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March 17, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Why does Buck McKeon hate National Public Radio?

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

Image not recoveredmckeon.jpg

Buck wants to kill your NPR joy

Our 72 year old, 9 term Congressman has just voted to defund and destroy National Public Radio, a journalism/arts/entertainment institution enjoyed by millions of listeners everyday the world over.

And I want to know why.

What’s old Buck got against NPR? It can’t be that it’s that liberal. They have a wide range of programming that would appeal to even conservative fellows like him. For example:

  • Car Talk: what male can’t listen to an hour of Car Talk and not come away satisfied and filled with ideas and even testosterone?
  • A Prairie Home Companion: I personally don’t dig it, but with live sets from lots of  locations in fly-over America, it’s got to appeal to Buck, who was born back in the 1930s in Tujunga, the San Fernando Valley’s backwater
  • Fresh Air: Engaging interviews of the famous and infamous and everything in between. Why just last week Fresh Air interviewed someone named Rodney Crowell, a country songwriter whose credits include Roseanne Cash. The month before that, they talked with and played the music of the Del McCoury band, a legendary bluegrass band. Again, not something that’d make it into my playlist, but I’m more than happy Fresh Air has some programming that would appeal to a man who feels comfortable in a 10 gallon hat and knows what a hoe-down is.
  • Marketplace: The nation’s most popular business radio program, produced and broadcast from right in Los Angeles. These guys will dizzle-dazzle you with numbers and spellbinding stories from the world of stiff-suited corporate types- just the types McKeon hobnobs with now! Doesn’t he want to know more about them?
  • From Scratch: An NPR-produced show all about entrepreneurs. Buck’s always going on and on about small business people; well here’s a show completely on that topic. What gives Buck?

All this great content and you’d think it’d come with a steep price. But no! It’s free!

But wait! There’s more! NPR doesn’t have shouters who try to sling LASIK procedures or mattresses or refis for 23 minutes out of the hour.

And how much do we actually pay for this content? Federal funding of NPR accounts for less than 6% of NPR’s revenue. In other words, we pay way under half the cost of a single one of those new fighter jets Buck McKeon keeps saying we need to buy.

Explain your hate Mr. McKeon!

 

Comments (49)

