Thursday, October 20, 2005
PUBLIC RADIO-NO MORAL HIGH GROUND HERE!
A REPLY TO AN E-MAIL CLAIM OF MORAL HIGH GROUND FOR PUBLIC RADIO.
I re-read your e-mail several times, just to be sure I understood your meaning.
I am not suggesting sales of anything on public stations. No "Buy now", "Half price sale", "Better then all the rest", just the same underwriting I hear all day long on WHYY, WRTI, WXPN, WRDV, WKDU, and most other public stations.
The public radio programs almost always have a related website that they mention, and promote. Most underwriters have some sort of direct or indirect interest in at least some of the content of the shows. The public stations run long program length "commercials" hawking "donations" to themselves or to program producers, selling T-shirts, mugs, CD's, DVD's and hundreds of other items. Writers, musicians, doctors, lawyers, politicians, chefs, scientists, and dozens of others as guests on public radio, promote magazines, books, CD's, kitchen tools, hardware, services, religion, therapy, a scientific theory, political viewpoints, some type of music, and just about anything else you can imagine.
Your response puzzled me. Then I realized that you did not understand my e-mail, or jumped to conclusions. I did not mention or intend "selling" anything outside the public radio guidelines.
Many of the programs on public radio are syndicated, produced, or underwritten by independent producers that have interested underwriters, or in some cases by related divisions or featuring persons involved with the underwriters.
I was going to list some examples here, but there were far too many to list. Instead just take a look at some of the public stations schedules. Perhaps you haven't heard most of the shows.
http://www.pri.org/PublicSite/listeners/index.html
http://www.whyy.org/91FM/schedule.html
http://www.npr.org/audiohelp/progstream.html
http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/
http://about.prx.org/
http://www.apmstations.org/apmstations/ota/OTAUnderwriting.do?navId=60
http://www.publicradiofan.com/
http://www.prms.org/
And many others.
Almost all the programs in these schedules include underwriting credits, website promotion, and mention items, viewpoints or services being promoted by guests or the program producers. None of this is considered selling and is within the public radio guidelines for program producers.
Many shows are independently produced or feature program elements produced independently. Sometimes they are independently produced but originate from a public radio station or network, but many times the programs are independently produced and just carried by public stations or networks.
Independent producers are eligible to receive payments form the programming fund for use of their content.
Your extremely restricted view of what is allowed on public radio seems at odds with what is on the air.
If I misinterpreted your e-mail, or am in some way in error, I am open to ideas and discussion.
If you are claiming some kind of virginal purity for public radio, like the disappointed new husband, I'm afraid you are 40 years too late.
One of the main driving forces and selling points behind HD digital radio, is that stations will hawk expensive new digital radio receivers made necessary by the hissing digital interference transmitted, making the older current analog receivers obsolete. All the while jamming competing adjacent channel stations.
Not only has public radio lost all it's virtue and virginity, it is now a street walker hawking implements, aids, and selling services. Like a street hooker, public radio also jams the competition and runs competitors into the ground. Public radio no longer has claim to the high moral ground once claimed. It is spending millions of taxpayer public money to digitally jam other independent voices and stations. No morality in that. This results in far fewer received stations, not more, as falsely claimed.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Rich
FROM THE ORIGINAL E-MAIL POST THAT PROMPTED THIS REPLY (FROM R. ALAN CAMPBELL- PUBLIC BROADCASTER)
OK This will work with commercial stations.....
Each of the two Public Radio networks will not allow distribution a program promoting sales on their networks...however if they just do up linking without their brand it may work- they lease their satellite for commercial use. They have separate distribution arms from their own network shows. My grasp
however for public stations is a "locally" produced program could be underwritten locally...we just do a local program for each station (same master). Local stores get promotion money for advertising from the parent.
At one time Richard Crandell did a show like this out of LA for BMG. Some public stations carried it but without other record companies on board the stations and public radio networks realized they were just promoting BMG product on their stations...becoming an hour commercial. Frank Carter did one on WFLN for Sam Goody...on Saturday mornings. He did it at WFLN as an hour commercial working for himself and Sam Goody-Philadelphia and not an employee of the station but as an independent contractor.
yours truly, R A Campbell
http://studionote.com/http://racampbell.com/
http://classicalmanac.blogspot.com/
I re-read your e-mail several times, just to be sure I understood your meaning.
