[Peace] WEFT to consider DN! headlines in the morning

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Dear Peaceniks,

I know DN! is a program many of you enjoy on WEFT and so I am sending the
following email to you which I also sent to the WEFT listserv.  Pardon any
duplicates.

Sincerely,
Kimberlie Kranich
WEFT PC Chair
___________________________________

The WEFT Programming Committee (PC) is seriously considering getting rid of
NPR headlines as early as when our new fiscal year begins in October and
replacing it with something else.  We first considered this possibility back
in March 2004. The issue will be back on our agenda at our August 11
Programming Committee meeting.  

The PC is also seriously considering adding DN! headlines live at 8am to the
Morning Menu line-up in place of the 8am NPR headlines. 

The above are related but separate issues and the PC could act on one and
not the other.

This email is quite long and I apologize, but I would like to give some
context for why we are seriously considering these matters and a summary of
the PC's thoughts thus far which are still evolving. I will put hard copies
of this email in station mailboxes later this evening. Your feedback is
appreciated as we sort out the pros and cons. 

Issue 1: NPR News headlines:

We currently carry NPR headlines on weekdays at 6:01am, 7:01am, and 8:01am,
and then again at 3:01pm. 

Summary of reasons for dropping NPR headlines:

Cost. The cost for NPR Headline News is significant. For fiscal year
2003/2004, we paid $3,636.  According to Mick, who has been working with the
PC on this issue, the cost will go up another 25% next year ($909 more for a
total of $4,545--more if there are increased costs). 

After paying for Hour of Slack, DN!/Pacifica, Grateful Dead Hour, Free
Speech Radio News, National Native News, NPR News, satellite fee connect,
Counterspin and PRI, the PC typically has around $1,000 left to spend on
other things. One year, we used this extra money to buy the phone interface
and a DSL line to support our local productions. Another year, we gave some
money back to the engineering committee for our back studio. How much the PC
has left over also depends on the amount of our CPB grant which is what we
use to pay for the above.

Money spent on NPR could be freed up for the PC to spend on other things
including a different news source and/or support local news production costs
as other community radio stations do.

Duplication of service: WILL-AM airs 7 hours of NPR programming M-F at HIGH
power. WILL-FM airs NPR headlines every hour.  

Reasons against dropping NPR headlines altogether: 

What would we replace it with? So far, the PC has not yet identified a
replacement for NPR News and we feel news is an important part of our
schedule. Alternatives to NPR are as expensive and in some cases, more
expensive, than NPR News itself. Examples include the BBC and headlines
produced in the Netherlands.

Ed Mandel also raised this concern: what outlet would we have if we
cancelled NPR headlines and got breaking news, such as another attack (on us
or from us)?  My reply is that we have Pacifica and it's already paid for.
The programming chair and the station manager have the option of pre-empting
regular programming in the event of major breaking news.  We'd go to
Pacifica just like we did during 9-11.

Issue 2: Adding DN! headlines at 8am

One alternative to the 8am NPR headlines is running DN! headlines live at
8am.  

We currently carry Democracy Now! at 4pm Monday - Friday as part of our
Pacifica costs. This year we spent $1,320 on Pacifica. Free Speech Radio
News is a separate cost of $3,000 per year.

Reasons in support of  adding DN! headlines at 8am M-F:

DN! headlines come to us live every weekday at 8am. They are fresh and
timely.  They fit in the Morning Menu format of mixed music and information.
We already pay for DN! By running the DN! open along with the headlines at
8am, we not only make it convenient for morning menu airshifters to air DN!
headlines (which may not always start at the same time within the DN!
program) we also promote the later DN! broadcast at 4pm. 

If we were to do this, we would air the beginning of DN! live through the
headlines. We would create a script for the morning menu arishifter to read
before and after to let our listeners know they were about to hear a promo
for DN! and live headlines and that the entire program will be repeated at
4pm. The script might read something like:  "And now, W-E-F-T brings you
daily news headlines and a promo from "Democracy Now", airing daily on WEFT
from 4-5pm." (following the headlines) "...and Democracy Now can be heard in
its entirety today at 4pm, as part of our afternoon public affairs Courier
programming from 4 to 6pm. You're listening to W-E-F-T, 90.1 FM."

To insure a clean recording of the program, we would also probably change
the time we record DN! to minidisk from 8am to 9am. We will still have two
more re-feed opportunities at 10 and 11AM.

Reasons against adding DN! headlines at 8am: 

Might be asking too much (technically) of the Morning Menu airshifters.

As always, when the PC is considering a programming change, we would
appreciate your input. In this case, we are especially interested in
feedback from morning menu airshifters regarding any technical difficulties
they might foresee with such a change. General feedback about this possible
change in content is also welcome from everyone. We also encourage you to
come to our meeting on August 11th.

If you need something clarified, I would be happy to try to clarify for you
or provide you with more context.

Thanks.

Kimberlie 
PC Chair