I find out our election coverage is expanding to all the local radio and TV universe this morning. WUTC has joined the foie Gras force feeding of news relative to this year’s election. I had hoped to find at least one decent place to listen to music instead tonight. But no, the station that plays news twice in the morning for four hours total, news for an hour at one, and news for four more hours at four has to preempt music at eight for more nausea.
No wonder the station director did not answer my email two months ago about over-coverage of elections - he must have thought coverage was not enough. So much for participating in “listener supported public radio”. Listener support means, “participate with your dollars, but do not verbalize your input”. I have to wonder, with the hangover looming from elections, what will this station do for an encore? It won’t be news from Lake Wobegone. That is history.
The station has and had staff who love music; that has been the foundation of what used to be a station that prided itself on being different from others around the region and country. Now it has become just another NPR outlet, preempting the core of its existence at any chance possible to satisfy the urges of Amerocentric news junkies.
At least with stations that I hear BBC on, they mostly have what is commonly known as “balance”. That is a good measure of music to wash down the news we are force fed. With the advent of internet radio, one would think a public radio station would better respond to their core audience. One has to determine this station thinks their audience are hard core news listeners.
Prentice Hicks