Comments on: Chartock Radio, and the challenge of public broadcasting

By: south station boston

south station boston — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:01:24 +0000

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By: Chan

Chan — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:26:17 +0000

The Adirondack Almanack points out today that Albany public radio’s WAMC is pulling a raid on North Country Public Radio’s Lake Placid satellite translator. The Adirondack Almanack blog paints Alan Chartock of WAMC as the grinch stealing away with Lake Placid’s real public radio station. Lets all sing, “You’re a mean one Alan Grinch.”

By: Herman

Herman — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:25:10 +0000

I couldn’t agree more! I am in WAMC’s listening area also and I’d love to support local programs but I can’t take any more Chartok so I too listen to WNYC online.

The final straw for me was the last fund drive I listened to where he ranted about Terry Gross and what “biased interviwer” she is, then about Diane Rehm and how “boring” she is then about Amy Goodman…get over yourself, Alan, and you could learn A LOT from all three of these brilliant women.

By: advance magazine speech

advance magazine speech — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:25:16 +0000

[...] your congressperson. I asked this question at a meeting of US media professionals and only one persohttp://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/06/18/chartock-radio-and-the-challenge-of-public-broadcastin…Andrew Rawnsley: Don’t rely on the boys with the black stuff, Mr Brown Guardian UnlimitedAndrew [...]

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:35:30 +0000

Although, I don’t mind that WAMC doesn’t have as much NPR programming as other stations. I would much rather have a good local morning show (like The RoundTable was when Susan Arbetter was there) than one of the many generic national political talk shows. And their WAMC2 HD stream DOES look like a more “traditional” NPR affiliate lineup.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:58:13 +0000

I’m in WAMC’s listening area too. I enjoyed the station at first but I got tired of it for the reasons you pointed out. I now listen more to North Country Public Radio, as I’m at the edge of their listening area too and it’s less histrionic.

In fairness, all of Chartock’s rants are advertised as commentary or analysis, which isn’t unreasonable. And they run commentaries and interviews from people on all sides of the political spectrum, even real progressives. I actually would like to hear a little more commentary from public radio to supplement the neutral (not to be confused with objective) journalism NPR generally provides.

I don’t think you could describe WAMC’s NEWS coverage as particularly left wing, although I do think it’s mediocre and a mile wide/inch depth… especially in comparison to the excellent in depth stuff done by NCPR. When you have a listening area as gargantuan and diverse as WAMC’s, I think that makes quality in depth reporting impossible. They’ve spent so much money expanding their on-air coverage empire but I don’t think spending on reporting has kept pace.

The fund drive especially reveals his true colors. But at the same time, it works. The pied piper’s flute draws in an astonishing $800,000, four times a year. Regardless of my issues with Chartock, and I agree that WAMC is more a cult of personality, I like having the choice. If I want sober, more “traditional” public radio, I can listen to NCPR. If I want something a little more lively, I can listen to WAMC. It does have a little more variety.

(And BTW-You can’t listen to streaming audio on an iPhone. If there is, PLEASE LET ME KNOW as I’d love to be able to)

By: DJB Rizalist

DJB Rizalist — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:07:24 +0000

I think podcasts are really the bees knees. I was a small but steady contributor to National Public Radio wherever I happened to live in america (in another lifetime). Now my Ipod is full of what may be good karma, even when I now don’t give. I do feel guilty because I regularly listen to a dozen science and social commentary podcasts, i wonder if they do paypal…

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:06:52 +0000

The problem with asking a station to run an HD channel is that there are about 100 people nationwide who have HD receivers. And, as you point out, more and more people are downloading the shows they like but cannot access via terrestrial broadcast (This American Life has been the top podcast on iTunes for time immemorial).

HD is a nice way for stations to add more shelf space for other programs, but it won’t solve your “listening to programs you like on your roof” conundrum, unless you want to spend a couple hundred dollars on a receiver. In which case, the threat of dropping an HD radio from your roof would cause teh same level of anxiety as dropping your iPod.

By: Cos

Cos — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:37:47 +0000

I have been referring to Northeast Public Radio as “the Alan Chartok Radio Network” for *years*, and I don’t even live in its signal area. As I’m sure you’re aware (in fact, you can probably recite the station list in your sleep too), it has a bunch of stations across the Hudson Valley and central New York.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:19:29 +0000

I’d love to know what Alan’s response to some of these questions would be. It might make a great morning poll question on the Roundtable. :)