Re: Fwd: Talk Radio (was LTAR)

["Aaron [Bishop] Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 06:44 PM 6/17/2002, you wrote:
> > What government subsidy is that Dan?
>
>I was thinking of the liberals on the National Public
>Radio shows, which are subsidized by the Corporation
>for Public Broadcasting.
>
>Some states also subsidize public broadcasting
>operations.(snip)
>-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

WBUR, WUMB and (I believe) WGBH also are received de facto gov't subsidies 
in that they don't have to pay taxes on their studio spaces; WBUR and WUMB 
are on the campuses of Boston University and UMass/Boston respectively, 
neither of which pay property taxes AFAIK.  WGBH's land is owned by Harvard 
University so I don't think they pay any property tax on it, 
either...although Harvard does have a PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) 
program to Cambridge & Watertown (and presumably Allston/Boston but I don't 
know for sure) the PILOT amounts are paltry compared to the current "market 
rate" tax value of the land these Universities use.

I also don't know if BU or UMass have PILOT programs or equivalents, 
either.  But one way or another, the stations are - through the colleges - 
saving a bundle on their station spaces.   I imagine a lot of public radio 
stations enjoy similar deals but it's not as striking as WBUR/WGBH/WUMB 
since those are the three that're sitting in prime real estate of Boston 
proper.


____________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read     aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels.com Technical Consulting
www.friedbagels.com   AOL-IM: ReadAaron