WBUR-FM general manager Christo to resign

[ckramer]

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/medialog/index.asp

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=48165

BOSTON - Jane Christo, the longtime general manager of the Boston University-owned public radio station WBUR-FM, said Friday she will resign effective Oct. 15.
Her resignation comes amid an investigation by the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office into the proposed sale of two affiliated radio stations in that state, and a separate internal probe by the university into allegations of mismanagement at WBUR.

[mom cat]

1. It is about time for WBUR to be investigated. They have become

so sleazy in their marketing and their misuse of the non-profits who advertise on the station. I watched them steal a key fund raising technique (car donations) from the non-profit who originated the idea. WBUR did this to Volunteers of America right after VOA became a sponsor. They continuously misuse local non-profits in order to hype their highly obnoxious fund raisers. I hope they get a thorough investigation.

[MarkTwain]

2. I'll never forgive that bitch....

... for her direct responsibility for Chris Lydon leaving his show and for her then turning that show into yet another low life version of Good Morning America.

Quality has been "job three" at BUR under her stewardship. Jobs One and Two have been Christo building an empire and the money, by whatever means it is raised, to facilitate that empire.

Good riddance to a woman who had a sense of ethics and the emotional base of nothing more than a whore.

[ckramer]

3. I miss Chris Lydon too

Do you know where he is now?

[MarkTwain]

6. He's been independent at the following:

http://www.christopherlydon.org/ ...since she screwed him royally.

[BiggJawn]

4. Oh, but she created "Car talk"! She's not ALL bad...

Isn't that what they tell us when we question NPR as a whole? "Oh, but they have 'Car Talk', and that funny Mike Feldman!"

<sarcasm>

[MarkTwain]

7. Well stated....

... that's what passes for "conventional wisdom" vis-a-vis the shell of its former self which NPR in general has become.

Moreover, this "lady" and her machinations at BUR - which is one of two or three of the flagship stations of the NPR network - are representative of what has happened to this once proud, progressive, and truly intellectually engaging endeavour.

THAT, my good friend noted below, is why this is critical news to the progressive community. This bitch is iconic of the demise of a once great progressive information source which has been prostituted now on the altar of raw capitalism and the political forces which rule that capitalism.

NPR - and this woman as but one bit of the evidence for such - has become nothing more than a tool of the plutocracy now. Albeit a "fasionable" one for the yuppie slaves to that plutocracy, but a plutocracy nonetheless.

AS an aside, it never ceases to bore the hell out of me just how many board nannies this community has attracted vis-a-vis "acceptable" LBN. And, as for terming BUR a "college radio station," well I guess that MIT is just another diploma mill, huh? Sheesh.

[realcountrymusic]

8. Boston UNIV, not MIT

MIT's station is the (really cool) WMBR, as I recall from my Cambridge days.

Not trying to be a "board nanny." I'm not a moderator and I wasn't trying to silence anyone. Sorry if I came across that way. There are LBN moderators for that. I was a bit miffed yesteday when a cool thread on the Red Sox win was "board nannied" as irrelevant. So I might have taken it out on this one.

Seriously, Chris Lydon, though pretentious to my ears, had a great show, and good riddance to someone who helped kill it. Having left Cambridge/Boston fifteen years ago, I forget how seriously radio, and liberal radio in particular, is taken in that town. Anywhere else but Berkeley people are going "huh?"

Anyone know the listener numbers for WBUR, by the way?

RCM

ON EDIT: fixed a dumb mistake in the subject line

[DrBB]

10. A fellow fan of WMBR!

I LIVE for Backwoods, Saturday mornings. John Funke is my god.

And shows like Breakfast of Champions and The James Dean Death Car ain't half bad either.

[MarkTwain]

11. The use of MIT....

... was a comparative device. Not one of definition.

As in: calling BUR (which is well known as a BU property) a "college radio station" is like calling MIT "a diploma mill." It referenced the stature of the two elements in the discussion; not that one (MIT) owned the other (BUR).

Your regret is respected; these are high pressure moments for progressives - and, our little community here will not be immune to moments of release.

BTW, I am enjoying your ongoing debate in the thread relative to deconstruction. That thread actually has some serious content as opposed to much of the vanity flop that we suffer here at times.

[realcountrymusic]

15. Gotcha, my misreading

Took it too literally.

I did a couple of live sets with a musical act I one performed in at WBUR in the mid-80s. Back then it was pretty small time as an actual facility, and I guess I wasn't so aware of the large role it played in the NPR universe, though now I can remember all the shows that ended with "from the listener-supported WBUR" etc. I knew about Car Talk, of course, and Lydon -- both local Boston products and both better than average.

