I’m all for more locally-focused programming on our public radio stations. WBUR has pretty much decided that it’s not worth investing in; the once-a-week “Radio Boston” is moderately interesting, but once a week doesn’t cut it. Especially when it runs on Friday afternoon.
So I was pleased to hear that part of WGBH’s recent makeover as an all-talk station would be to add two daily hours of local talk radio: Emily Rooney at noon, and Callie Crossley at 1 pm, every weekday, starting today.
Unfortunately, Rooney’s first hour has been rough sailing so far. First, there was some weird glitch whereby the NPR newscast was still audible while Rooney was trying to introduce her show and her first two guests: Governors Deval Patrick and Don Carcieri (RI). Awkward.
Then she started the discussion with perhaps the biggest non-story of the day: Harry Reid’s comments about Barack Obama’s skin tone and lack of a “Negro dialect.” First, this story has exactly nothing to do with Massachusetts. Wasn’t this supposed to be a locally-focused show? Then she kept calling the chair of the Republican National Committee “Mark Steele” until Carcieri finally had to remind her that his name is Michael. And then she framed the issue about as absurdly as she could by comparing Reid’s comments with Trent Lott’s famous remarks back in 2002 about how great it would have been if Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948. Now, I’m sorry, but the notion that Reid’s remark (which was phrased in unfortunate terms, but which is probably fairly accurate as a commentary on the state of the American electorate, as two African-American commentators on “The Takeaway,” which also airs on WGBH, opined just this morning — read one’s analysis here) is somehow comparable to Lott’s comments (which said that the country would have been better off if an ardent segregationist had been elected president) is completely ridiculous. It’s too bad that neither Patrick nor Carcieri called her on it.
Anyway, then we moved onto an issue that does affect both MA and RI, namely, casino gambling. But, weirdly, Rooney’s hook was to suggest that MA and RI, along with CT, engage in some kind of multi-state revenue sharing. Huh? No one else is talking about that, and that’s presumably because it makes no sense. Neither Governor had any interest in talking about the revenue sharing idea, unsurprisingly. She repeatedly tried to get them to talk about it; they wouldn’t, preferring to talk more generally about whether expanded gaming is a good idea. (By the way, Patrick is clearly still interested in bringing resort casinos to Massachusetts, though he didn’t sound like it was exactly his top priority.)
Hmm. Well, I still like the idea of more locally-focused public radio. Better luck tomorrow.
Give it a least week. This is a non-story. Fist day of a full time five day a week job. Let it go man. Talk to me in a couple of weeks.
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p>I am excited about the two shows lined up. Much better suited for the intelligent hosts then the strict TV format they come from.
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p>Let them get their sea legs.
What concerns me is that these are not exactly people who are new to the airwaves. Emily Rooney in particular already has a 5-days-a-week public affairs TV show in which she talks about the very same kinds of issues she’s doing now on the radio. It’s not like she’s a broadcast newbie.
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p>Anyway, like I said, better luck tomorrow.
Rooney’s view of politics is process stories and what Politico is harping about this morning. She’s a disastrous moderator, and has as bad a case of wannabe-Beltway as Jon Keller.
“the notion that Reid’s remark […] is somehow comparable to Lott’s comments […] is completely ridiculous.”
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p>Very true. But that’s what Republicans are asking us to buy, so Emily teeing it up isn’t all that remarkable. What’s remarkable is that Patrick didn’t hit it out of the park.
If true is actually more disturbing than Reid’s.
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p>I agree that Reid should not have made the statement. He has apologized and moved on, bigger fish to fry here.
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p>Clinton’s statement as described during his efforts to get Ted’s endorsement for Hillary is far worse in my eye. Here is the President who received acclaim as working for civil rights and the rights of African Americans uttering a comment that is, to be kind, unacceptable. That is the comment that should be discussed.
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p>Reid will have to answer to his constituents, etc. and let’s leave it at that. Bill, on the otherhand, if the statement is true, deserves a much larger rebuke and condemation. The only concern is that the condemnation may end up accruing to Hillary when it rightly belongs with Bill (another time where she bears the burden of his misdeeds, again, if the statement is true).
… its not that bad:
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p>Then there’s Kliemann:
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Not to infer Obama’s inferiority based on race.
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p>This was two top tier pols talking. Clinton was, imo, trying to bracket Obama in a lower political caste. That is something Kennedy could easily accept. Though, according to the rumor, apparently not.
