Full service radio

[marklaurence@mac.com]

On Sep 9, 2010, at 10:28 AM, Doug Drown wrote:

> Having been in New Brunswick over the weekend and having listened to  
> CBC Radio One with its full service format, I'm wondering if there  
> are any 50,000-watt commercial radio stations left in the U.S. that  
> still tout themselves as such.

I listen to CBC Radio One a lot, streaming from Halifax, Montreal,  
Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver, depending on which time zone I'm in  
the mood for.  Even after all its budget cutbacks, it's an excellent  
radio network, very similar in programming to NPR and even more  
commercial free, with no pledge drives and funding announcements.  I  
don't know of any similar commercial formats in the US or Canada right  
now.

PPMs have demonstrated that NPR can go up against top-ranked  
commercial stations for ratings, clearly showing there's an appetite  
for talk and entertainment that goes beyond political rants and wall- 
to-wall music.  I don't know why commercial stations couldn't succeed  
with it again.

Mark