I hates NPR pledge week

[pokerfan]

That is all.

[TheCoxwain]

1. Better than commercials driving editorial decisions ... I am a proud supporter of my local station

I actually am on a monthly sustainer program...

They charge $8 to my card every month till I ask them to stop.


I love WNYC.





_________

[JackRiddler]

8. Hello?! Of course commercials drive NPR editorial decisions!

You really think NPR is commercial free? What is all that crap during the regular programming weeks, five minutes or more per hour, about Ford and Rockefeller and Carnegie and Bill and Melinda Gates and "The Responsibility Project" and and and ? Do you think this has no impact on their usually milquetoast, pro-capitalist coverage of class and economy in America?

In the mornings, do you really hear a substantive difference anymore between "The Takeaway" with its affably stupid mini-spots and the usual blather talk on commercial radio?

[BrklynLiberal]

19. Personally I do not care for "The Takeaway" I go to FM while it is on and listen to Morning Edition

[JackRiddler]

20. Understandably. Here's my review of "The Takeaway"...

Since the advent of "The Takeaway" they can just call it Fast-FM or some such...

Edited on Sun Feb-01-09 12:51 AM by JackRiddler

This is the new morning show in "info-packet" format. An onslaught of three-minute lite news pieces, all tendential, with a lot of right-wing platitudes in liberal guise. Constant repetition of the theme song, signature sound effects and fast chatter by the android hosts make it stylistically indistinguishable from commercial radio. It even feels like it's got almost as many commercial breaks, thanks to the constant over-produced plugs for the humanitarian billionaire foundations without whom all this wonderful boredom would be unavailable!

And yes, rather than just complain, I stopped listening to that crap in the mornings, or most anything on NPR other than the funny weekend shows, long ago.

[BrklynLiberal]

25. Excellent review.

Much more objective than I would have composed. Hockenberry gets on my nerves to no end..and both he and the new "co-host" Celeste Headlee..seem to be much more inclined to defend rw ideas than any others.

I also enjoy the weekend shows much more.

I do someteimes find Leonard Lopate somewhat informative...usually not political.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. Same here...WNYC

[fizzgig]

2. my local station does one day drives

i like it

[endless october]

3. the interruptathon is annoying.

i'm half tempted to say just sell some damned commercials.

luckily, my area has two stations and they don't have beg week at the same time.

[damntexdem]

4. Oh yeah. Thank goodness the college station and city-owned classics station have different weeks.

Whether or not one pledges to a given station, pledge week is a total pain -- and a lot more pervasive even than ads on commercial stations.

[LisaM]

5. I actually like pledge weeks

I like listening to the creative ways they think up to attract viewers. I've volunteered for pledge week, too. You meet some REALLY GREAT people, and see which local businesses get into the act with food donations, etc. I've hung out with public radio people; they're great.

As far as the commercials go, if you were listening to Ron Reagan yak on all day about his two new fence gates with trellises and why don't we go get new fences from the same guy, you'd appreciate a break from that, too.

[Warpy]

6. Only a week?

Here in NM they do it for a solid month.

That's a whole month without decent programming, just those rotten specials that were boring 5 years ago.

I think they'd probably get more money with their regular programming.

[CreekDog]

22. In SF, KQED-FM's pledge drives are for two weeks (or more) 3 times per year

:banghead:

I guess if enough of us belonged as members already they wouldn't be needed, but I do turn off the station during pledge weeks because they are obnoxious, as bad or worse than 1-877-KARS4KIDS :eyes: (which is not for *all* kids BTW).

[Warpy]

23. KNME in NM

does pledge drives for a whole month every third month. We miss a lot of great shows here and have to catch up with things like Frontline on line.

They'll be fouling up their programming next month, not this month.

[Ron Green]

7. I used to give 'em money, but now I let ADM, Chevron and Monsanto

take up the slack. I don't expect to get the truth with those outfits writing the checks.

