[rfu-membership] Schedule Updated

[Andrew Ó Baoill]

Following up from Lavana's mail last week, I've updated the online  
schedule to remove:
The 4:00 Spot (4-6pm Tuesday and Thursday)
Habari Connection (10am-12pm Sunday)
Word Up Radio (6-8pm Friday)

Our 4-6pm strip is now empty every day, as well as numerous other  
slots. Hopefully Quad Day and the start of the new school year will  
help to fill some of those openings.

We're currently airing public affairs programming in automation from  
4-8pm, following on from Radio Bilingue (2-4pm). At our next meeting  
I'm going to propose that we reserve 4-6pm for public affairs  
programming - requiring that any local programming seeking a slot in  
that period (displacing the syndicated content) be 'public affairs'  
programming, and listing any syndicated content in this strip in our  
online and printed schedules.

This, I believe, will ensure consistent and predictable programming  
during this important slot for listeners, while leaving a path for  
filling the strip with local programming. As we look to create a  
service that attracts listeners and funding from individuals and  
groups - necessary for our tower project - I'm convinced that this is  
a necessary and positive move.

I understand that others may worry that this move may affect the  
availability of suitable airtime for local volunteers. I believe that  
my proposal - leaving a path for placing suitable local content in the  
strip - will address such concerns, but I am open to feedback and  
debate.

You can see the current syndicated public affairs lineup on our site.  
Some shows play at times when we generally have live local  
programming, so are not usually heard by listeners, but you should get  
an idea of the sort of programming I would be proposing for scheduled  
4-6pm strip. [I should mention that some shows such as Deconstructing  
Dinner have already been getting good responses from listeners.]:
http://www.wrfu.net/node/1286

Andrew

Andrew Ó Baoill
Station Manager
WRFU-LP, Urbana 104.5FM
http://www.wrfu.net andrew at funferal.org
admin/voicemail: (217) 278 3933  x25
(217) 344-2536 (studio)