And of course, NPR has to serve two masters--the news/talk audience, who wants news and talk and not much else, except maybe on the weekend, and the music audience, who only wants five minutes of news at one minute after the hour, if that much. The author doesn't have to worry about programming music because three of the other four BBC analog networks play music. (Of course, the three staple music formats of U.S. public radio--classical, jazz and folk--are heard primarily just on Radio 3 in the Beeb's portfolio. The fast-rising on U.S. public radio [to the disgust of the long-time listeners] adult album alternative format is the province of the digital BBC station 6Music.)
NPR and public radio stations have tried to separate news/talk and music in many markets, but the problem there is having to acquire a college radio station playing free form indie rock in order to do it (see Houston and Nashville, among other markets) or putting the music format on satellite-fed or automation on an HD Radio subchannel on a technology that a decade after its introduction has gathered almost no interest from the Pandora-sated consumer. And yes, the history of public radio in the U.S. has been marked by almost every new program to come down the pike attacked by longtime hardcore listeners who do not want anything new and threaten pulling their donations, only to get used to the program eventually. (In Chicago on WBEZ, when Garrison Kellior replaced a taped NPR jazz concert show that could run anywhere in the schedule 30 years ago when Kellior went national, the wailing and gnashing of teeth of jazz fans was monumental [and they kept finding excuses until BEZ finally dropped almost all jazz programming five years ago--and some still wail and gnash teeth].) On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 10:46 AM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > An interesting article on a radio show that goes far beyond just > coming up with a list of six tunes, a book, and a luxury item. > > Two-thirds down, the author (who runs Radio 4) notes the difference > between his channel and NPR: "When I am in the US I tune into Radio > 4’s equivalent, NPR (National Public Radio). It is full of good, > high-fibre things but its laudable high-mindedness lacks any light and > shade, the production values are stripped back and the range is > narrow. There is no 'I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue', no 'News Quiz', no > 'Just a Minute', no 'The Now Show'." Obviously someone has never had > to do a pledge drive or read annoying e-mails from listeners about how > "we don't listen to NPR for talk about Ke$ha!". > > (aside to the previous paragraph: I have given up on Wait Wait, > because there's just too much gimmick to it compared to News Quiz. > Only understanding 1/3 to 1/2 of NQ beats a full 50 minutes that > includes "Who's Carl This Time" and "Listener Limerick Challenge".) > > Google Cache of Financial Times: http://goo.gl/M2ZCA > > Joe Hass > Willowbrook, IL > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