[JackRiddler]

9. Shhh! NPR is "commercial free," don't you know?!

[yellowwood]

10. But I Love NPR

I am a devoted NPR listener. I trust it more than any media information source. Terry Gross and Diane Rehm are wonderful interviewers. I notice that many of my friends quote NPR. They don't quote Fox.
When I watch TV news, I am subjected to ad after ad trying to convince me that I need some prescription.
So I support NPR and am willing to put up with a little fund-raising. It's the price I have to pay.

[madinmaryland]

14. I like Diane Rehm, also. We have another guy who is local (Kojo Nnamdi), who

covers a lot of local issues in the DC area.

[elocs]

11. They know that listeners hate the money begging so much they offer to eliminate a pledge day

if they get so many pledges before the drive starts. I have been less impressed with NPR especially when they recently broadcast a story where they allowed a Republican plant to passed herself off as a disgruntled Democrat unquestioned. To tell the truth I personally would rather have commercials than have to listen to days upon end of begging and guilt tripping for money.

That raises the question: if one listens to or watches a program, are they then obligated to support the sponsors? If I like to watch NFL football am I morally obligated to buy the beer or the cars or whatever is pitched on the commercials?

I like the Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent" because you can substitute so many other words for "inferior" so I like to say that nobody can make me feel guilty without my consent and I do not consent. So guilt trip away like the religious shills NPR. At least the preachers offer heaven while NPR offers pseudo balanced reporting.

[jwirr]

12. I hate the interruptions but they often have better programing at night. nt

[Demoiselle]

13. Commercials may be annoying...BUT,

they are carefully produced, economical in their use of image and language and often entertaining, unlike the wandering, brainless repetitive blah blah blah of people who are usually NOT performers but behind-the-scenes functionaries at the station in question. ("Hey, we're boring you senseless in a good cause!!!")

And long long ago I stopped believing that public broadcasting wasn't utterly beholden to its big corporate supporters. There's almost NO investigative reporting of any substance going on in public broadcasting. Certainly nothing that ruffles the feathers of big time sponsors.

[AzNick]

15. I am not giving one penny to these Reich wing tools

And that's all I have to say about this.

[iceman66]

21. Agreed!

I wonder how many pledges they get from freepers, as they seem to be their desired audience these days.

[AzNick]

29. I only listen to their Sat. morning shows anyway

Click & Clack
What do you know
Prairie home companion

[catzies]

16. Here in So Cal, we have a few NPRs & they seem to stagger pledge breaks

The first 4 buttons on my car radio are tuned to 4 of our different NPRs.

Right now 2 of them are on pledge week, and the 3rd is our classical-only station and they're on pledge week too.

So I'm listening this week to the one that had its pledge break in August. :)

ON EDIT: I am a current member of 3 of 4 of those NPR stations. O8)

[BrklynLiberal]

17. While it is better than commercials...it does get a bit distracting to say the least.

But it would seem they have no choice...

[crispini]

24. Just pledge, and then the guilt goes away!

:patriot:

[morningglory]

26. I love and support my local NPR, but hate the begathon. nt

[Canuckistanian]

27. Add it to the list... Death, Taxes and NPR Pledge week

It's a constant that will never go away.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. I think the only accurate NPR stations are Pacifica. There are five of them.

We have a Pacifica station in Houston. KPFT-FM. I hate the begathon too, but it's better than the NPR classical station as far as news.

[Liberal_in_LA]

30. me too

[msatty99]

31. I hate it too try this..........

I have enjoyed this for my Jeff friends... http://goliathandwimmens.blogspot.com/

[gmoney]

32. Try listening to regular broadcast radio for a while...

The constant ads for credit "counseling" and buying gold and selling gold and auto parts and car insurance other crapola absolutely drives me nuts. So some minor interruptions for pledge week (at least on radio) aren't so bad, and the rest of the time, it's great. An underwriting credit and a tagline or two isn't all that offensive.