[78-L] Too late to circle the wagons

[Michael Biel]

 Michael Biel wrote:
 > 
> > A 24-hour classical music
> > format is the easiest, cheapest, most mindless, meaningless, and
> > absolutely misguided and worthless programming format that a Public
> > Radio Station could do. Making a public station an all-ANYTHING station
> > is a total waste of the resource. 

From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> The rest of your comment refers to stations affiliated with
> institutes of  higher learning and makes total sense, but
> aren't "public stations" those which are supported by
> listeners and which receive some of their programming from 
> NPR? 

No.  The legal wording of the license category is still "Non-Commercial
Educational" and for many years the only eligible license holders were
educational institutions, but in the late 70s they started allowing
non-profit community organizations to get licenses.  There is no such
category as "Public broadcasting."  It was a made-up name by the
aforementioned Carnegie Commission on Educational Broadcasting as a way
to avoid using the word Educational.  Except for pioneering efforts like
Pacifica which started the concept in the 1950s, listener support was a
product of Richard Nixon's effort to kill any intelligent dissent by
removing a lot of government support to the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting which supplies money to stations so that they were not
supposed to be dependent on the same corporations which support
mainstream corporate media.  With government funding reduced, to avoid
being too dependent on those corporations which also do not appreciate
intelligent dissent, stations followed Pacifica's model and started
beg-a-thons.  Colleges, which used to be able to fully support the costs
of their stations, picked up on what college presidents think is a good
thing to avoid paying their full way by joining in on the beg-a-thon
bandwagon.     

NPR is only one of the national programming organizations which mooch
off of the CPB money.  There also is Public Radio International which
used to be American Public Radio, which started out as a way for
Minnesota Public Radio to avoid losing control of Prairie Home Companion
to the satanic minions in Washington DC at NPR.  And there is also
American Public Media.  People tend to think that ever program they hear
on a non-commercial radio station in the U.S. is NPR.  Only the most
pretentious ones are.  

I am a champion of local radio production, and stations that rely on too
many hours of the national programming are lazy, unimaginative, and a
waste of their air-space.  And the less said about Steve's comment, the
better.

> The stations in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse are close to all classical 
> (Syracuse has some jazz, Rochester has originated some enjoyable nostalgia 
> programming) and none of them is mindless or meaningless.

I didn't mean the programming is mindless or meaningless, the MANAGING
of an all-classical station is mindless and meaningless.  You unlock the
door, turn on the transmitter, and put on an endless series of CDs which
once in a while are identified.  The breaking into that endless stream
of lengthy classical recordings with an enjoyable nostalgia program is a
step away from the category of mindless and meaningless managing.  How
about next having some other local programs with people discussing
things?  Add in some programs where some meaningful music is played and
discussed.  Jazz would be fine.  So would country. Of course there are
many different kinds of jazz and country, and a set of programs of the
different tyes could be quite interesting.  How about some ethnic music,
now called "World".  Easy listening could be added to the mix.  Some
comedy programs would be fine, especially if you had some good local
acts like we did in Philadelphia.  We also did drama, and there are
numerous dramatic groups doing productions around the country.  Now THIS
is a station which would be the basis of intelligent management.  But if
you have a FORMAT, ANY 24-hour format, even and especially classical
music, all you have to to is unlock the door, turn on the transmitter,
pull out a stack of recordings, and the thing mindlessly churns its
single formated music out and out and out and out and out and out, etc. 
A chimpanzee could manage a classical music station, and some of the
all-classical music station managers I have known in my day were at the
chimpanzee level.  
  
> All have live program hosts who know their music (some better than others).

When I ran the university stations, all of the personnel, and I mean ALL
of the personnel, were either students or an occasional faculty member.
If the station is licensed to an education institution and these program
hosts are not students or faculty, they are taking away chances from
students and faculty.  When I became program director at Temple I
insisted that the presenters on classical music programs be music majors
or music dept faculty, or otherwise show expertise.  The commercial
classical station hired away my two best presenters, and one spent the
rest of his life at that station.  I believe he had died before the
station was absorbed into the Temple station, closing out almost all
opportunities for students to likewise get that kind of experience.   

