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

Wed Aug 4 08:22:19 CDT 2004

Why on earth has WEFT been paying so much money for
NPR headlines in the first place? It's just ridiculous
and discouraging to think that I'm paying WEFT for
what anyone can hear by tuning in to WILL.

David Green

--- "Kranich, Kimberlie" <Kranich at WILL.uiuc.edu>
wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Peace mailing list
> Peace at lists.groogroo.com
> http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace
> 

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