2005 and 2006."

http://www.dontmoveon.org/NPR.htm

[TC Rider]

I too, am a conservative that listens to NPR on a regular basis.

And not just little snippets of 'all things considered', etc.

I listen to all of "Car Talk", "Wait, Wait, Don't tell me" and "Prarie Home Companion".

And I hate it Pledge Week rolls around.

Because I feel guilty?? Hell NO! Because I get sick of their whining and incessant pleading.

I actually think of calling their number and screaming, "STFU".

Or, "Oh, hi! I'm ready to give thousands of dollars, oh wait, Rush is coming on, I'll have to call you back".

[glorgau]

I am often irritated by NPR’s subtle bias

It ain't subtle.

[Disambiguator]

She does have the "sex-crazed librarian" look. She's just differently obsessed.

[FreedomCalls]

And now they are firing reporters who cross their liberal friends...

How the Dems Can Play Against Type
'More Unverified Drivel, Ma!'
By Mickey Kaus
Updated Thursday, March 17, 2005, at 2:57 AM PT

MOMA/NPR update: I don't know who should own Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally" or whether that issue should be decided by U.S. or Austrian courts or whether the Museum of Modern Art is behaving well or badly in the case. But National Public Radio should be highly embarrassed that it apparently 'terminated' a reporter, David D'Arcy, for a story that, while clearly pitched against MOMA, was seemingly accurate and at least as fair as anything else you hear on NPR. NPR's ombudsman, Jeffrey Dvorkin, has now defended the network's pro-MOMA "clarification," while somehow skirting the D'Arcy removal, which is the crux of the controversy. That in turn prompted this lengthy and well-informed blowback from Randol Schoenberg of the anti-MOMA side. ...

Dvorkin's piece isn't as bad as Schoenberg says. It's worse! Dvorkin writes:

The NPR report implied that the painting was part of MoMA's permanent collection ....

That's true, but according to NEXIS the only part of the report that implied this was host Melissa Block's intro. D'Arcy's report, as broadcast, made it completely clear that the painting was seized by the U.S. government after being loaned to MOMA by its putatitve Austrian owners. ... Did D'Arcy write Block's words? If not, why was he the one axed? ... P.S.: People I trust tell me NPR's behavior in this matter is beginning to stink. Shouldn't NPR President and CEO Kevin Klose (FY 2003 compensation: $377,999**) convene a staff meeting at which he brandishes a stuffed moose? ... Sorry, I mean shouldn't NPR President Kevin Klose defend his organization's position in public in his own words? ... P.P.S.: They pay Dvorkin $181,409**, as of FY 2003. Your pledge dollars at work! ...

[Drango]

We're ALL paying for NPR, and the price just keeps going up and up, but Bush is (sort-of) putting a stop to it, by not funding it in advance.

Bush is requesting a 25% drop in public broadcasting budget...The Senate (Ted Stevens) won't allow that. See near the bottom of my home page (click on my name) for why.