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p>Hell, I know campaign operatives that won’t go back to a House race after they tried their hand at a Senate bid. These folks are very aware of their standing in their cloistered world.
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p>As a Hopemonger, I was stoked when Teddy endorsed.
about your description of more local radio… until I read the words “Emily Rooney,” at which point I cringed at all the mistakes you described which were oh-so predictable. I’m sorry, but she’s just a horrible choice. Maybe she was great behind the scenes for channel five once upon a time, but she has the pettiest interests and her media-critiquing Fridays really should be renamed media cheer leading, because I don’t think she thinks the media can do any wrong.. I can’t see why WGBH wouldn’t go out there and get someone fresh and new. At least if they cared about having a good and/or popular show.
Rooney is awful. I can’t watch her anymore; she’s just not as clever as she thinks she is. (And I also cringed when I saw the name as well, same reason!)
if the folks in charge of WGBH had any idea of why they bought WCRB except that they wanted their empire to grow. Wait until they have fund drives going on both stations at once.
but who has time to listen to talk radio while working? I look back fondly at the old WGBH with Ron Della Chiesa, classical in the morning, then the Great American Songbook in the afternoon. That I could have on in the background. Talk is fine for morning and afternoon drive, but if you’re employed (and want to continue to stay that way), who can focus during the day on talk radio?
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p>Just glad that Ron is still found on WPLM on Saturday and Sunday nights. Another benefit of living on the South Shore, besides beaches.
At one point, if Ron Della Chiesa described one more conductor or performer as legendary, I swear, I was going to throttle him.
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p>It’s Richard Kniseley whom I miss.
but I do miss good music during the day, and I do remember Richard (maybe it has been so long ago since RDC got canned off of GBH, which also corresponded with my end of contributions). More to the point, it seems that we have two public radio stations battling each other by simulcasting the same NPR shows. We’ve gone from music to syndication. 12-2 pm during the work week? I have to work – I can’t listen to talkers, whether that’s Emily Rooney or Rush L. If you have a job, you’re not listening to any talk radio during the day.
I have so much classical music in my collection that I own more music sung in Latin than in English, but I can’t work to it.
… I don’t even listen to music in the car anymore because I’ll pay too much attention to it and miss exits. I guess that’s the penalty for being into music theory.
since more or less Robert J Lurtsema’s time, if you
want to talk about dating myself. Any fans of The
Spider’s Web out there?
I think it greatly depends on the job. A lot of people work in jobs that… imagine this… keep them in a car much of the day. Others have jobs where a distraction on the radio is actually a good thing. Then others have jobs in offices where talk and noise could be a complete distraction, or inappropriate. My only real point is that just because you exist in a certain set of circumstances, doesn’t mean you should assume others exist in that same set of circumstances, too.
certainly not trying to make any assumptions whatsoever (otherwise radio would be white noise during the day, and certainly Rush L. wouldn’t be this supposed force he is).
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p>My particular point was that I can’t listen to talk during the day, whether I want to or not. Maybe that’s me, but I can focus on my work with music in the background, but hard to convince anyone you’re focused on the task at hand while trying to follow a conversation. It’s kind of like busting your kids when they say they’re “studying” with YouTube up on the computer screen (or maybe I’m just an old curmudgeon non multitasker).
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p>That being said, it would be nice to see their local programming in the “big boy” slots of morning or afternoon drive. Never understood why we have two public radio stations simulcasting ATC (only advantage I guess is if they don’t run pledge drives at the same time, you can flip back and forth).
I can only listen to classical in the morning (I get yelled at enough during the day…not how I want to start off). I’ve liked Laura Carlow for some time now…a great morning voice.
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p>As a plus, either the Christian station on the South Coast amped down, or the signal from WCRB was moved from Lowell, because I can now listen to it throughout Plymouth County.
I would enthusiastically support dumping the tiresome Emily Rooney from new local public affairs WGBH radio show in favor of Chris Lydon for a “Connection”-style, interacive program on WGBH Radio. I am reasonably confident we could persuade Chris to amp down his sometimes long-winded take on local political, social, and cultural issues of importance to satisfy the legitimate criticisms of some BMGers and provide his guests and callers with a greater degree of media interaction.
I loved some of the ideas that he wanted to bring to media and I thought the subject matter’s and guests on The Connection when he was hosting were great (although I don’t know how much of that to attribute to him or to his producers). The faults, in the end, were too much to bear and I stopped listening to him. I consider it tragic because there was so much potential there that got mishandled.