RE: ratings

["Hakim Madjid" <HMadjid@mindspring.com>]

Larry Weil wrote:

>They may have come to the realization that if the stations are unable to
>raise money from underwriting, they will need more money from the
government.

>There was also an outcry from many listeners, including many prominent
>conservatives, when Newt Gingrich proposed that funding to public radio and
>TV should be cut.  That's when many in power started to realize how many
>listeners/viewers public broadcasting has.  That's another place where the
>ratings are useful to these stations.
---

Yea, no doubt the public stations need the underwriting dollar. I think the
main objection was and is that the underwriting announcements sound more and
more like ads on commercial radio. For instance, just tune in 'BUR these
days, and listen to an underwriting spot - nowadays, underwriters get
mention of things such as their commercial slogans, and  web sites, for
instance. Sounds a lot like regular commercial radio to me.

I wonder if when the Public Broadcasting act was passed about 30 years ago,
it would not have been better to use the British/BBC model of funding. Of
course, that probably would have generated a *HUGE*public outcry.

73, de Hakim (N1ZFF)