PAGE 11
SELLING OUT
PUBLIC RADIO
The follow ing is a le tte r to R ichard W. Carlson,
P resident a n d CEO o f the C orporation fo r P ublic B road­
casting b y R alph M. Jennings, G eneral M a n ag e r o f NPR
station W FU V-FM in N ew York City:
I am writing to express my utter dismay over the
process that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has set in
motion to handle public radio established under your so-called
"Common Sense for the Future." My concern runs beyond the
idea that in New York State alone, 5 of 17 stations (29%) are to
be eliminated from public funding - WFUV, Fordham University
and WNYE, Board of Education (New York City), WAER,
Syracuse University, WRVO, State University at Oswego, and
WCFE, Plattsburgh. I am truly shocked that the concept of the
public interest, convenience and necessity appears to have
given way to a Darwinian struggle for individual survival.
All stations in the system have been asked to appeal to
their customer base (listeners and underwriters) to fight for
continued federal support. Stations have been asked to use their
good will with Senators and Representatives to lobby for contin­
ued funding. It is more than a little disquieting to discover that a
hastily assembled tribunal in Washington is now going to decide
which stations and listeners will benefit from the proceeds of this
joint effort. The lessons learned and the political messages
generated by the stations that are "dissed" may just hasten the
demise of the public broadcasting system.
At the heart of the CPB plan developed by Tom Thomas
and Terry Clifford of the Station Resource Group* is the
elimination of funding for 80 (about 24%) of the stations now
supported by CPB grants, apparently beginning in 1998. These
stations are to be dropped, for the most part, on the basis of
audience ratings. The artfully drawn demarcation points would
appear to protect most, if not all, SRG-represented stations, with
additional safe harbors created for the most politically sensitive
services, such as stations run by now legally protected
minorities, and those serving rural areas. Some multiple station
licensees — many SRG participants - would be allowed to
aggregate their ratings to maintain their funding status.
This plan, if implemented, would insulate from economic
reality the very largest, mainstream public radio stations, by kill­
ing support for many stations that still try to serve non-protected
ethnic and cultural minorities. The SRG/CPB plan would allow
these big stations to feed on the spoils of a grant pool in which
fewer stations participate. Even with reduced federal appropria­
tions, they might retain or enhance their funding levels. They
might even benefit by taking over abandoned frequencies for
translators or from the proceeds from the sale of spectrum left
by failed stations.
The SRG/CPB plan would encourage surviving stations
to reduce diversity in their program schedules and maximize
audiences at all times to insure the ratings required for contin­
ued federal support. Culturally diverse programming would be
made an economic liability. Gone would be encouragement to
provide for local self-expression and diversity of viewpoints. If,
as Congress appears to intend, government moves back to
the states and localities, and greater media concentration is
devolved, public broadcasting will have lost its ability to insure a
diversity of voices to foster the democratic process.
It is unlikely that stations contemplating loss of funding
will remain quiescent. The din occasioned by the unfortunate
split between CPB policymakers and other national organiza­
tions is likely to be joined by protests from the threatened
stations fighting for their survival. In their widest dreams, public
broadcasting's Congressional detractors could not have set into
motion a more divisive scenario.
What began essentially as an ideological dispute over
the character of public broadcasting has metamorphosed into a
draconian struggle over wXio will continue to exist. It is reminis­
cent of the struggle for spectrum with commercial broadcasters
which drove most noncommercial broadcasters from the air in
the late 1920s. Except here we have an eternal struggle led by
well placed self-serving insiders seeking to gain advantage in a
time of extreme peril.
What is needed is strong leadership refocusing our
debate on the essentials of a diverse and culturally rich public
broadcasting system. CPB should cease to condone this
unconscionable grab for resources. The alternative is a system
dominated by a few ratings driven, mass audience, commercial
broadcasting clones and the beginning of the end of public
broadcasting as we have known it in our society.
MICHAEL GREJNIEC
L e tte r to R alph Jennings, G eneral M anager o f
W FU V -FM from R uth Seymour, G eneral M anager o f NPR
station KCRW -FM , S anta Monica, California:
Thanks for so eloquently stating the issues involved in
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting plan to zero out about
24% of the now qualified stations.
It may surprise you to know that many of us - even
those of us vtfio easily qualify - back you all the way
Some of us remember when we once too were small
and struggling and gradually achieved success through the
system that is now in place. In fact it's only in the last 10 or so
years that I feel comfortable that KCRW would have qualified
under these new audience measurement guidelines.
Moreover you were eloquent and precise in suggesting
that this "hit list” was constructed in such a way as to be self-
serving to all but one of the stations on the CPB Task Force.
What is now disturbing is that following three regional
meetings in vtfiich similar objections were voiced, we have yet to
hear from the Corporation.
The CPB appears determined to chart a new course in
local station funding by 1998. We have no idea, at this point,
whether the Corporation intends to stick with the now discredited
approach or if they have come up with a suitable alternative.
All over the country (NPR) station managers are making
appointments to see their Senators and Representatives. The
Corporation needs to decide nowin what direction it's heading.
Their silence, so far, is ominous.
-RUTH SEYMOUR
GENERAL MANAGER
KCRW-FM
-R A L P H M. JE N N IN G S
GENERAL MANAGER
W F U V -F M , NYC
*The SRG is the committee CPB formed to deal with the
funding crisis. It is the largest coalition of public radio (and TV)
stations in the U S. and includes the biggest affiliates in the PBS
network.
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Have you given much thought to the probability that
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The pervasive influence of TV ads is much greater than
the more advertised violence inbetween commercials. You are
prodded several times an hour to purchase and consume a
bewildering variety of products that purport to satisfy every
craving or longing, every passion or desire. You get used to
tuning them out, or you think you do.
Perhaps that is the point of advertising's overall success
- it assaults you subliminally vhile you consciously ignore the
sounds and flickering images. Advertising blends into an general
perception of life, no longer separate pitches to purchase indivi­
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Commercial radio can be almost as bad. The endless
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to commercial media whose only purpose is to sell products.
Corporate capitalism in league with political and religious ultra­
conservatism shuns diversity, though the contradiction between
sensual materialism and ecumenical tyranny might be disharm­
onious to the alliance.
Now some people at PBS, threatened with Congres­
sional defunding, are leaning toward advertising to keep their
stations on the air. The reaction is tremendous. Although many
of the largest stations think advertising would not be so bad, a
majority of public radio and television station managers are very
much against it. They say advertising would be the end of public
broadcasting
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