I am not suggesting sales of anything on public stations. No "Buy now", "Half price sale", "Better then all the rest", just the same underwriting I hear all day long on WHYY, WRTI, WXPN, WRDV, WKDU, and most other public stations.
The public radio programs almost always have a related website that they mention, and promote. Most underwriters have some sort of direct or indirect interest in at least some of the content of the shows. The public stations run long program length "commercials" hawking "donations" to themselves or to program producers, selling T-shirts, mugs, CD's, DVD's and hundreds of other items. Writers, musicians, doctors, lawyers, politicians, chefs, scientists, and dozens of others as guests on public radio, promote magazines, books, CD's, kitchen tools, hardware, services, religion, therapy, a scientific theory, political viewpoints, some type of music, and just about anything else you can imagine.
Your response puzzled me. Then I realized that you did not understand my e-mail, or jumped to conclusions. I did not mention or intend "selling" anything outside the public radio guidelines.
Many of the programs on public radio are syndicated, produced, or underwritten by independent producers that have interested underwriters, or in some cases by related divisions or featuring persons involved with the underwriters.
I was going to list some examples here, but there were far too many to list. Instead just take a look at some of the public stations schedules. Perhaps you haven't heard most of the shows.
http://www.pri.org/PublicSite/listeners/index.html
http://www.whyy.org/91FM/schedule.html
http://www.npr.org/audiohelp/progstream.html
http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/
http://about.prx.org/
http://www.apmstations.org/apmstations/ota/OTAUnderwriting.do?navId=60
http://www.publicradiofan.com/
http://www.prms.org/
And many others.
Almost all the programs in these schedules include underwriting credits, website promotion, and mention items, viewpoints or services being promoted by guests or the program producers. None of this is considered selling and is within the public radio guidelines for program producers.
Many shows are independently produced or feature program elements produced independently. Sometimes they are independently produced but originate from a public radio station or network, but many times the programs are independently produced and just carried by public stations or networks.
Independent producers are eligible to receive payments form the programming fund for use of their content.
Your extremely restricted view of what is allowed on public radio seems at odds with what is on the air.
If I misinterpreted your e-mail, or am in some way in error, I am open to ideas and discussion.
If you are claiming some kind of virginal purity for public radio, like the disappointed new husband, I'm afraid you are 40 years too late.
One of the main driving forces and selling points behind HD digital radio, is that stations will hawk expensive new digital radio receivers made necessary by the hissing digital interference transmitted, making the older current analog receivers obsolete. All the while jamming competing adjacent channel stations.
Not only has public radio lost all it's virtue and virginity, it is now a street walker hawking implements, aids, and selling services. Like a street hooker, public radio also jams the competition and runs competitors into the ground. Public radio no longer has claim to the high moral ground once claimed. It is spending millions of taxpayer public money to digitally jam other independent voices and stations. No morality in that. This results in far fewer received stations, not more, as falsely claimed.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Rich
FROM THE ORIGINAL E-MAIL POST THAT PROMPTED THIS REPLY (FROM R. ALAN CAMPBELL- PUBLIC BROADCASTER)
OK This will work with commercial stations.....
Each of the two Public Radio networks will not allow distribution a program promoting sales on their networks...however if they just do up linking without their brand it may work- they lease their satellite for commercial use. They have separate distribution arms from their own network shows. My grasp
however for public stations is a "locally" produced program could be underwritten locally...we just do a local program for each station (same master). Local stores get promotion money for advertising from the parent.
At one time Richard Crandell did a show like this out of LA for BMG. Some public stations carried it but without other record companies on board the stations and public radio networks realized they were just promoting BMG product on their stations...becoming an hour commercial. Frank Carter did one on WFLN for Sam Goody...on Saturday mornings. He did it at WFLN as an hour commercial working for himself and Sam Goody-Philadelphia and not an employee of the station but as an independent contractor.
yours truly, R A Campbell
http://studionote.com/http://racampbell.com/
http://classicalmanac.blogspot.com/
