Do you contribute to NPR?

[Wickerman]

Poll question: Do you contribute to NPR?

Its fund drive in my neck of the woods. Wondering if DU folks contribute.

I can't get Air America in my backwoods area - listen on the feed when I can.

[NoPasaran]

1. No---Rarely listen

[supernova]

2. Would if I could

The news has gone more mainstream that I like, but I would certainly support the local programming, plus PHC, This American Life, Tech Nation. Those are all worthwhile programs.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Like the Sunday afternoon programming.. that's about it.

[Maeve]

4. Our NPR station carries Thistle & Shamrock

AND a locally produced Celtic radio show; you betcha I support the station.

Besides, the coverage--national, international and local--is much less slanted to the right than the commercial stations, radio or television.

[myrna minx]

5. Ever since they canned Bob Edwards I swore I would not

contribute again. In addition, the FAIR review completely pissed me off, so that sealed the deal.

[AlCzervik]

7. Me too

No Edwards, no donations.

[AP]

6. Station by station. I've donated to one that does 90% music, and

carries only ME/ATC, Car Talk, This American Life, Fresh Air and Tavis Smiley. I tell them I only donate because of Tavis and Car Talk.

I also donate to another that is run out of a high school and has many good original programs, in addition to Tavis.

There's a huge NPR affiliate where I live that carries a couple good programs that are very liberal, but has a ton of money, doesn't broadcast Tavis, and has some lame original programming. I don't donate to them.

I guess Tavis is my litmus test, but I also will donate if they're doing good original programming too. (And it seems to me there's a high correlation between those two things.)

If a station has too many shows representing the interest of capital (Marketwhatever, et al) I'm less inclined to donate. The first time I hear a pro-labor program, I'll probably donate a lot.

Latino-USA with Maria Hinojosa just came up on my radar screen. That might become another litmus test for me.

I'd say that TAL is a litmus test too, but they all carry it now.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. NON, NIGH, NYET!!!

NO!!!

[Gruenemann]

9. i stopped contributing

after the Bob Edwards fiasco. Quit listening too. Much happier now.

[FlemingsGhost]

10. They lost me for good when they caved to Bill O'Reilly.

I stopped listening long before that, however. It was too painful to witness the subtle, slow descent to their knees.

(on edit: typo)

[sendero]

12. That's just crazy!

It wasn't that subtle :)

[sendero]

11. Until they do something..

... about Morning Edition and All Things Considered, they will not see another thin dime from me.

Lots of the non-news programming is great, and I listen to it. Although there was a sickening segment on "this american life" sunday - I only heard part of it but it was a pseudo-slice of life from a Rep candidate who just cant' understand why liberals are so angry.

Yeah, right Ira.

[alejandrofromcuba]

13. NPR

No. I don't listen to the radio (not my cup of tea) so I see no need to support it.

I like to choose what I listen to--usually CDs of classic Jazz, while I work or in the car. I also enjoy Hawaii music (interestingly it just appeals to me). So I listen only to what I want to listen to and I turn the radio off. I hate commentary, and I hate listening music that is not to my tastes. Why bother with the radio when you can choose your entertainment?

I do watch and support public television however.

[Gildor Inglorion]

14. Yes - there really is no alternative since I gave up TV

They're becoming increasingly slanted rightward, but still present in-depth news analysis you can't get anywhere else. Also, I enjoy classical, jazz, and new-age music programs, This American Life, the Saturday afternoon operas, etc. To me, with all its faults, NPR is still a HUGE bargain. But I do miss Bob Edwards. ;(

[Crunchy Frog]

15. No,

I feel that they have morphed into "Neocon" Public Radio, with a deceptive liberal facade, and that is something I refuse to subsidize.

I'd much rather donate to informative web sites like DU and others.

[Senior citizen]

16. No way--national rePUBLICan radio stinks.

I contributed to my local pirate radio station because they carry Amy Goodman's, "Democracy Now." One by one my local NPR station eliminated all liberal or "controversial" programs, until it was hard to tell them from a Heritage Foundation tool.

I got really angry during the Reagan administration when, no matter how ugly the deeds, NPR insisted on treating "President Reagan" with respect. The treated the 1st "President Bush" with respect. But they couldn't seem to bring themselves to refer to a Democratic president with respect, and it was always "Mister Clinton" instead of "President Clinton." That went on for 8 years. I remember once waking up to the radio saying, "President Clinton," and I checked the station in astonishment, but I had left it tuned to CBS instead of NPR the night before. When the chimp got selected, it was back to "respect for the (p)resident" for national rePUBLICan radio.

Also they have more ads than commercial stations, and no matter how extended and complex their ads get, they still keep referring to them as sponsors instead of advertisers. The way I see it, sponsors get an acknowledgement--only advertisers get long ads that name, describe and push their products.

[kcwayne]

17. I used to be a regular contributor

not anymore. They have sold out to the reich wing, I can get that kind of drivel for free.

[rbnyc]

18. I contribute to WNYC!

The carry NPR programming, but also produce their own. I LOVE WNYC!

www.wnyc.org

[Sporadicus]

19. I've Ceased Contributing to NPR

In light of their firing Bob Edwards and their turn to the right.

[JDPriestly]

20. They used to be very good,

but now that they are sponsored by corporate interests, they are boring, and I don't need their news. I can read it in the newspapers or online. Also, their kind of cutesy, sing-songy speaking style gets on my nerves -- sounds phony. Do they train their announcers to talk like that, or do they select them? Maybe the announcers are produced by some sort of cloning process, or maybe it's all just one voice that is manipulated electronically to sound slightly different. Anyway, I find it annoying.

I am not as far left as Pacifica Radio, but I enjoy getting different perspectives from their broadcasts. It's great to be able to disagree with the left once in a while -- not just with the right.

[pollock]

22. Boring and cutesy; says it all.

[SmokingJacket]

21. I used to love and depend on them...

I used to listen to Morning Edition and All Things considered **every single** day, from when I moved out of the house in the late 80's until about a month ago. Fifteen years!!!! My husband and I don't watch TV and NPR was always on during breakfast and dinner. We were members for years, and I have tons of mugs to prove it.

But they became harder and harder to listen to during the war, and then they canned Bob Edwards, and now they have no personality whatsoever. It just began to piss me off every day, to the point of damaging my mental health. We kicked the habit completely. Now I get most of my news here on DU.

This American Life used to be my favorite show but it began to sound more and more whiny and inward, and that terrible Sarah Vowell just makes me cringe. Car Talk is still great, and I like to listen to the opera sometimes when I'm sewing or cooking. Fresh Air is often good, but not reliably so.

I'm sad about it.

[TommyO]

23. Stopped listening!

NPR (along with PBS) has been skewing more to the right than my comfort level allows. I used to be a frequent listener, but now I divide my listening time between Howard Stern (gotta love his Bush-bashing), AAR (in the car via WLIB and streaming at home and work), and my iPod.

[skippysmom]

24. When we lived in Albany, we contributed

WAMC is great, and their fund drives are actually fun to listen to. They produce a lot of their own programming too.

I'm now in Mass and listen to WBUR, which also produces its own programming that I generally like, but the rightward drift of NPR and WBUR's annoying fund drives don't compel me to give.

[Mr.Green93]

25. Did they spend all their Mcmoney?

[Wickerman]

26. I believe there were constraints on that cash

had to be used for capital improvements or something to that effect.