  1. Lori RivasMarch 17, 2011 at 2:08 pm
    This American Life Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me Story Corps Jazz Profiles Fresh Air All good stuff. Love me some NPR.
  2. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 2:47 pm
    And don’t forget it’s an organization that admits catering to a “core audience that is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite” Funny that crowd cant support them????
  3. JeffMarch 17, 2011 at 3:02 pm
    “And don’t forget it’s an organization that admits catering to a “core audience that is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite” Is that why you don’t support it?
  4. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 17, 2011 at 3:29 pm
    It sounds like they do… to the tune of 94%… I guess the “educated” thing got in your way of the math?
  5. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:36 pm
    Yeah well that is “Their” numbers. I suggest you read this… http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2011/03/16/bozell-nprs-ridiculous-denials/
  6. KevitivityMarch 17, 2011 at 2:35 pm
    As much as I like NPR (including Fresh Air, even though Terry Gross’s political slant often leads her to be hard on her conservative guests and easy on the leftist ones) the organization will survive just fine without government funding, which only accounts for a small part of NPR’s overall budget. In my view – in these economic times – cutting NPR funding is an easy and obvious choice.
  7. JeffMarch 17, 2011 at 2:58 pm
    It’s not so much the NPR parent, but the small, under-funded, mom ‘n pop radio stations throughout America that can’t advertise and depend on CPB money for operations and listeners. Without local public radio, small towns throughout America will have little to no local radio service. They’ll just have FM and AM Affiliates with national voices. But I take it that -and the fact that CPB funding is couch cushion money compared to defense & entitlements- doesn’t change your view does it?
  8. KevitivityMarch 17, 2011 at 3:10 pm
    No, it doesn’t. Any station that can’t make it on it’s own needs die a natural death. Radio in general is shrinking. And NPR is already doing an end run around those smaller stations by providing most of their content online via podcasts, their killer iPad app, and the web.
  9. JeffMarch 17, 2011 at 3:20 pm
    Cool. What are you going to say to America’s rural communities and small towns that depend on local public radio for things like candidate debates, council meetings, weather conditions and such? Buy an iPad? Be satisfied with a cut & paste of Ryan Seacrest reading the weather report for the nearest metropolis?
  10. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:31 pm
    Jeff can you give me an example of 2-3 of theses so-called rural towns that need NPR or they get zero local radio. Just 2 or 3 would be great
  11. JeffMarch 17, 2011 at 3:33 pm
    I’m not your on-call google search. Start your search here and report back http://www.nfcb.org/index.jsp
  12. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:50 pm
    Sorry! I just thought assumed you would have an example of this rural town you were speaking of??? Then we could look up the town and their situation and verify your claim of no local news without NPR. I am not a ” Take Your Word For IT” type guy. Maybe we can get foxnews to support (using taxpayer dollars) a few radio stations across the country to give them their local news. I am sure you would be 100% behind the new Speaker of the HOUSE when he brings up this idea.
  13. NateMarch 18, 2011 at 10:49 am
    HAHA #OWNED
  14. Joe GrandeMarch 17, 2011 at 4:19 pm
    Pocahontas Arkansas for one. I know because I worked there for seveal months and listened to a lot of NPR because there was absolutely nothing else to do but that or WalMart.
  15. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 4:26 pm
    Hmmmmm http://www.ontheradio.net/cities/pocahontas_ar.aspx
  16. Fred ButlerMarch 18, 2011 at 10:39 am
    Being from rural Arkansas and having visited Pocahontas on several occasions, what makes you think the locals there would be interested in NPR? You were a transplant who probably already listened to NPR when you moved there for what, a few months? And then left that cultural desert.
  17. John AdamsMarch 18, 2011 at 11:20 am
    That is funny Fred. One of my good friends (extremely vocal liberal)lives in Little Rock and is a Valencia transplant. I spent a couple of days fishing the White River with him (of whitewater fame) At the end of the fishing trip it was lucky I did not have my gun with me. One of us would have been dead!! Blah Blah Blah Bush Rah Rah Rah Obama They should torture terrorist that way
  18. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 17, 2011 at 3:31 pm
    “Any station that can’t make it on it’s own needs die a natural death.” Funny, we don’t treat the airlines or the banking industry that way. Selective free market economy I presume?
  19. KevitivityMarch 17, 2011 at 4:15 pm
    “Funny, we don’t treat the airlines or the banking industry that way. Selective free market economy I presume?” It would have been nice to let those failing business die, I agree, but too much of the economy depended on them.
  20. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 18, 2011 at 9:37 am
    So when it’s about wealth and upholding the structure of the wealthy well then corporate welfare for all! But when it comes to arts and the like and things which many of us find more edifying than money then not help for you!
  21. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:16 pm
    How many starving babies could be fed with the money we give NPR? How many homeless could get shelter? How many children could get college admission? Lets get our priorities straight.
  22. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 17, 2011 at 3:32 pm
    Nice, disingenuous comment as that is not where the money will go… but way to try to frame a debate in a fashion that arguing for something would make one automatically repugnant. The exact same things could be said about defense spending. “Lets get our priorities straight.”
  23. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:43 pm
    LOL Nothing better than seeing a liberal argument used against them… But I will copy your response for future use on this site…
  24. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotMarch 17, 2011 at 4:54 pm
    He fell right into that one John!
  25. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 18, 2011 at 9:38 am
    Except I’m not a liberal So nice try.
  26. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 2:40 pm
    Why the hell do they need public funding? WHY?
  27. Bill ReynoldsMarch 17, 2011 at 2:50 pm
