Posted on 01/19/2009 6:12:54 PM PST by Drango
Not profitable radio
By J.J. Jackson
web posted January 19, 2009
So it finally has come down to the brass tacks; the government asking itself for a bailout. There is nowhere else to run. There is nowhere else to hide. We are stuck staring the truth straight in the face as the news is that National Public Radio, a government sponsored entity which does not make enough money to stay afloat without millions of tax payer dollars, is asking for a bailout (i.e. more taxpayer money) in order to fund all sorts of pet projects and big dreams. PBS is also sticking their hands out too for more tax dollars than they already receive.
In all, these government funded consumers of valuable air waves and bandwidth are asking for, according to reports, another $550 million. The money, they claim, is needed because they provide such a valuable public service and that we would all be in such a terrible crisis if they were to not survive the latest economic downturn and tough times.
I have a slightly different take on this. If the service they provided was indeed so valuable that we, the American people, could not do without it, they would not need to beg their government benefactors for a single dime. If their service were so in demand advertisers would be stumbling over themselves to reach the millions of people tuning in each and every day to government sponsored broadcasts and government sponsored programming to sell whatever it is that they have to sell.
Of course, the reality is that the "valuable" service that NPR, PBS and other government sponsored entities provide is not really all that much in demand and there are not millions of people tuning in each and every day to listen or watch. For PBS when pledge time comes around, there are not phones ringing off the hook with patrons eager to fund their operation and plans apparently. For NPR they cannot sell advertising and charge rates high enough to make advertising revenues reach the levels needed because not enough people are listening. If they could, they would!
But even a quick glance at the latest ratings for the local Pittsburgh market for Fall 2008 shows that none of the three stations broadcasting NPR programming (WDUQ, WQED and WYEP) have any listenership that registers at all. Each of them also gladly accepts advertisers or "underwriters" as they are often known in the public radio, "not for profit" business. So knowing that these stations do not even register as a blip on the ratings scale how can anyone make the claim that they provide a service, valuable or otherwise, when no one is listening?
In Pittsburgh you have stations like WDVE-FM which plays Album Oriented Rock pulling down an 8.9 Average Quarter Hour Share to lead the market followed by KDKA-AM and WPGB-FM, two stations with in inarguably conservative news and information slant pulling down a combined 15.0 share (8.5 and 6.5 respectfully). Heck, even WPTT-AM which was the local liberal station featuring nonsensical mumblings from local moonbat Lynn Cullen and national "talent" Thom Hartmann at least registered on the radar! Sure they limped in with a pathetic 0.8 share before shutting down and restarting as a news talk station focusing on financial and economic issues but at least they could claim to have some listeners!
National Public Radio should be renamed Not Profitable Radio while the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) should be called more inline with the support it actually receives; Pretty Blah Support.
Let's look at reality. Radio is free as long as you first shell out as little as $10 for a radio at K-Mart. Basic television is also free as long as you first cough up as little as $100 for a low, low, low end television. Every American makes a choice what to watch and listen to and the results are in. Radio hosts like Limbaugh, Beck, Quinn & Rose, Boortz, Hannity and Savage are not looking for bailouts nor, dare I point out, are the vast majority of stations that broadcast them. At worst, these stations might be suffering because other hosts on their lineup are not carrying their own weight and they are relying too heavily on hosts actually in demand by the public to keep afloat a variety of personalities that cannot draw more interest than crazy Aunt Martha at Christmas dinner. You know, the kind of person that you tolerate out of civility when they are in your presence, but someone you would not hang around if you had any choice in the matter.
NPR certainly doesn't need a bailout. It certainly does not need taxpayer money. What they need is programming that people will tune in to hear! Until they are willing to enter the real world and accept the laws of economics that prevail out here they should be allowed to fail and fail miserably without a single penny of tax dollars to bail them and their grand schemes out.
