'Live From Here,' successor to 'Prairie Home Companion,' canceled among drastic cuts at APM, MPR

[alp227]

Source: Star Tribune

American Public Media Group has halted production of “Live From Here,” the successor to “A Prairie Home Companion.” It was the most high-profile casualty in a day of significant cuts at the company.

“While this news fills me with sadness, I understand the decision,” tweeted host Chris Thile, who was chosen by Garrison Keillor to take over “Prairie” when he stepped away in 2016. “My extraordinary teammates and I conceived of ‘Live From Here’ as a celebration of live, collaborative audible art, and there’s just no telling when it could be that again.”

St. Paul-based American Public Media Group, the nonprofit parent of Minnesota Public Radio, American Public Media (APM) and Southern California Public Radio, confirmed Tuesday that 28 employees have been let go. In addition to ending “Live,” it also announced the cancellation of the podcast “The Hilarious World of Depression,” hosted by John Moe.

[...]

In a statement to the public, CEO Jon McTaggart blamed the global pandemic for the cuts, citing a decline in some revenue sources, including underwriting, corporate sponsorship and ticketed events. The news service Current reported in April that APM Group projected a 19% decline in underwriting for the fiscal year ending June 30, with an even greater decline expected in fiscal year 2021.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/live-from-here-successor-to-prairie-home-companion-has-been-canceled/571294402/

[bigtree]

1. music was excellent, but it was no substitute for PHC

...which had run a full life course, and had a crushingly loyal, decades-long following.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. was not a fan, too much Chris, didn't like his voice, the music, the humor

The PHC from many years ago could not be beaten

[irisblue]

3. From that show, I did learn about new to me musicians

And listening to these 2 clips, live, on a Saturday evening was amazing

Muscians-. Lake Street Dive-

[LudwigPastorius]

4. Many artists' careers, arts venues, and organizations will not survive this pandemic.

While there has been some government assistance (payroll protection loans) through the Small Business Administration, that's due to end soon. Freelancers, of course, saw none of that.

Here's an article about the situation with British theater. I imagine it's the same over here, but without the government-paid furlough program.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jun/17/cultural-catastrophe-uk-theatre-faces-ruin-amid-coronavirus-crisis

[OneCrazyDiamond]

8. I am starting to wonder if this will be the straw,

that pushes China to largest economy, and Us down to 2nd, or dare I say 3rd. We do have Trump working for Putin to push us down.

[LudwigPastorius]

10. Very possible.

Right now, China's economy is growing, while the U.S.'s is contracting.




If you measure the countries' GDP in absolute purchasing power, China surpassed the U.S. three years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

Yes, it looks like the economic American Century is just about over.

The only thing we've got going for us globally, is our superior ability to wage death and destruction. ...a byproduct of spending more of our wealth on the military than most other countries in the world.

[roamer65]

14. Just wait until the global currency crisis.

It’s coming.

[Submariner]

5. The House and Senate republicans and Trump admin are overjoyed and celebrating

their tireless efforts to kill NPR and PBS. They are quite successful, since the Democratic establishment has been doing a lousy job saving the PB system.

I remember trying to tune in a program about 15 years ago and found I was listening to the Tucker Carlson Show on NPR. Sick.

[Ligyron]

7. Even the daytime show with the stroke vic host went kinda BS RWingy

Saturdays were great with Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me".

[alp227]

12. Took me a while to find out you referred to Diane Rehm

Her show's been replaced with "1A" http://the1a.org

[Ligyron]

16. Thanks, I guess it sorta got so I quit listening for awhile...

Quite awhile in fact.

and Yes, I thought her 1st name was Diane but couldn't remember Rehm..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Pretty tough to do live ensemble performances.

An awful lot of musical groups and shows aren't going to make it. I'm not sure even the original PHC, which was much better, could have survived under these circumstances.

[yonder]

9. Both PHC and LFH showcased excellent musicians.

I preferred PHC though. In any case this is an unfortunate foot in the door for righties to get their wish.

[left-of-center2012]

11. From the linked article ...

“Live” had been drifting away from its Minnesota roots in recent years, especially after APM severed ties with Keillor ... with Thile eventually dismissing all on-air talent who had been regulars on the original program.

Under Thile’s guidance, the show put less of an emphasis on storytelling and cornball humor and became more of a platform for well-known artists.

[hunter]

13. I found "Prairie Home Companion" insufferable. I enjoyed "Live From Here."

"Live From Here" was a pleasant enough to listen to while working in the kitchen. It was one of the reasons I send money to our local public radio station.

I also feel like I'm keeping this radio channel free of overt religious bullshit. Religious radio is just another flavor of hate radio. I think I was permanently scarred by a college housemate who never turned off christian radio. Christian radio is the sound track of hell.

Radio itself may be collapsing. My adult children never listen to the radio; not in their homes, not in their cars. They don't have radios in their kitchens. They only listen to music or podcasts via bluetooth from their cell phones.

Our children watch television in a similar way. Radio and broadcast television simply don't exist in their world. They don't have cable or satellite television. Living in urban areas they do have high speed internet. Besides Netflix, I don't know what streaming services they subscribe to.

My wife and I quit traditional television more than a decade ago and we haven't yet run out of things to watch on Netflix or DVDs. I do keep a radio in the kitchen however, tuned to our local public radio station. I sometimes listen to public radio in the car as well, but mostly I like to drive without any radio or music to distract me.

[3Hotdogs]

15. This American Life, The Moth, Selected Shorts, and on and on...

and these, and a few others, keep me going.