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

Kranich, Kimberlie Kranich at WILL.uiuc.edu
Wed Aug 4 14:23:20 CDT 2004


To answer Dave's earlier question of why does WEFt play NPR headlines in the
first place:  WEFT plays NPR headlines because it is a tradition.  The
current Programming Committee is reconsidering this tradition and is looking
for other options.

To answer Al's question: DN! headlines only come to us once a day. They are
offered at 8am and are not updated. In the case of breaking news, DN! is
always behind unless the news breaks between 8-9am CST.  NPR headlines and
other sources of headlines are updated on the hour. DN! headlines are
offered within the existing DN! program and are not offered separartely.

Kimberlie





-----Original Message-----
From: Alfred Kagan [mailto:akagan at uiuc.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 2:19 PM
To: David Green; Kranich, Kimberlie
Subject: Re: [Peace] WEFT to consider DN! headlines in the morning


Kim,

I agree with David.  Pretty crazy to pay for NPR!    Also, they play 
NPR headlines 4 times, so why not play DN! headlines 4 times?

At 6:22 AM -0700 8/4/04, David Green wrote:
>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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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu



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