TOTN Departs - Changes at WNPR

WNPR announced several program changes today. Among those changes is a scaling back of one of WNPR's longstanding local programs.

Here's what was in the announcement:

Dear Mr. Grehn, As Talk of the Nation signs off the air today for the last time, I want to let you know about some schedule changes. Here & Now debuts on WNPR on July 1 at 2 p.m. (The program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 2 p.m.). Here & Now is a daily news magazine which aims to guide us through the streams of news and information. Learn more about hosts Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson below. Here & Now hosts A regular presence on WNPR for 33 years, the Peabody-award-winning Faith Middleton Show will air at 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The Food Schmooze remains in its regular spot on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. with a repeat on Saturdays at noon. Faith MiddletonCredit: Heather Colt Starting Friday, July 5, Science Friday will expand to include the entire 2 hours. Hosted by Ira Flatow, Science Friday focuses on science topics in the news and features discussions. It will air from 2– 4 p.m. Ira Flatow This is just the beginning; we have some significant service changes lined up that we hope will enrich WNPR for our listeners. Stay tuned for additional updates – including the launch of a completely overhauled news website. Thanks for listening and thank you even more for your support! Together, we'll make WNPR even better. WNPR will air half of Here & Now to make room for the Faith Middleton Show. The Faith Middleton show is making room for Science Friday. So is Here & Now, the replacement for Talk of the Nation.  Listening to radio is personal and habitual. In the past, changes to the Faith Middleton Show caused a lot of heat. It will be interesting to see how the changes are received. Changes to the website will be welcomed. In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I was employed by Connecticut Public Broadcasting for 21 years.

Music for Hot Weather

This is like the ultimate mix tape. So self indulgent. If you're self inclined to force your musical taste on your listeners...what musical connections can you make for the hot steamy weather we're going through right now? Here's what I came up with.

• Summer in the City - Lovin' Spoonful
• Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
• Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone
• In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry
• Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts
• Sunny Afternoon - Kinks
• Summer Nights - Rascal Flats
• Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald
• Thunderstruck - AC/DC
• Riders on the Storm - The Doors
• Racing in the Street - Bruce Springsteen

What are your suggestions? Add to the list.
Updated suggestions include
Summer - War (From Deb Grehn)
The Kid is Hot Tonight - Loverboy
and Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen (From Mike Arnold)
Summertime Blues - Blue Cheer (From former bandmate Glenn Hahn)

Amateur Athletics Hurt By Public Media Cuts

When the Greek government cut public broadcasting in Greece they did a lot more than save 300 million euros.

They cuts eliminated over 2000 jobs. They eliminated opportunities for independent producers. A source of income for those producers. Thousand people out of work means less spending and a slower economy. And then there are the unintended consequences. They made content go dark for millions of viewers and listeners that relied on the services. And, they've put content partners in danger too.

Athletics-Greek is saying the elimination of public broadcasting by the Greek government has put their organization in danger. Reuters is reporting ERT was Greek athletics' main outlet for broadcasting and with its current status in limbo following the government's decision to close the organisation due to austerity measures, Kostas Panagopoulos fears for the future exposure of the sport in the birthplace of the Olympics.

Is this the true intent of trickle down economics?

Here's a link to the Reuters article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/16/athletics-greece-television-idUSL3N0ES06M20130616

Austerity puts an end to Public Television

Greece is trying to show the EU it is sincere about cutting public sector jobs. In a show of austerity they shut down their public television service (ERT). Greek officials called the 300 million Euros spent on their public broadcasting service incredibly wasteful.  An article published by euactive.com says the service will come back as a slimmed down version.

There was an immediate storm of protests from labor leaders, journalists and, junior partners in the ruling coalition. In a show of solidarity, commercial broadcasters protested by taking their live programming off the air for six hours.

WNET Makes Fun Of Commercial TV

A new ad campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of the public television station makes fun of Reality TV. A series of five posters are appearing on the New York Subways. (see posters here) The posters feature fictitious shows like, "Bayou Eskimos" and "Married to a Mime: She's Got Plenty to Say."



Some funny ideas but, is this humor at the expense of others. Is it ever wise to belittle the competition?  We did some of this in my early years with public radio. Then it dawned on us that belittling others was not a core value of our listeners. Instead we needed to focus on our core and the core values of our listeners. We needed to focus on the unique value of our content. The posters get at that after snarky comments. "The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV. Support quality programming. Join us at thriteen.org."