Love NPR but upset over programming changes

I love NPR -- it's a superior station, in every sense. Yet, I'm upset over some recent programming changes. I listen to late programming, between 10pm and 10am, and I'm upset over the practice of repeating BBC's Friday programming on Monday. To make matters worse, now we don't have Fair Game -- instead, on Monday we now have even more BBC programming from Friday. Why is this necessary? There's many other programs that could run in these time slots, such as Fresh Air, On Point, Car Talk or This American Life. Now, on Monday, I'm switching to other stations -- I'm sure there's others like me, and soon it could be more than just Mondays...

Tags: air, american, bbc's, car, changes, fair, fresh, game, life, on

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Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on June 4, 2008 at 9:36am: Makes no sense to replay old news heck Diane Rehm would be better than that. Why not current BBC stuff? Maybe they are just buying time til they can figure out what to put there. Heck they could even put that funky MD station on then, but BBC reruns? What are they thinking???

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 4, 2008 at 12:03pm: The BBC is very popular overnight, but we haven't added any more.
We've just replaced Fair Game (which lost its funding support) with The Story - a unique current events program from WUNC in Chapel Hill, NC. I hope y'all like it - I'm sure you'll let us know if you don't !!!!!!

Mark
Program Director

Permalink Reply by Dario on June 4, 2008 at 1:31pm: You haven't answered the basic question: why are we repeating BBC's Friday programming on Monday? As John said above, why not air current BBC programming? I'm sure they have original news programming on Mondays.

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 4, 2008 at 2:20pm: You must be having recurring dreams Dario. All BBC World Service programming is fed live via satellite, there is no other way to air it. Indeed, its a condition of carrying Newshour and The World Today that they air live.

Mark

Permalink Reply by Mike Cherlow on June 5, 2008 at 11:25pm: I was listeneing when Fair game had it;s last show and I was sad. I liked it and as a younger person I felt it had more to do with me and helped me feel connected. I would say though that when I am in baltimore I relish the chance to listen to WTMD out of towson. I wish that was still part of the feed and the lineup. Infact I think that WTMD still says that they are running on WAMU's hd channel three when they do their station breaks.

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 6, 2008 at 9:06am: A lot of people were sad to hear about Fair Game, me included. We still air the excellent sound of WTMD from Towson on our HD3 channel overnight on weeknights, and evenings and overnight on weekends.

Permalink Reply by csdiego on June 6, 2008 at 9:12am: I have noticed that the Fair Game podcast is still active. Since June 1st they have consisted of short one-interview segments. Most recent guests: actorBrian Cox, writer Mary Roach, filmmaker Errol Morris.

Permalink Reply by Dario on June 6, 2008 at 2:14pm: To Mark McDonald from WAMU -- Sorry to tell you that you're wrong: BBC's late night Friday programming is repeated on late night Monday (notice that I didn't say BBC World News Service, news programming, Newshour or The World Today). This has been the case since WAMU changed to carry BBC during the late night programming. This past Monday they repeated "From Our Own Correspondent" and "World Business Review" from Friday, among others. You need to check your facts.

Also, I've never heard "Newshour" on late night programming -- I think it's a daytime show, isn't it?

In any case, I find the comment "you must be having recurring dreams" too informal and somewhat offensive -- as an NPR supporter, I expect greater respect from you. Next time please be more careful with your remarks. And notice that I didn't say "you need to have your brain checked" -- instead, I used the polite version of this popular phrase.

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 6, 2008 at 3:11pm: They've talked about keeping the podcast going - I hope they do. Will keep you posted.

Mark

Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on June 6, 2008 at 3:26pm: Touche Dario :)

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 6, 2008 at 3:30pm: Apologies - I meant no offense Dario - now Jason's threatening to ban me from the site!

Permalink Reply by Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5 on June 6, 2008 at 4:13pm: World Business report is a daily program, as are ALL the other World Service News Programs. But I was incorrect in one respect - the Current Affairs show From Our Own Correspondent repeats on the BBC's North American schedule because its a weekly. On our schedule, you can hear it Saturdays at 0400 est and Mondays at 0330.
By the way the number of average quarter hour (AQH) listeners in the 2 - 4am slot has almost doubled in the past year.
This is my last word on this issue. Happy to discuss further offline, as always. Now off to get my brain checked.
Mark