The headlines on CNN this morning:

[2banon]

10. Radio Activism...

you said:

It seems to me that local station manager needs to hear from people who are unhappy with the direction those two mainstay programs

I can't speak for your community and local NPR stations but I can report to you that managers do hear from the public all the time. Guess what their general responses are to these complaints. Give up? Tell me if you've heard this before : "We get complaints from the Left and we get complaints from the Right, that tells us we MUST be doing something right" (pun and irony is never intended).


you said:

These managers do get together from time to time.

That's correct. There are two major conferences held annually which managers along with programmers, directors, engineers, broadcasters etc (and even listeners) attend.

The last NFCB (National Federation of Community Broadcasters) was held here in San Francisco last Spring.

This is the one to go to for everything related to public radio. go to the link above and you can see their schedule/agenda for that conference and what's required to attend (for future information).

NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) is the other conference which covers the whole spectrum of broadcasting. I've never attended NAB, but I've been a recipient to a lot of stories from folks who used to attend, my impression it's like a hyped up trade show with Radio Celebrities. I think they do awards and shit too. I'm not sure. Lots of promotional swag etc. People "network" and make connections, blah blah blah.

you said:

If enough of them hear from people who are considering pulling our support, they will apply pressure to the national system

One would think so, wouldn't one?

I started out just as a volunteer for a very small community station (we were broadcasting from a portable trailer at the time) eventually hosted my own program.. during this time period I became a radio activist because of events going on with KPFA/Pacifica Radio. Pacifica was being hijacked by DLC/Corporatists, who wanted to turn Pacifica network into something akin to NPR (which was already hijacked) and in 1999 all hell broke loose, that's when I got involved in my activism. I learned a lot more about the underbelly of CPB/NPR/PBS and the political machinations than could possibly be enumerated here. There have been books on the subject.

But I don't want to discourage you from getting involved in your local community station. It will be a huge eye opener, and you might even enjoy it!

Know this: All public radio stations are required to conduct what's referred to as the Local Station board meetings which must be announced to the public and is made open to the public.

There's usually a "board of directors" or at least a Chair Person that is elected or appointed, depends on the specific stations' governance structure. Start going to these meetings...they're usually conducted once a month. Give your local station a call, or maybe it's posted on their website. but the meetings are to be announced on air. Let me know how that goes!

Hope this was helpful..