If there's one thing that drives me nuts, it's those PBS beg-a-thons! I
turn on the TV to watch NYW, but instead of Norm, I get some all-day Yoga
"special programming". Why in the heck would anyone financially reward PBS
for screwing with the programming half a dozen times a year?!?!

And it's not like they do it for 1 weekend a month - they go on for a month
at a time.

Personally, I much prefer watch NYW on HGTV and putting up with a couple of
DIY related commercials. Besides, it's not like PBS doesn't have money
coming in from commercials. What do you call all those things before and
after each program?? As much as I like the Delta & PC promos before NYW -
they are commercials and PBS is getting paid to put them there.

These guys are making a killing while professing poverty:

- they get money for commercials - they call them program sponsors
- they get money from cable and satellite service providers who carry their
broadcasts
- they get money from you

Not bad eh?


Brian


"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
news

"Dave Mundt" writes:

That is a problem, actually, since the trend has been to CUT
funding for NPR, in spite of the fact that it is a drop in the bucket
of the flood of money that the Feds hose away.

snip a commentary from some one who appears to have an inside
perspective

It is my understanding that it was the Nixon administration that tried to
cut funding because NPR was covering the Watergate hearings on a
continuous
basis.

It is also my understanding that those who listen to public
radio/television
basically split down the middle on a conservative/liberal mix.

IMHO, the executives of public broadcasting have lost the will to fight
for
what I believe is the proper source of funding for their operations.

I don't know about your area, but here in SoCal, "begging" by public
stations seems to be their primary function.

40 years ago, Newton Minnow described broadcast television as a "vast
wasteland".

IMHO, it is still a valid observation.

Lew