Pulled my local public radio membership today

[doc_strange]

Today, I decided not to renew my WBEZ membership. I've been a member for... oh, 14 years, with a couple of gapped years when I moved, forgot, and they didn't find me before I realized I had to re-up. Otherwise, I've been a supporter the whole time. I love the idea of locally-produced material rather than network-junk stuff, and WBEZ has been great at producing good local content.

Today, however, I walked away in disgust. The locally-produced program "Eight Forty-Eight" aired a "story" that was nothing but a commercial press release in disguise. I would have expected this sort of pseudo-ad-placement from a TV news segment about a new drug or whatnot, but not from WBEZ's 848 on a "new ethical hacking school" - which sorts of classes have been around - and around Chicago - for years. This segment was nothing more than a plug for a company doing what's been going on for years. In essence, I was contributing to have an IT security firm get free advertising. Thanks. Here's the letter I wrote:

---------------

Dear Eight Forty-Eight,

Thank you for today encouraging me not to renew my WBEZ membership. I try
not to support the appropriation of nonprofit funds for private
advertising. Today, I heard a six-month-old press release rehashed and
aired as a "story" on Eight Forty-Eight. Ethical hacking courses have been
around since 2000, on a scale and quality comparable to that covered in your
May 3, 2007 story. Moreover, they have been taught in and around Chicago for at
least the last 4 years by a range of companies. It's nothing new. Yet,
you chose to dedicate what in essence was advertising time to a "grand
opening" story that actually dates back to December, 2006; see for example
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p03s03-ussc.html - another press
release about this same company, turned into "news."

Very disappointed. I expect this sort of thing from broadcast network TV,
not WBEZ.

Sincerely,

[me]

Comments

[cheesetruck.livejournal.com]

You've done the right thing. That will either make an impact, because they give a shit, or it will not, which will mean they do not deserve your money. Or anyone else's.

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

No reply as of today... oh, just as well.

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

You're a hell of a lot more patient than I am!
I gave up on Tori Malatia (sp?) years ago. Opaque, autocratic, marketing consultant-driven programming is NOT the way to go. Everything he's done has been on the cheap and/or a profit-center -- except getting rid of most of the local talent the station had when he arrived, which seems just to have been preparatory house-cleaning.
Now, it seems I can't listen for more than two hours without hearing the same stuff over, so I do owe him a Thank You for making me more familiar with other stations again.

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

The repetition level was really high about 1998, when I finally said, heck with it, and put up a longwire antenna to get better shortwave reception so I could skip the middleman. They got really good around 2002, but now they've gone and put so much repetition, empty filler content programming, that I'm not really happy. They even time-shifted what is probably the only syndicated-live program on public radio. I still love "Wait Wait" but that pays for itself; lordy forbid they should do any kind of investigation into a an actual local news story to find out ... it wasn't news. It was a PR! WOW!

I don't know if it was Tori's doing, but I am really not pleased with this year's "slash to save money, and pretend we're giving more" corporate double-speak, either. Come on, tell us you're broke, and tell us why.

Golly, I am surprised I am actually still steamed!