Thanks for the props on the Derrida thread. It turned a bit hot just now, so I'm leaving the seminar table for a while. Yes, there are some well educated and articulate people here, but there are also some who have a near-Freeper attitude about academia and intellectuals in general. Guess it takes all kinds, but there's few things worse than a bitter grad school dropout letting it all hang out.

RCM

[mom cat]

14. WMBR at MIT still rocks, Boston College also has great programing,

and now we have TWO Air America stations.

Boston College-WZBC..FM-930 is now streaming and has wonderful weekend programing

.Saturday:11AM -1PM Sounds of Dissent: Featuring in depth interviews with progressives - hosted by John Greebe.
Sunday 6-10AM- No U Turn Radio: Four straight hours of progressive radio with programing from Radio Nation, Counterspin, Making Contact, Alternative Radio, etc, and interviews and recent speeches in the area.
M-F 12-1pm: Democracy Now with Amy Goodman

From MIT we have WMBR (Walker Memorial Basement Radio) "The Leftmost Station on the Dial" at 88.1 FM.They are also streaming.

6-6:30 PM WMBR Nightly News-With Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship
Monday- 6:30-8pm: Gender Talk- focusing on GLBT issues, news and humor.

The withering of WBUR has made way for an explosion of alternatives so enjoy. :bounce:

[realcountrymusic]

16. What's happened with WUMB?

UMass used to have a peppy little station that I liked in the 80s. Now I'm in New York, and the options aren't so good. I actually do a fair bit of radio (music, not politics) in the NYC area, though I gave up my regular show of four years after 9/11. (Wife didn't want me away for overnights every week, and it was a midnight show). Just taped an hour at the best music station in the city tonight, in fact, to air shortly. We have a few here -- KCR, FUV, FDU, FMU, BAI, and now the AAR flagship (though it cost us a good community station for the Caribbean market). WNYC is almost completely useless, IMHO. But like I said, I don't listen to NPR much at all these last few years. Brian Lehrer can be OK, but there's no fire in it. The rest I could do without.

RCM

[realcountrymusic]

9. Fair enough

As I think I said before, for me NPR died and went to borugeois hell so many years ago that this is more of an exhumation than a tragedy. I haven't listened to NPR seriously for a decade. In some ways the kind of corporate shilling and lifestyle journalism they do is worse than the MSM because of the pretense to progressivism they espouse.

I hate all of it -- Car Talk, Prarie Home, Morning Edition, etc. -- I'd rather hear Sean Hannity. At least you know he's a whore and he stands up for his pimps.

Remember, Gwen Ifill is a product of public broadcasting,as is Jim Lehrer. Did you watch how they kissed right wing ass as debate moderators?

There are a few goodpeople on NPR, just as there are at MSNBC. But they work for the devil.

RCM

[BiggJawn]

13. Very well put!

It irritates me to NO end to read posts like "Ok, so Mara and Cokie would have Shrub's baby if they could, but you're forgetting Garrison Keilor and Mike Feldman..."

As if having your news coming from Karl Rove's asshole, and your "entertainment" coming from the Left side of the spectrum evens things out... It doesn't.

I tried to explain to somebody today that just because you have crap on TV that teases and "TIT"ilates and upsets jerks like Don Wildmon and Freddy Phelps, that does NOT offset a news department that gets its morning headlines from the RNC blast-fax mill.

Does it sink in? No, sadly it does not. Sure, we have a "Liberal Media" out there. Why do you think Al Franken had to form his own Network to get airtime for "Morning Sedition", yet statione line up on their knees to sign Gush Pfleghmball?

Never forget Bartcop's Myth of the Liberal Media...They're only as Liberal as the CONSERVATIVE corporations that own them will allow, and yes, that does include NPR.

You take money from Monsanto, ADM, and Eli Lilly, and you're not objective, IMO....

You hit the nail right on the head, Mark, and did it very eloquently...Thanks!

[realcountrymusic]

5. And this is breaking news to whom?

About 1200 people in the Boston metro area. Yesterday someone complained that the Red Sox clinching the ALDS was not LBN. But a college radio station changes managers, now that matters.

I played on the air at WBUR a few times in the 80s. Pretty rinky-dink setup.

RCM

[BiggJawn]

12. Bet it's not "Rinky Dink" anymore...

Can't imagine getting 12.7 Mehgabux in the hole if they were a "2 turntables and a microphone" operation...

[realcountrymusic]

17. Guess not

But you'd be amazed at the level of fiscal disaster I've observed at the several college stations where I've worked in my illustrious career as a country music DJ.

RCM

[BiggJawn]

18. Oh, I can imagine!

I spent almost a decade working in "Christian" Television.

It ain't cool to be on credit hold with RCA Parts, Harris, and Varian.....:-)