READER COMMENTS

TOPIC ONE: DOES WAMU NEED A COMPETITOR?

On October 26^th we published a post [link] that said, perhaps WAMU needs a head-to-heard competitor because of WAMU’s lackluster ratings.

COMMENT ONE, from an Anonymous reader: You made some good points in the article about WAMU and a possible competing station. But it felt like a “gotcha” moment. Did you talk it over with anyone at WAMU for their thoughts on their ratings? We are all in the public radio boat together.

KEN SAYS: Thanks for the wake-up call. No, we did not reach out to WAMU before we ran the story, which we should have done. Comments like yours help us improve out work.

COMMENT TWO, from Aaron Read, The Public’s Radio, in Providence: Aren’t there nine or ten news/talk outlets in the Washington DC market? I think WAMU has plenty of competition. I’d opine that its not about a drop in ratings, its more about how the spike itself was unsustainable because it was due to factors beyond WAMU’s control. Also, WAMU *had* competition once...when WETA briefly tried a mostly-news/talk format from 2005-2007. It didn’t work out very well.

COMMENT THREE, from “Mark J,” location unknown: Also, at about the same time as WETA’s short-lived news-talk experiment, American Public Media Group made a pass at CCM station WGTS for a news-talk format, but nothing came of it.

KEN SAYS: The WETA initiative was ill conceived and poorly executed. APM did make a play for WGTS. Big bucks were on the table, but Columbia Union College, licensee of WGTS realized that “the spirit” was worth more than the money.

What we recommended in the post was a competitor for WAMU that would take a similar approach as WGBH in Boston. 

WGBH sensed that WBUR was vulnerable because it was so focused on national and international coverage. 

WGBH initially focused on local and regional news. 

They launched Boston Public Radio, a daily signature show that was/is all about Boston. 

Plus WGBH’s research showed that there are enough listeners and revenue available for a second NPR News/Talk station to thrive.

TOPIC TWO: SHOULD THE FCC KEEP ALLOWING SATELLITE-FED TRANSLATORS FOR NONCOM STATIONS THAT ARE MANY MILES AWAY FROM THEIR PRIMARY STATION?

On October 25^th we published a post [link] that discussed a recent donation of hundreds of FM translators from one religious broadcaster to another religious broadcaster the will create another national network of remotely operated FM translator station. 

This FCC rule from the 1980s has made possible huge religious networks such as the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and American Family Radio (AFR).

An anonymous reader commented: I don’t know that a ban on satellite feeds for translators is really the solution here. Instead, I think just simple distance requirements between the transmitter location of the primary and the transmitter location of the translator are all that is needed.

KEN SAYS: This is an excellent suggestion because it is simple. If a specific broadcaster needs to reach a translator farther away from the primary coverage, they can apply for a waiver.

TOPIC THREE: UPCOMING MOVIE ABOUT WNYC HOST STEVE POST

Steve Post at WNYC

In April 2018 we featured a soon-to-be-released documentary film about legendary New York radio personality Steve Post [link]. The film, Playing in the FM Band: The Steve Post Story, tells the story of Post’s amazing career, most of it at WNYC. Post was a satirist who humor in the absurdity of the human condition. New York radio listeners could always count on Post’s irreverent commentary and to brighten any day.

Surprise, surprise, we received a comment from the film’s producer Rosemarie Reed with a short but sweet message:  

Dear Ken, Thank you for your post last April, which I just found, about our film. Playing in the FM Band: The Steve Post Story will be finished in December.

KEN SAYS: You can see more about the film and Steve Post here.

TOPIC FOUR: MY FIRST RADIO RESEARCH PROJECT

Ken Mills, age 12, with radio

and official research telephone

On October 24, we published a first-person essay [link] about my first radio research project. 

At the age of 12, I conducted a callout survey to prove to my father, Tom Mills, that my favorite station was the most popular station in the small city where we lived.

As it turned out, the research proved I was right.

COMMENT ONE, from Joe Tymecki, Chief Technical Officer at Vermont Public Radio:

What an awesome story! It seems that is about the age when you get bitten by the bug.... in my case, radio. I was about that old when I started scrounging / stealing electric guitar parts from my older brother and record players from yard sales and pieced together my first radio “studio.” It led to a great career choice! COMMENT TWO, from Lindsay Wood Davis, former Radio Advertising Bureau honcho and co-founder of WVMO-LP in Monona, Wisconsin: Easily one of your best columns, Ken! All Radio Rats began as little radio rats, and I truly enjoy those stories. This one is a favorite! KEN SAYS: Thank you so much for your kind comments.  Radio turned out to be a great career choice for me also!