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| Pledge Drive |
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| you know what to do |
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This is Dark Cloud on Wednesday, April 08, 1998. It’s Pledge Drive, people, and you know what do. The public media is very different today than it was ten or fifteen years ago. Even the great Garrison Keillor has pointed out, with only some hyperbole, that, really, what is the point of public television now that we have cable, which offers the same and increasingly better programming? Of course, we don't all have cable, but within a decade we probably will. Keillor points out that when PBS started, many cities only had four television stations, one for each of the three networks plus a station like Denver’s Channel Two that only showed old movies. PBS made a big impression back in the 1970’s with its British imports and documentaries. But no longer. With the History Channel and Nickelodeon and MTV, among many others, cutting edge quality is no longer on PBS. Radio, of course, is different. First, because many public radio stations are stand alones, not part of a network but locally owned and locally programmed, although this is changing evilly for the worse. And even among those independents, few are as gutsy and quietly centered as KGNU, which cannot be classified by any term that has a drop of actual meaning left, save those like ‘eclectic, advent guard, concerned.’ What befell public television – predictability, sameness, stagnation – won’t befall independent radio, primarily because our products are so much less expensive to acquire, but also because of its very nature. Most of the people on KGNU are volunteers, a social construct that necessitates a constant turnover in people and, therefore, their tastes, and – therefore – what you hear. That is what gives us our viability: the influx of people who were still carrying teddy bears when I started here in 1981. And something else that isn’t discussed much and under appreciated. You may have noticed I have drawn attention to an unpleasant problem facing our brethren in public television. If this was a private station, and I draw attention to the problems of a sister enterprise, I’d be called in to discuss my position. In my – what? - eighteen years on KGNU, I have never, ever been asked to apologize or change content for political reasons or anything. I’ll bet I am the only person in radio who does commentary who can say that, given the duration of my small program. It is especially impressive to me given that my opinions are often at variance with the staff volunteers, and Board of Directors of KGNU, and therefore I need state that my opinions and mental disturbances are my own and not theirs. You want the newsletter, The Boulder Lout, it’s free. Write me at POB 623, Boulder 80306-0623 or email at darkcloud4@juno.com. This is Dark Cloud. See you next week. |
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