Friday was Halloween, and on that black day I heard some truly frightening news. Two of the nation's most influential news and entertainment networks are discussing a merger. CNN and the Playboy Channel? ESPN and the Discovery Channel? Nope. National Public Radio and Public Radio International.
I heard the news on PRI's Marketplace program. I generally don't make it all the way through this somewhat flip business news show, but for some reason I still had the tuner set to 89.7 FM when the story came across at 6:28 p.m. The official word is mum, and neither organization seemed to have any idea what the form of this potential cultural heavyweight might be, but the possibilities are rather scary.
A story, if you'll indulge me. A few years back, a couple of guys had a local show in Boston. Someone in the NPR office brought it to the attention of the big guys. They weren't terribly impressed by the sophomoric antics and questionable advice provided by Tom and Ray Mallozzi (aka Click and Clack, the Tappett Brothers), but when reminded that the last show they branded as "too regional" and "excessively hokey" was "A Prairie Home Companion", now PRI's marquee show (and perhaps the most successful show ever on the public airwaves), they quickly signed on "Car Talk". Now that one-hour program is arguably the most popular show in the NPR stable.
This competition of differing ideas and standards for public radio breeds more unusual and better programming. I know that if these two networks actually had to sit and overanalyze every prospective programming choice, Garrison Keillor would still be known only to a few Minnesotans, and people would trust their auto mechanics a whole lot more. There's plenty more examples where that one came from. While public radio (like public television) isn't totally dependent on ratings for survival, the simple fact is that shows which do not get aired on the majority of affiliated stations do not get picked up for another go-round. And I've met some of the people who run local stations, most of whom are not like the news director of WUSF (Tampa-St. Pete) who moonlights as a singer in a horror rock band. Most of these folks are dull people who fancy themselves intellectuals. And if they had their way, all programming would be derived from the mold that spat out Karl Haas's Adventures in Good Music. Now, I actually like that program, but its many clones (generally spawned as local programming) are uniformly bad. I have yet to hear a public radio station that actually propagates unusual local programming. Maybe this happens at some of the heavy hitters in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston. But not in the real world.
And that's why it's so important that cool shows like Fresh Air (with the most amazing voice on radio, Terry Gross) come from the national office. Because very few local programmers would have the 'nads to put such a show on the air if it didn't have backing from the home office. It's simply not terribly kosher to talk about relatively risque topics like politics, movies, music and sex (and their many progeny) in, say, the entire state of South Dakota (the Gateway Computer complex notwithstanding).
I know, NPR's budget is around $62 million, and PRI's comes to about $20 million. Combined they spend much less than the average summer "blockbuster", which provides at most two and a half hours of entertainment. I myself listen to public radio 15-25 hours a week for news, music and other bits of amusement, and I'm happy to support my local station (wherever it may be). Some of that money goes to each of these outfits, and I can assure you it seems to be spent wisely. Perhaps these bad boys are taking the "united we stand" against congressional budget cuts and such, but I'm still against the whole idea.
My wife has worked at newspapers in two-newspaper towns (or at least two-newspaper metro areas) most of her career. It's just not as much fun to dig for juice in a one-paper town. The remaining newspaper gets blander and blander, with no real reason to take chances or take on the powers that be. Just let the ads roll in. And if you think public radio doesn't deal in advertising, ask yourself why the criminally corrupt Archer Daniels Midland corporation would drop huge amounts of cash on a program they know is popular with many judges and legislators. I'd hate to hear public radio grow stale and bland, kowtowing to the latest cultural insecurity. If the national folks don't lead the way with innovative and creative programming, it's already painfully clear how most local stations will fill the air: with loads of uninformative, pretentious patter and the already annoying "classic classical" music formal. Bleah.
Double bleah.
If Jon Worley hears the Greater Akron Symphony Orchestra performing the Brandenburg Concertos one more time, he's gonna go postal.