MPBC should begin healing dialogue soon

Community, family, village of the airwaves – apt descriptions of Maine Public Radio and its listener-supporters or just cynical hype from an elite, arrogant MPBC administration? The recent top-down programming changes have given loyal supporters the impression that old family members can be ignored or even jettisoned, while the lord and master seeks out new converts to the fold.

As in most families, members are generally loathe to air their dirty laundry to the public, but the latest program changes, apparently, were the straw that broke the camel’s back, as letters to the Bangor Daily News have demonstrated. MPR, once a bastion of respite from information overload, has now become enamored with babble-gurus who agonize, for hours, over trivia like why Linda Chavez withdrew from nomination to labor secretary.

Since other talk-radio stations, CNN and other news channels all offer similarly pretentious and inane “analysis” it would seem counter-intuitive that MPR would gain a significant number of paying talk show junkie converts. Why would they send money to MPR when they can get the same fix for free on other stations or channels?

This is analogous to the rationalization that MPTV uses for disrupting normal programming every winter in order to broadcast high school basketball. I would bet that very few nickels are collected from those transient viewers.

Since the mid-’80s, when federal funding to public radio appeared to be in jeopardy, MPR administrators have become progressively more focused on the almighty dollar – admittedly with a measure of good sense. Consequently, each time MPR has held fund-raising “breaks” they have raised the stakes and set ever-larger goals. To my recollection, they have reached or surpassed their goals on every occasion.

This leads me to ask the obvious question, “If listeners are fully supporting the status quo, why does the MPR administration interpret this as dissatisfaction with programming and hence the time to depart from success?”

If I were a cynic, I might suspect that MPR has, over the past few years, been building a war chest with which, at their whim, they could switch to purchasing nationally-produced, babble-chatter programming. This is one more shift away from programming tailored to local or regional tastes. Instead of circulating listeners’ donations in the Maine economy, MPR seems bent on shipping these hard-won dollars out of state. Hiring an afternoon Dave Bunker would help stem this hemorrhaging.

Not every program on MPR is my cup of tea. In fact, unlike several letter writes to BDN, I don’t care for opera. However, I staunchly support opera programming on Saturday afternoons – for two major reasons: 1. Opera is not readily available on other stations in Maine; and 2. By supporting the rights of opera-lovers I count on their support for my musical tastes, such as folk or Celtic – music also not readily available on other stations. This, to my mind, is the concept of family – one based on mutual support.

Rus Peotter uses the argument that listenership to opera has been low, hence a change was needed. This kind of argument makes sense for commercial radio with program advertisers, but the argument is without logic for public radio. If the family members send their dollars during fund raising, the bills will be paid. The illogic of Peotter’s argument is showing itself as loyal family members voice their dissatisfaction and withhold or demand return of their support.

Although short-term support for MPR is a serious enough problem, I predict that the more invidious long-term consequence will be the disintegration of what will soon become a dysfunctional family – listeners will simply tune out. A nonlistener can’t hear fund-raising please. In my own case I have already had to purchase a CD player for my office and invest in classical CDs (for the past 22 years I have counted on MPR for my classical music fix, and thus only own old vinyl records).

I will miss the spontaneity of fresh classical offerings on afternoon MPR, but I will console myself with the thought that I am supporting local CD purveyors rather than sending my dollars to MPR to pay for out-of-state prattle-facilitator programming.

Is it too late to reassemble the family? I don’t know. A healing dialogue initiated by MPBC staff would be a helpful start. Perhaps Rob Gardiner could even shuck the affectation of one who gained his position by divine right. The ball is in his court.

Richard Jagels lives in Winterport.