J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the lead editor contributor to American Conservative Daily and also the founder of SignalCongress.com. He is the owner of The Right Things - Conservative T-shirts & Gifts. His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com.
I’m shocked...
I don’t listen to radio very often but in my 71 years I have never come axross Narional Public Radio, is it nation wide?.
NPR is looking for a bailout.
bailout? from what? it's already funded!
I take a look at PBS, and am angered. I mean, I am really hacked off. How many millions of taxdollars went to fund Sesame Street? One would ‘think’ that Sesame Street and all the characters would be the property of the US taxpayer - after all, we funded the creation, development, marketing and production of every episode, right? Nope, the creators went on to make millions of dollars, selling T-shirts, lunch boxes, video tapes and commercial appearances. Later on, Disney went on to buy the rights to Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and the rest.
Why didn’t this money go back into the system to make PBS, and NPR self-funding? If NPR creates a show that takes off and makes money; how much do you want to wager that the creator gets to keep all the rights to the work that was funded by the taxpayer?
Let NPR go under - we don’t need them. People cried that PBS created educational shows that no one else would consider economically viable - today we have The Discovery Channel, and a dozen other channels that do little more than provide educational shows for public consumption - and you know what? Those shows make money!!
Let NPR go belly-up. If there is a market for this tripe - someone else will take a fiscally responsible position and make it profitable too.
I’m just waiting for some Lib-tard to insist we also fund a Spanish culture based NPR system to provide unwanted and unneeded service to illegals.
Before the government is done redistributing tax payer money to all their favored entities, we the tax payers are going to have ask for a bailout just to get any of our own money. Then those in the socialist ‘rat party will have achieved their dream, of turning a once-free nation of individual liberty into a socialist state with the citizens helpless and reliant upon the government. Of course, with that reliance will come the necessity to fall into line if you want to survive, with the support of the government. No one will be free of its tentacles unless they know how to be totally self-sufficient in a remote area. If even that is possible, with today’s technology.
Ah, yes, the Democrat oral sex organ. Those cheap dims won’t even support their own prostitutes without being forced.
Didn’t NPR get an enormous cash gift a few years ago from a rich widow? Ray Kroc’s wife, maybe?
Sigh. They’ll very likely get it, too.
Just like the old days, huh?
Maybe Lake Woebegone will be looking for a handout, too.
Terry Gross Out and Stale Air is not a public service.
Bump for later
Let NPR and PBS die.
National Public Radio should be renamed Not Profitable Radio
It was one of those things..... my computer gave me trouble and was down. I tuned into CMU Midland, Michigan on the FM. There is a program called Wait Wait (Don't Tell Me). A Carl Kasell is the host. Two females were listed as guests and one was a Paula Poundstone. A segment was titled "Listener Limerick Challenge". A "recovering lawyer" phoned in. The subject was the retiring President George W. Bush.
We are told it is live from the Chase Auditorium, Chicago. One of the comments "George Bush to the English language is what the iceberg was to the Titanic". That is pretty moderate to the sneering, snide, nasty put downs of the President. One of the limericks ended with "George Bush" saying the American voters are "ungrateful swine".
The laughter from the audience and a certain chuckling female voice interspersed the comments. So far so good. When the local Michigan CMU broke in, the announcer said the broadcast was made possibly by- and mentioned a local reality company.
Ah well, free speech forever, I suppose. Back to my now recovered PC, for my free speech. (LOL)
We're paying for it anyway, this is just a bonus funding request.
Some places, no matter how dire things are, will always find money to hire unnecessary manager types.
The drunken child abuser Paula Poundstone? Man, she’s a real knee-slapper.
Yes, it’s nationwide. But whatever you do don’t, I repeat.. DO NOT listen to DICK GORDON. He is the definition of liberal wussy. I’m serious. You have to hear him to appreciate what I’m telling you here. Just listening to him will cause a rapid increase in boob size and you’ll want to pee sitting down. He’s disturbing.
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