The review of NPR’s firing of Juan Williams is out. The NPR executive who gave Williams the axe over the telephone has resigned. And NPR’s ombudsman Alicia Shepard warns that the brouhaha could prove “costly” for the radio service. “The Williams firing was a very costly management mistake on many levels,” Shepard opines. The commentary […]
Archive | Public Radio
Longest Running Soap Opera Celebrates 60 Years on Radio
Although in the United States we are often hard-pressed to find examples of radio drama, over in the U.K. radio listeners have been tuning in to hear “The Archers” for 60 years. The soap opera, which began in January 1951 currently airs 15-minute episodes 6 days a week and is now presumed to be the […]
NPR apologizes for incorrectly reporting WikiLeaks data
NPR has apologized for misreporting the number of State Department diplomatic cables actually released by WikiLeaks. Although WikiLeaks allegedly possesses 251,287, only 1,947 were available as of December 30, 20. Yet, prior to this date, NPR (on multiple occasions) reported that WikiLeaks had released “thousands” of documents, a mistake that San Francisco listener Henry Norr […]
“‘Happy Holidays’… is what terrorists say.”
I’d like to thank 30 Rock for the title of this article. Their brief mention of the differences between “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” through a Christmas card being sent by an ultra-conservative couple stating “‘Happy Holidays’… is what terrorists say. Merry Christmas!” is really quite perfect. Nina Totenberg, a legal correspondent for NPR, has […]
Is a public radio station a community center?
A producer at Pacifica radio outlet KPFA in Berkeley sent me this amusing Xtranormal skit, which works out his feelings about a proposal to hold a big “community party” at the station. I’m not sure what the status of that idea is, and obviously the discussion is referential to the recent troubles at the station. […]
NPR Gets Nod on List of Top PR Blunders of 2010
Although the list came out a few weeks back, yesterday Current.org reported that NPR was awarded a spot on the Top 10 PR Blunders List for 2010. Just add this distinction to the litany of challenges NPR is facing this year, which were so eloquently discussed by Gavin Dahl in his Radio Survivor post yesterday […]
Radio’s Fall – Part Two: NPR’s ‘Liberal’ Identity Crisis
Editor’s Note: Radioactive Gavin has collected more than 300 articles on radio and digital music over the past 3 months for Common Frequency. This is the second in a series of seven posts he is contributing, looking back at the end of a rough year in radio. When Stephen Colbert gave a ‘medal of fear’ to a seven-year old […]
Radio’s Fall – Part One: No Money, Mo’ Problems
Editor’s Note: Radioactive Gavin has collected more than 300 articles on radio and digital music over the past 3 months for Common Frequency. This is the first of a series of seven posts he will be contributing in the coming weeks, looking back at the end of a rough year in radio. Conservatives crying “Defund NPR” […]
KTRU Supporters Make Another Appeal to the FCC to Save College Radio at Rice University
With the FCC’s 30-day comment window now closed, the decision on whether or not to grant University of Houston its request to purchase Rice University’s student radio station KTRU is in the hands of the FCC. The group Friends of KTRU submitted an extensive “Petition to Deny” to the FCC on December 7, outlining all […]
Can the Internet save classical music? An interview with KUSC’s Brenda Barnes
It’s hard to believe, but once upon a time classical radio was ubiquitous. Most cities had at least several popular classical music radio stations, and many had three. I remembering setting my clock alarm to a New York City based classical FM signal back in the late 1970s. One morning I woke up at six […]