Why Is Public Radio Always So Lame?
(Originally posted February 13th on gunpowderchronicle.com)
WYPR announced yesterday that they would replace the Marc Steiner show with Dan Rodricks in the 12-2 slot. Why did they go for the lame play?
Do they really think Dan Rodricks will bring any more of a statewide focus to the lunch hour than Marc Steiner?
More importantly, do they think anyone will care?
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Rodricks is nothing more than ultra-left hippie liberal leftover from the halcyon day of the old Evening Sun. His column inches in the Tribune-owned Baltimore Sun are one of the reasons why I refer to the paper as the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter. Instead of offering poignant insight to the daily plight of city residents and insitutions, he brings out the same old recycled, flatulent columns week after week. And since Olesker got the boot from the CSCPN, he’s been twice as bad.
Does anyone expect anything better from a radio show? Especially a radio show that goes up against El Rushbo AND whoever fills in on WBAL (usually Clarence Mitchell IV or C4)?
What is it with Public Radio that makes them such losers? Why can’t they compete in the commercial marketplace and bring in some fresh talent. The hippie liberals that run most Public Radio stations are always screaming about diversity in media. Why don’t they practice what they preach? Would it have killed them to bring in a middle-of-the-road or even conservative talker for the afternoon slot?
If WYPR wants to provide a statewide perspective, they need to realize that not everyone loves the CSCPN, and even fewer like Dan Rodricks. If you wanted to go after some good on-air talent, why not try to rope in Blair Lee or Barry Rusmussen or– if you wanted to go with a Sun columnist, Greg Kane? Would it have killed you to try something a little different?
Maybe the problem with WYPR’s ratings is that since they don’t have to compete, they don’t try to compete. Like the Baltimore City School System — heck, like the entire government of the State of Maryland — they always know there will be rich liberals and poor taxpayers to bail them out.
And that, after all, is really the problem.