READER COMMENTS

COMMENT ONE

This past Wednesday (5/10) we reported on two new FM stations that broadcast from the residence of the station’s founders [link]. One of these stations, 97.5 KBUU-LP a/k/a Radio Malibu, raised reader Aaron Read’s eyebrows because of the opulence of the set-up. 

Aaron wrote:

FWIW, I believe Radio Malibu couldn't join NPR not because KPCC or KCRW, but because NPR requires a minimum number of five full-time staff from an affiliate station.

Also, that's a studio in his spare bedroom???? WOW. Those wooden wall baffles are usually a sign of Russ Berger Design Group, and he's not cheap! It looks rilly, rilly nice but I wonder how an LPFM could afford that.

KEN SAYS:

I am glad that Aaron brought this up. It appears as if Radio Malibu is more about personal vanity than public service. The founder, Hans Laetz, obviously has plenty of money to spend on his hobby. But, I am not certain if this is what the advocates of LPFM had in mind when they created it.

The non-profit corporation that owns KBUU consists of Laetz and his family. Is this arrangement sustainable? Probably not. Radio Malibu doesn’t seem to have many ties to community it serves.  So, when Laetz passes on, the fate of KBUU is uncertain.

Aaron is correct that NPR requires a five-person pay staff for affiliation but I have seens this qualification waived if NPR rilly, rilly wants to be on in a specific area. It is more likely that NPR did not want to “take away Malibu” from KCRW or KPCC.

COMMENT TWO

Reader Tim Campbell shared his thoughts about our post last June entitled The Incredible True Story of NBC’S 24/7 Radio News Channel [link]. The story was about NBC’s failed attempt at a nationally syndicated news format in the 1970s called NIS – the News & Information Service.   

Campbell wrote:

I remember NIS in Norfolk over WKLX 1350 (later rebranded WNIS migrated to 790 AM) and retained all news format after demise of NIS. I was a teen who was obsessed with radio under the hood stuff. Was always taken back why it failed to catch on ‘till I read this article.

For its time, I thought it was top notch NBC quality. The fact NBC O & O’s never bought in was definately a bad omen from corporate. It needed some big powerhouses (WMAQ, WNBC, WRC, KNBC, KPRC, KSD affiliates to help).

KEN SAYS:

I am glad we could provide the full story. Campbell is correct when he points out that when NBC’s own stations passed on NIS, it was a sign of the lack of a market for NIS. it would prove to be a fatal flaw. If NIS had hung on for a while the outcome could have been different.  By the early 1980s satellite delivery was cheap, 24/7 networks like Transtar and Satellite Music Network were gaining new affiliates everyday and NPR had yet embrace modern programming techniques.

COMMENT THREE

Tammy Terwelp, GM of KRCC

An anonymous reader commented on recent programming changes KRCC, Colorado Springs [link]:

I used to love KRCC, tuned in the other morning to almost surreal, monotone, NPR news-drivel, completely encompassing the entire daytime format. Sorry but I’m just not into it.

AN ITEM FROM THE WAYBACK MACHINE

 

Back in the 1930s, Nielsen rolled out its first incarnation of an electronic radio listening measurement device called The Nielsen Audimeter.

The Audimeter differed from the current “Portable People Meter” (PPM) system in several ways.

It wasn’t “portable,” it tabulated what station the radio was tuned to, not what people were hearing, and required the respondent to have another piece of furniture in their home.

Listening was recorded on a ticker-tape that the respondent needed to change daily.  

The Audimeter proved to be so cumbersome it quickly faded away.