> They also carry the Met (when nobody else does) and Garrison Keillor and
> Bill McGlaughlin, 

These aren't locally produced programs, are they.

> they carry no advertising,

Don't they tell you every half-hour what corporate entity or local
dentist they were able to extort money out of?  Some of the "enhanced
underwriting" announcements I have heard are quite annoying.   

> and the announcers know when to shut the **** up and play the music
> (unlike what we're stuck with in Toronto).

Ah, the "automated" sound.  Load up a 500 disc CD player, push "random"
and there you have it! 
 
 > Speaking as a long-time broadcast
 > educator, if the station is related to an educational institution --
and
 > most of them are -- having a single-format station is the worst
possible
 > use of what could be an important teaching tool, and if that format
is
 > classical music, it is of no use and no interest to the students. It
 > serves a minor audience, and it makes the college's president and the
 > chair of the board of regents happy -- and nobody else. It is a
format
 > that provides absolutely no educational purpose in training
broadcasting
 > students. 
 
 CJRT evolved from a student station at Ryerson to a semi-professional
operation 
 in the sixties, with professionals and students, carrying a wide
variety of 
 programming..much classical, much jazz, and "Open College"..educational

 programs which led to degrees, as I recall. By the 70s the students
were out 
 but they had their own station which continues to thrive. 

THAT is the key.  But all too often they become the level that Steve
Barr would prefer, shunted away as a cafeteria P.A. system, while the
station the students used to run becomes a part of the school's
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, which means becoming something that keeps the
college president from developing an ulcer, and can be used as
background to his next high-power dinner with all his golfing buddies to
mooch money to build a building that will be named for him and add to
the endowment that is never used to actually run the university.  About
15 years ago my department chair got scared about some of the things
being said on our station and the pres moved the station over to the
development department and the ulcers and student training almost
ceased.  

> CJRT became a leader in classical and jazz programming, with
> Ted O'Reilly's nightly jazz program a much-admired and
> long running feature..

Professional student?

> educational programs were still featured as well.

The purpose is not to present educational programs.  The purpose is to
educate broadcasters.

> And The Goons and My Word. Support came from various levels of 
> government

Taking money away from the CBC?????

> and the pockets of loyal listeners.

Ah, the magic beg-a-thon.

> A few years ago it began accepting advertising

Annoying, ain't they?  Which do you prefer, begging or the hard sell?

> and became JAZZFM91 (or some cute phrase like that).

Remember how proud we used to be when we gave our station's call
letters?
 
> We now return to our regularly scheduled rant. dl

. . . already in progress.


Doc Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  



 
 Of course the rap format of my daughter's college station was
 > not any better, but at least the kids were interested. SOME of the
kids
 > were interested. My daughter had to break format to do her program,
and
 > she eventually was manager of the station. A COLLEGE RADIO STATION IS
 > NOT THERE TO SERVE A LISTENING PUBLIC, IT IS THERE TO PROVIDE
TRAINING
 > FOR BROADCASTING STUDENTS. ANY COLLEGE RADIO STATION WHICH DOES NOT
 > TRAIN A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF STUDENTS, BUT INSTEAD HAS A
PROFESSIONAL
 > STAFF, IS A TOTAL WASTE OF THE SCHOOL'S MONEY AND SHOULD BE CLOSED
DOWN.
 > 
 > 
 > The stations I managed at Temple and Northwestern were open-format
 > (including classical music programming produced by students who
wanted
 > to do classical music), and had huge student staffs. WRTI-FM at
Temple
 > became an all-jazz station the year after I left, and when the last
 > classical station in Phila close down they hired that professional
 > staff, became half jazz and half classical, and moved the studios
 > essentially off-campus, becoming totally worthless for teaching. I
 > would say that during the four years I was there and the one year
after
 > when my roommate managed it, we had more student staffers in those
five
 > years than all of the 40 years that have passed since combined. 
 > 
 > I'm not saying that there should not be any classical radio stations,
 > only that it is not appropriate to waste a college radio station
license
 > on a single-format station. 
 > 
 > Professor Biel mbiel at mbiel.com 
 >