Comments on: NPR Leader Canned for Being too Modern and Useful

By: bonecrusher

bonecrusher — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:01:31 +0000

This story is months old.

By: paulo

paulo — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:42:43 +0000

So the people who download free music are sorry because they can’t download free NPR shows?

Boo hoo. Bobbo and GigG are right – no one has an obligation to go bust to satisfy the internet’s “freetards”.

By: pat

pat — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:06:36 +0000

#29 Mister Musturd said, – “Sure. Anyone with an IQ in the triple digits listens to it on a regular basis. I guess that wouldn’t include you?”

That must explain why you can’t answer any of my questions to your posts that are completely wrong?
LOL!

By: Mister Mustard

Mister Mustard — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:55:28 +0000

>>Is NPR relevant anymore?

Sure. Anyone with an IQ in the triple digits listens to it on a regular basis. I guess that wouldn’t include you?

By: brendal

brendal — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:30:56 +0000

Is NPR relevant anymore?

By: MikeN

MikeN — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:37:52 +0000

#24, 1-2%? Then they should have no problem without the money, and that’s some money saved. I didn’t realize that was your standard for budget cuts.

By: bobbo

bobbo — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:52:37 +0000

#19–stopher==so the guy made millions? How? I infer that he made it by selling out the interests of the dues paying member radio stations to outside corporate web based entities.

Again==his JOB was to keep the board and the paying members happy. How much money he makes for the NPR reserved capital funds is of NO INTEREST to the paying membership who I assume elect the board members?

So yes money is important and in this case the paying members and their elected board members were losing theirs.

It is pretty clear–even though I am assuming everything.

By: OhForTheLoveOf

OhForTheLoveOf — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:43:34 +0000

#23 – And Hitler made the trains run on time

No he didn’t. That was Mussolini.

By: OhForTheLoveOf

OhForTheLoveOf — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:42:50 +0000

#22 – We should stop giving NPR taxpayer money every year.

Right, because between 1% and 2% of NPR’s total budget is funded by competitive grants from state and federal sources, and once that boondoggle is cleared up we’ll be showing budget surpluses and all children will graduate with high scores and all terrorists will surrender and sunshine will blow out of all our collective asses.

There is no federal budget line item called “Free Money For Public Radio”.

Although, there should be.

By: Peter iNova

Peter iNova — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:52:12 +0000

“This guy delivered them a huge audience…” = The guy is too good to fire.

And Hitler made the trains run on time = the guy is too good to go to war with…

“It will all deteriorate now, you watch.” Nothing like an editorializing way of pushing the story into accelerated flames.

In that spirit, new aphorisms will appear:
Where there’s a whiff of smoke, there’s an apocalyptic inferno.
A penny saved is a million bucks.
Unlock the barn and the horse will get back in.
Always trust Microsoft.
Early to bed and early to rise will give a man girth, direction and size.
Everything made in Detroit is good for America.
Dvorak’s agenda is to inflame you with Truth.

Seriously, I’m reading reports that he QUIT March 5 or 6. So how is this Big News now? Can you get fired 60 days after quitting?

Google his name and you will find out a bunch more.

By: MikeN

MikeN — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:26:21 +0000

We should stop giving NPR taxpayer money every year.

By: Rabble Rouser

Rabble Rouser — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:07:52 +0000

I don’t know about you, but my local NPR affiliate is glad that they got rid of Stern. Though some of the things he has done have been good, the vast majority of them have been bad for National PUBLIC Radio, in that he was taking the PUBLIC out of it and putting corporate interests in its place.
My local affiliate, WAMC, in Albany, NY, is listener supported for about 90% of its funding. A little comes from grants, federal and state programs, and corporations. This is not true of other affiliates, one who has teamed up with Clear Channel. NPR gets its funding from the affiliates (I hear the station manager complain all the time about this), the federal government, and endowments. More and more money is coming from corporate interests, and this does not serve the public well, as corporations are NOT people. Small businesses, who are trying to plug their local wares on the local station are one thing, but when GE or ADM sponsor something on NPR or PBS, I start to wonder as to what corporate spin there has been put on this. Over the last couple of years, I have noticed that NPR has become more and more corporately aligned, and their programming shows. I am glad to see this change, and hope that someone new can put NPR back on the proper track.

By: GigG

GigG — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:03:53 +0000

#19 Of course revenue went up for NPR. Read my #18 post and you will see why.

By: stopher2475

stopher2475 — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:57:04 +0000

“I know nothing other than this article and common sense. You have a “leader” who goes against the board members and the paying membership interests while increasing an “audience” that did not help the paying membership? So, what good was the guy?”

It says that revenue increased from 65 million to 200 million so he must have been doing something right.

By: GigG

GigG — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:05:07 +0000

While everyone likes free stuff on the Interwebtubes. In this case it has to hurt the local stations.

First, several years back NPR changed the way it charges local stations for program. They used to be charged based on the number of listener members they had. Worked out great for the stations they basically just paid in a percentage of their revenue.

Then came the change. Now they are charged based on how many people COULD be listening. So two stations that are in two like sized markets pay the same. It doesn’t matter if Station A has half the listeners (and revenue) as Station B. The online content can only further dilute the local membership base.