Federal funding for public radio and television has been in the news lately. The call is for ending that federal funding, and hence requiring the stations to seek support from their viewers, listeners, and other sources.
I have a history with public radio.
Back in the mid 1980’s I was teaching at a Catholic High School. I was married, with a family. The pay at the school was so low we could have qualified for food stamps. To supplement my income I was the bowling coach and the assistant track coach. But the income was still low, and the coaching cut into my family time.
I don’t recall how I heard about it, but the local public television/radio corporation was expanding and needed radio announcers and board operators. The corporation at that time had an FM radio station and a television station. It was adding an AM station to broadcast more news and public affairs programs.
I had hosted shows on my college radio station, and I had a decent “radio” voice, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
I don’t know if I somehow impressed them during my interview, or if they were just desperate, but they hired me in January of 1985 for the AM station. I was to host the Saturday evening programming. From 6 p.m. to midnight I did the breaks and played all sorts of prerecorded programs.
I did that for six months. Then, the Saturday and Sunday morning slots opened up. I applied, and got them. From 6 a.m. to noon I was the local announcer and board operator, going on air in between prerecorded programs, and, eventually live syndicated programs like Weekend Edition. At first, the Saturday shift also included an hour when I was able to play jazz records from the station’s library. I loved that, organizing the hour about themes, or particular groups and musicians. Alas, eventually that time was filled with syndicated shows, and I was no longer able to play jazz - except when the overnight jazz and blues host went on vacation and I subbed for him.
The station decided it needed local news on weekends along with the national news, so they hired a reporter/newscaster. I would serve as the board operator for his broadcasts.
But, the person they hired as the newscaster proved unreliable. He did not always show up. Needing to fill that time, I began writing and delivering the newscasts.
After this happened a couple of time, the news director finally realized I was delivering the news and not the person they had hired to do it. He called me, learned the situation, and a couple of days later the reporter/newscaster was fired, and my job description was revised. I was now board operator/local host/newscaster/reporter. And I got a small raise!
Because I was a teacher and had summers free, I also began to be the substitute for some of the weekday shifts.
The station continued to grow and to become more computerized. I kept up with those changes. I also changed my full time job; I began writing for a newspaper. So I was a newsman seven days a week.
For a time, I was very happy. There were some great people at the stations. I enjoyed interacting with them. And people in the community recognized my name and voice, something that appealed to my ego.
But other changes gradually came. The station eventually phased out most of the jazz programming. It eliminated the overnight shifts, going automated, and letting go some of my friends. On top of their leaving, my best friend at the station passed away. Meanwhile, the station also began automating most of the weekend programming; I was the only live person on the am station. I even had to prerecord newscasts for later in the day for both of the radio stations.
There was always a growing openly progressive tendency at the station. Most of the guests on the programs and talk shows tended to be left-leaning. When right-leaning guests were invited they tended to be treated poorly, or to have the other guests and callers stacked against them. Though it was not called it at the time, there seemed to be a lot of DEI hiring. There also appeared to be more subtle hostility against traditional Catholics and Christians, and traditional sexual mores. I learned to keep my mouth shut.
By the early 2000’s I had returned to teaching for my full time job, freeing me up to substitute for more weekday shifts, and to go out and do more reporting. Yes, I even got a chance to cover Chuck Schumer!
But then the head of the local Planned Parenthood became the head of the corporation board. In the news department we were suddenly required to change the way we reported about abortion; we had to use more pro-choice friendly language. I objected to my news director, saying we should keep the language balanced and objective. He came back a few days later and said the requirement remained in effect. I was not happy, but I complied.
Still, I enjoyed being on the radio. Then there came a full-time opening: the afternoon and evening weekday shift, which meant being the local host for NPR’s flagship news program, All Things Considered. I applied. Some folks in the news department supported me, noting that my years with the station and as a print reporter gave me knowledge of the community and plenty of contacts. Soon it was clear that I was a finalist.
I did not get the job.
Instead, they hired a young Hispanic woman from out of the area. Part of me understood; if I had gotten the job the entire news department would have been all middle aged white men. But I was not happy.
She was not very good. She lasted just about a year, and left. The job opened again.
The station decided to rotate hosts until they found a permanent host; because it was summer and I was free I was one of them. Three of us continued to rotate the shift for a substantial portion of the summer.
I made it clear that I planned to apply for the full-time position.
Then one of the members of the news staff took me aside and spoke off the record. He told me he thought I would do a great job, but I had no chance. The word was that the job would go to a woman.
It did.
To be fair, I will say the second woman was actually very good.
But it was clear that I had no full-time future at the station.
Indeed, when the second woman moved to a new position, the morning host took her place, and he was replaced in the morning shift by a woman. And the news director was later also replaced by a woman.
Yep. No chance. It must have been my beard.
In 2007, I quit. The lack of the future, the abortion directive, the increasing progressive and biased direction of the station and NPR in general all made the decision easy. Even if I had gotten the full-time job I don’t know how much longer I could have stayed there.
And I was seeing that 18 years ago.
So when I hear talk of cutting federal funds for PBS, NPR, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I don’t object.
When PBS was launched, there were few television options on the air. PBS created programming to meet many educational and informational needs. The public radio network also filled gaps. It made sense for the government to help support this needed resource.
But all that was decades ago. Now there are multiple networks, many of them filling the gaps, making NPR not as necessary. And the proliferation of social media, YouTube, podcasts, and so on, also lessens the need for public broadcasting.
So there is no reason to continue government funding. The patrons of the stations should step forward if they want to see the stations continue. Plus, it might make the stations more balanced and fair, and broaden their acceptance of more diverse programming and views.
Such as those of bearded traditional Catholics who like the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
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