RE: Boston talk / Pacifica

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

At 07:15 PM 7/30/2002, elipolo@earthlink.net wrote:
>Due to the efforts of the WMBR News Department and the support they
>gathered from both listeners in the community and within MIT, WMBR still 
>airs the
>half-hour "Free Speech Radio Network" news from Pacifica 6-6:30 PM every
>weeknight (except Thursdays, when the WMBR News Department produces local 
>pieces).

 From what I've been told by more than one WMBR news staffer, the very act 
of getting news on WMBR was a hugely divisive act that burned up a lot of 
goodwill.  It was largely the result of one or two visionary-ish folks who 
fought very hard to get it on, but they went through hell to do it and 
through continued hell afterwards.  Naturally, it turned out to be one of 
the smartest moves WMBR ever made.

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, there is no place where 
change is abhorred more than a college radio station.   Except maybe an NPR 
station ;-)  I'm watching one station go down in flames because of their 
refusal to shift with the times...and I fear that another one I'm directly 
involved with is not as receptive as they should be (although their 
willingness to send out surveys to listeners and take feedback is promising)

>And, also due to the efforts of the News Department, WMBR airs Pacifica's
>"Democracy Now" program Thursdays 2-4 PM.

I was unaware of this; I thought ABfree was the only station carrying 
Democracy Now! in Boston.  Drat!   At least we're the only station airing 
them live ;-)   But this raises a question in my mind, how do you work a 
daily hour-long show into a weekly two-hour slot?  That might sound 
taunting but it's not meant to be, I'm just curious as to how you work it.


>Still, as far as being an affiliate, WMBR is a "FSRN" and "Democracy Now"
>affiliate, but I wouldn't call four hours of Pacifica programming per week
>enough to consider them a Pacifica Network affiliate per se. I think Aaron
>was thinking about a Pacifica owned station such as WBAI in NYC, which
>Boston does not have.
>
>Eli Polonsky

Yes, that's what I meant.   WMFO carries a smidge of Pacifica programming, 
as does WZBC too.  But I would call either a Pacifica station, not even close.

One thing I HAVE noticed about Pacifica is that there's a HUGE wealth of 
good programming available through them and their affiliates, a lot of it 
able to be rebroadcast by anyone with no restrictions at all.  Well, 
okay...granted it's mostly pretty far to the left politically, but it's 
mostly well-produced and of high technical quality.   But what drives me 
bonkers is that only about 20% of it is available via download on the web, 
and only 2% of is available for easy download by an automated system.    I 
wish they've get their act together on the internet distribution as well as 
they've gotten it together for satellite distribution.


____________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read     aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels.com Technical Consulting
www.friedbagels.com   AOL-IM: ReadAaron
"I'm weird, but around here it's barely noticeable."