The Suffering is Almost Over
That's right, the bi-annual pledge drive of my local National Public Radio affiliate is almost over. Today is the last day.
I love NPR, have loved it ever since I was a child. I can still remember cross-country car trips from my childhood, my father scanning the lower end of the dial for the faint, crackly signal from A Prairie Home Companion. Or my mother tuning in to Morning Edition on the commute to school, the deep baritone of Bob Edwards allowing me an ever-so-brief respite from contemplating the tedium of the coming school day. To this very day I think their product is untouchable in terms of quality, and light years ahead of television and most print outlets in terms of true sophistication--it is unapologetically intellectual without being boring, cosmopolitan without being condescending, engaging without pandering. I admit, I do miss the old days a little, when they were unabashedly liberal; like the rest of the news media they have shifted rightward in the last few years, but in their case this has essentially made them a centrist news outlet, which I can live with.
Yes, I love almost everything about NPR. Except the two-week guilt-a-thon that is the pledge drive. For two weeks in the Fall and two weeks in the Spring, local NPR affiliates interrupt programs every five or ten minutes to allow their staff to make the same lame jokes, make the same desperate plea for cash, and read the phone number over and over and over and over again. NPR does not, strictly speaking, have commercials (although they do read off the names of corporate underwriters in a manner that sounds suspiciously like commercials), and the pledge drive is the primary way they finance their operation. I choose to think that my local public radio station remains blissfully commercial free for 11 months of the year, then jams all the commercials in a convenient, easy-to-avoid two week shmooze-a-thon twice a year. I am ashamed to say it, but I mostly find other things to listen to on the radio during the pledge drives, occasionally checking back to ensure that yes, they are still asking for money.
I know the logic behind the pledge-drives, and I know that without them the programming that I love couldn't be produced. And frankly, I usually get the feeling that the local staff that gets stuck with the thankless job of doing the begging hates it as much if not more than we the public do. Still, I can't tell you how happy I will be when I tune in to All Things Considered tomorrow evening knowing that I won't have to hear, "You know, if you love the KXJZ stations as much as we think you do, it's time to pick up the phone and call . . ."
I love NPR, have loved it ever since I was a child. I can still remember cross-country car trips from my childhood, my father scanning the lower end of the dial for the faint, crackly signal from A Prairie Home Companion. Or my mother tuning in to Morning Edition on the commute to school, the deep baritone of Bob Edwards allowing me an ever-so-brief respite from contemplating the tedium of the coming school day. To this very day I think their product is untouchable in terms of quality, and light years ahead of television and most print outlets in terms of true sophistication--it is unapologetically intellectual without being boring, cosmopolitan without being condescending, engaging without pandering. I admit, I do miss the old days a little, when they were unabashedly liberal; like the rest of the news media they have shifted rightward in the last few years, but in their case this has essentially made them a centrist news outlet, which I can live with.
Yes, I love almost everything about NPR. Except the two-week guilt-a-thon that is the pledge drive. For two weeks in the Fall and two weeks in the Spring, local NPR affiliates interrupt programs every five or ten minutes to allow their staff to make the same lame jokes, make the same desperate plea for cash, and read the phone number over and over and over and over again. NPR does not, strictly speaking, have commercials (although they do read off the names of corporate underwriters in a manner that sounds suspiciously like commercials), and the pledge drive is the primary way they finance their operation. I choose to think that my local public radio station remains blissfully commercial free for 11 months of the year, then jams all the commercials in a convenient, easy-to-avoid two week shmooze-a-thon twice a year. I am ashamed to say it, but I mostly find other things to listen to on the radio during the pledge drives, occasionally checking back to ensure that yes, they are still asking for money.
I know the logic behind the pledge-drives, and I know that without them the programming that I love couldn't be produced. And frankly, I usually get the feeling that the local staff that gets stuck with the thankless job of doing the begging hates it as much if not more than we the public do. Still, I can't tell you how happy I will be when I tune in to All Things Considered tomorrow evening knowing that I won't have to hear, "You know, if you love the KXJZ stations as much as we think you do, it's time to pick up the phone and call . . ."
posted by Yukon Sully | 10:23 PM
8 Comments:
I know what you mean about the NPR fundraising torture. It's so BAD!!! I always send them some money right away in the hopes that they will end it early. Bob Edwards, who I really liked listening to in the morning, was booted off several months ago because the people who ran the thing wanted someone more hip, younger, whatever. Too bad--he was great. --mombo
You don't by any chance know Jack Neal do you? Long shot, but I think he does a lot of work for NPR in Reno (or did back in the day lol)... Hmmm.
No, sorry, don't know Jack Neal. Honestly, I never listen to the NPR station that comes from the U. of Nevada here in Reno--it never seems to be on the air and when it is the programing isn't the greatest. I much prefer the station out of Sacramento, which is rebroadcast from Tahoe City and comes in clearly all over Northern Nevada.
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