Public radio (Was Re: WSRO sold)

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>Tony Schinella wrote:
>I think you should re-check your figures on what WBUR takes in individual
>contributions. I think the last time I heard their corporate donations were up
>over 50% of all donations; a level unseen in the history of the station.
<snip>

        Even if individual giving were only 25 percent of their budget, it
would be very important to them. Plus, as I think another post suggested,
the corporate/foundation money flows a lot easier when they can show that
they have a large audience. The corporate givers are bombarded with
requests and want to make the best use of the money, in terms of their own
way of thinking about it. It's not lost on them that with public
broadcasting they get lots of commercial, ahh, underwriting mentions.

>As for ratings, I know they are good. I don't know why they aren't included in
>the regular ratings with everyone else.
>
        Does anyone know the answer to this? I see that commercial stations
that I figure do not subscribe to Arbitron -- such as WROL -- are listed.
Is it that Arbitron just has some policy not to list non-commercial
licensees?

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