    I agree, John Adams… if it’s so darn good, why can’t they make it on their own like other media businesses?
  28. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogMarch 17, 2011 at 3:34 pm
    Ask Citibank… Delta Airlines… Bank of America… and the auto industry. They cost us a hell of a lot more than NPR. But hey, no sense in supporting the arts endowments as long as we provide big corporate welfare hey Billy?
  29. Bill ReynoldsMarch 17, 2011 at 9:06 pm
    Are you referring to ObamaMotors, otherwise known as Government Motors?
  30. Your Web GuruMarch 18, 2011 at 7:39 am
    ObamaMotors, otherwise known as General Motors which turned its biggest profit last year? General Motors, which is paying back every cent and then some and has not only survived, but thrived in this economy? Unlike the airlines which begged for corporate welfare after 9/11 and still utterly failed, GM is a success story attributed to the current administration that you cannot deny. Pick another battle, I’m sure Youtube has plenty for you to relay, as that’s such a valid news source!
  31. Bill ReynoldsMarch 18, 2011 at 8:11 am
    Chevy Volt sales plunged along with Gov’t Motors stock…
  32. John Adams Reprices for the WorseMarch 17, 2011 at 6:59 pm
    Why the hell is our military larger than all the other militaries in the world combined? WHY?
  33. Bill ReynoldsMarch 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm
    I don’t know… maybe the Messiah likes war despite his campaign promises…
  34. Samuel AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:03 pm
    There are many small towns throughout America that support small radio stations without government money. Jeff, why do you have such a problem with advertising?
  35. townbeetMarch 17, 2011 at 5:10 pm
    I don’t know why Jeff is against advertizing but having worked as an ad clearance rep for a major radio networks company I can tell you that the local stations, private ones too, hate being nagged to air ad spots especially when asked to make up for the ones they skip when they broadcast local sports. Secondly, most radio advertizing is just annoying. I listen to KCRW every morning online and on my car’s radio. The tone of voice and the quality of programing is superior to anything on talk radio such as KFI at that time and I don’t have to hear somebody chew my ear off at 7:45am about ” Keyes, Keyes, Keys Keyes on Van Nuys.” I want my tax money to go to something that informs me, albeit sometimes with a liberal slant. Why doesn’t Buck skip this b.s. and go for the deep cuts to the fatty defense-spending-funds instead. That’s where the discretionary money goes really.
  36. Samuel AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 9:32 pm
    Tbe whole point of radio advertising is to get your attention. That is why it is called “intrusive” media.
  37. JeffMarch 17, 2011 at 10:33 pm
    Well I don’t enjoy being shouted at. If you have to shout at me to sell your product, you already lost a sale. I didn’t know they had a name for it. At least it fits.
  38. John AdamsMarch 18, 2011 at 4:38 am
    I am on the road quite a bit these days and I listen to NPR quite a bit (the main reason is the AM on my car radio is out and Nevada Public Radio is on FM) It is good radio. I get tired of the constant begging for money. It’s just as bad in my mind as endless comercials. But we need to save money folks. While cuts are always going to have a negative effect on someone. The citizens of our great country need to understand we are in dire economic times. In my opinion the problem is not revenue. It is SPENDING. I also believe that a majority of Americans side with me on this.
  39. LarMccMarch 17, 2011 at 3:41 pm
    I love NPR, listen to Prairie Home Companion via Sirius. Many other shows are great and I support them, including making financial contributions. That being said, the government needs to stop spending so much money on everything. They should not be in the radio business (or subsidization of). If public radio is so great (and I think it is), let them get funding via fund raising campaigns, grants, wherever.
  40. john AdamsMarch 17, 2011 at 3:55 pm
    Excellent Response….
  41. AlpinerMarch 17, 2011 at 9:34 pm
    Many religious radio stations raise money through fundraising and the support of their listeners. If they can do it, why can’t NPR?
  42. Need for Involved CitizenryMarch 17, 2011 at 8:52 pm
    I listen to NPR everyday. Their news stories are the most in depth and balanced that you can find on any station. While Buck is unwilling to fund a great radio network, he’s more than willing to try to get money for a Mule Museum in Bishop – see: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/30/kth.museum/index.html Buck is just following his fellow Republican group think on NPR as welll as not trying to rock the boat to get Cemex done. It is beyond belief to me that he gets reelected every two years. If we want to get rid of subsidies to things like NPR, lets also dump lots of the Corporate tax breaks like farm credits, the Federal giveaways for mining (a la Cemex), etc. Stop acting like the worlds police force without compensation. Stop giving benefits to folks here illegally, etc.
  43. Bill ReynoldsMarch 17, 2011 at 9:09 pm
    And AMTRAK too and reduce fat gov’t union wages and pensions…
  44. Bill ReynoldsMarch 17, 2011 at 9:13 pm
    This just in: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/17/stimulus-funded-train-station-be-named-biden/
  45. LarMccMarch 17, 2011 at 9:34 pm
    All ridiculous things, especially the mule museum. Add the post office to the list. They need to get back in the black budget-wise. It’s old fashioned messaging. While still relevant, I am not sure 6 day a week delivery is that critical anymore.
  46. Samuel AdamsMarch 18, 2011 at 7:42 am
    Post office needs to stick around, but dropping to five days makes economic sense.
  47. spineflower2March 18, 2011 at 10:25 am
    Subsidizing liberal NPR is no different in the big picture than tax-free status for conservative church organizations. It’s putting public money to use for a relatively private benefit. Both divert tax resources. Both are unabashed in their non-middle views. In this era of unprecedented, massively consolidated media ownership (thanks to Bush), I for one welcome the subsidy of NPR as a foil to the huge mega-millions behind the right-wing media giants.
  48. Need for Involved CitizenryMarch 18, 2011 at 2:58 pm
    Funny, my staunch Republican uncle insists everything but Fox News is liberal… I guess it is just in the eyes of the beholder.
  49. spineflower2March 18, 2011 at 3:49 pm
    Yes, which is why we can’t let politicians control the media. Do you think the ‘Pubs would be callign for ending funding if they LIKED what NPR has to say?

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