Well, here's something I didn't know (one of many things, I'll admit!) Apparently Joan Kroc, widow of the founder of the McDonald's restaurant chain, left some $200 million to National Public Radio in her will - and because of government funding, that bounty has apparently never been touched. It's believed they could now turn to that money and the interest it's generated to keep NPR solvent during the Trump-cut era. 

That's the good news. The bad is that may not help some smaller local stations in less affluent areas. 

So how can they stay on the air? The article below suggests some intriguing solutions about the survival of the  stations, with several different approaches, including one aimed squarely at Baby Boomers.

There are, broadly speaking, two ways to try to get by without federal support. One is to become much more commercial, and the other is to become much less commercial.

The "much more commercial" strategy is easier to envision because it's what most public broadcasters have been doing already for years. An underwriting announcement is basically a more genteel advertisement, and those boomer-music marathons on PBS are as brazen a case of chasing an affluent demographic as anything on network TV. So one path would be to lean into this approach and air more of the programming that brings in the most dollars."  

How To Keep Your Radio Station Going When the Government's Checks Don't Come

This is kind of amusing.  WNED talking about all the cancon they feature and some even produced by the station.  Detroit PBS pretty much ignores Canada from what I have noticed.  I have never heard them refer to Ontario in any of their viewership pledge drives.  Mind you I don't usually watch these 20 minute commercials for more than about two minutes. 

I wonder if money from Canada is starting to become a little harder to raise, what with the tensions between Canada and the US, and some Canadians avoiding things American.  Could be a double whammy for PBS stations that rely on Canadian donations. 


 

paterson1 wrote:

This is kind of amusing.  WNED talking about all the cancon they feature and some even produced by the station.  Detroit PBS pretty much ignores Canada from what I have noticed.  I have never heard them refer to Ontario in any of their viewership pledge drives.  Mind you I don't usually watch these 20 minute commercials for more than about two minutes. 

I wonder if money from Canada is starting to become a little harder to raise, what with the tensions between Canada and the US, and some Canadians avoiding things American.  Could be a double whammy for PBS stations that rely on Canadian donations. 
 

One thing WNED has always done is accept Canadian money at par. I would expect that to continue, further encouraging people here to give. Not sure how many know Channel 17 actually has a Toronto office. It's located at 130 Queen's Quay East. Very unusual for a Buffalo station to have an HQ here.  

I don't get WTVS, but I'm surprised to hear you say they don't seem to care about their Canadian audience, since that station goes out via satellite all over the place here and can reach a cable audience with money to donate all across the country. They're foolish if they don't pay attention to that potential for fundraising.

It was/is WQLN and I used to get them on occasion in North York back in the analogue days. Came in pretty good when the conditions were right. 

Chrisphen wrote:

If they aren't fully finished by this administrative action, the current ruling regime of what is now the United States will likely criminalise them.

I agree with what you say, but for the name of the country. It's now the Dis-United States of America and it's a bloody shame what one lunatic can do.

Dial Twister wrote:

I agree with what you say, but for the name of the country. It's now the Dis-United States of America and it's a bloody shame what one lunatic can do.

I saw Henry Rollins in June 2022. He made a point of dropping the word "United" and referred to his homeland as the "States of America".

I agreed with him then, and still would today.

ckg927 wrote:

Jody Thornton wrote:

Is channel 54 still on-air in Erie?  I can't remember it's calls by memory, but we used to get it with fuzzy reception, when we lived near Cayuga.  I wonder if they also bid for Canadian donations.

The donation form on WQLN's homepage DOES take donations from Canada; I don't know if it's at par.

Why would we care if it's at par? $50C if that's all we're giving, they can count it any way they want.
 

Dial Twister wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

Why would we care if it's at par? $50C if that's all we're giving, they can count it any way they want.
 

Because they often give thank you prizes based on dollar amounts donated.

I wonder if many of the prizes and thank you gifts are donated as well.  This is often the case with fundraisers. 

Several years ago I paid for a one year membership to WNED only because they were offering a prize that interested me. I received a dvd on the history of local Buffalo television. Great footage of Rocketship 7, Dialing For Dollars, Commander Tom, Meet The Millers, Bowling for Dollars, Strikes Spares and Misses and ch 2's Saturday morning show from Fantasy Island. Well worth my contribution.

Some PBS and NPR stations are in a fortunate position to receive state-level funding, either directly or indirectly. The nearest NPR station to me is KUOW Seattle, which is owned by the University of Washington, which itself is a public university receiving state funding. Closer to Ontario, WDET in Detroit has a similar situation, owned by Wayne State University which is also a public university.

Hopefully this situation will be met with an outpouring of donations and continued support from the private sector.    They're probably better off in the long run distancing themselves from government funding anyway. PBS fund raising?   I typed in "Goldie, PBS" and Google AI came back with this!