NPR, CBC Radio, factual entertainment and the maggot

2 chums have a civil exchange concerning the nature of public broadcasting.

1 Comment

Barry Kiefl says:

March 24, 2009 at 6:58 am

CBC could learn from the NPR experience. Here’s a short piece from Media Life on NPR; note the reference to exec salaries:

NPR: Our audience grew 9 percent last year
Newspapers and magazines are dealing with circulation declines while TV ratings have been eroding for years. But National Public Radio is facing no such audience drains. The public broadcaster reports that its daily programs, including morning and afternoon news programs, attracted a record audience of 20.9 million listeners last year, up 9 percent from 2007. Overall, NPR’™s audience has grown 47 percent since 2000, driven in part by spikes following the 9/11 attacks. Last year’™s increases were driven by the presidential election, as ’œMorning Edition’™s’ audience swelled to an average 7.6 million per day. Ironically, the cheery viewing (sic) figures come at a time when NPR, like nearly every news organization in the country, is facing financial woes. The broadcaster recently said that its top executives will not be paid the final two weeks of the year, and offices across the country have eliminated extras like newspaper subscriptions while fighting for continued state and federal funding as well as public support in funding drives during the recession.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Hereandthere/DirecTV_and_NFL_entering_4B_deal.asp

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