WMUB Listener Feedback

Listener David Ireton wrote:

I was disappointed as I listened to the local portion of the 10:00AM newscast. An interview with someone from the Cato Institute giving Gov. Taft a low rating because he has not cut taxes enough and not cut state spending enough. This was one sided. The Cato Institute is a political think tank which wants to end almost all government spending. Their political agenda was not mentioned. Please do not become the mouth piece for their agenda.

Program Director John Hingsbergen's reply:

Mr. Ireton,

Thank you for the comment. We'll pass it along to Ohio Public Radio's Statehouse News Bureau in Columbus. They were the source of this story.

I can assure you that neither WMUB nor OPR is likely to become a "mouth piece for their (the Cato Institute's) agenda." From a journalistic point of view, this story has merit since it is a conservative group criticizing a Republican governor. Perhaps more newsworthy than a "liberal" organization doing the same since that would be more predictable behavior.

I can understand your concern as I assure you that WMUB is working hard to assure that we provide balance and objectivity in the stories we air.

A listener wrote to us (choosing to remain anonymous) to say that he "...was moved almost to rage by the (February 28th Interconnect) show because of his belief that this kind of unsupported, unprovable, unscientific, and clearly impossible quackery is running rampant on the airwaves (both TV and radio) as well as in print in this country and that it seems to exist primarily to sell books, and is based purely on testimonials of believers and the book-writer, rather than on objective reality and provable or dis-provable scientific methods."

The listener went on to comment that he "Would have liked to have seen a little bit of challenge to the claims of the guest, rather than complete acceptance of the guest's claims. Rational thinking and Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection Kit" were not present in the show (see a much better book than the guest's, "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan)."

He went on to say, "I actually do NOT want to demean the guest, I just feel that what he claims to be able to do is not possible, and although I don't want to attribute any nefarious intention upon the guest, I think that the human mind is vast in its ability to construct incredibly exact visual details when in a dream state, and that hypnosis is not only an inexact science, it is possible for the therapist to introduce elements that go into the dream state and our brains commonly can create entire lives or stories out of thin air, with a complete semblance of reality (think of how your alarm clock can be added to your dream with smoothness of storyline, for example). If this sort of chicanery can be formulated in our own brains, imagine how gullable we must be to claims of this sort by the guest.

Listener Ralph Jones wrote:

In general, I don't find the style or content of "Interconnect" very interesting. Also 2 hours of "Thistle and Shamrock" is enough to grate on anyone's nerves. One hour every three weeks might be acceptable. You may be able to tell that I'm not a big fan of Celtic music.

In a separate message, Mr. Jones commented:

As one of many listeners whose work requires much driving around the local area, I find the traffic reports indispensible. These reports have saved me lots of otherwise lost time, not to mention aggravation. Please keep these reports on the air.

E-mailer "Danny" wrote:

REINCARNATION IS AN OCCULTIC MYTH; WHY? BECAUSE IT'S UNBIBLICAL THEREFORE, FALSE & AN UNSCRIPTURAL THEORY LIKE EVOLUTION; WANNA KNOW ABOUT THAT TYPE OF STUFF?
READ THE B I B L E.

E-mailer "Mike" wrote:

I'm glad Tavis is gone. I listen as much I can. Great station!

E-mailer "Fred" wrote:

dear sir i am a mu grad and listen to you on my pc. I usually listen to mama jazz, great. i was wondering what is your broad casting distance roughly. i live just north of detroit mich.like to buy a radio to pick you up.

A reply from WMUB Chief Engineer (and Master of All Technology) Jim Keen:

I am sorry Fred but I think you are a little out of our coverage area....We are located in Oxford, Ohio (20 miles north of Cincinnati) Our coverage area only goes as far north as Celina, OH Highway 29.

Thanks for listening on the Web...

Listener Laura Ziegler wrote:

I believe I've listened to PR radio stations for 20 years (also WDPR, WYSO, WVXU); but more especially after 9/11. The news can't be beat. They offer measured, civil discussions of political events of the day. My favorite is Diane Rehm. She asks questions of her guests that need to be asked. Even when they evade the issue, the point is made. Her recent show having to do with the high cost of drugs and how to pay for them covered all the bases.

I also enjoy the electic music programs. It's fascinating to hear Blue Grass, Beethoven, Salsa, etc. all in the same hour.

Listener "William" wrote to us:

I have been a long time supporter of WMUB, but I am ready to leave you completely due to several recent shows discussing the merits of gay lifestyles as well as this morning's discussion of spouse sharing (Feb. 14 Interconnect).

I have always listened to you the entire day, but from this day forward I will only tune in for the Diane Rehm Show, Talk of the Nation, and Prarie Home Companion. By the way... I really miss the Travis Smiley Show.
He was able to discuss valid issues, without allowing his interviews to go off on radical views. I cannot say the same for Ed Gordon.

Our reply:

Thank you for your comment. We value your opinion although I do think you misunderstood what our guests were saying. They were, in no way, endorsing spouse-sharing or gay lifestyles. I will have to listen again to the show, but I felt that they were being very careful in addressing the questions asked without making judgments about the sexual choices of others. Thank you for caring enough to write about this. We'll listen carefully to the show and, if there is anything we could have done differently to be more balanced, we'll try harder next time.

Listener Jams Gerbec wrote:

What happened to The World Cafe with David Dye on Saturday afternoons? Weekend America is good but not good enough to repeat back to back. Please bring back The World Cafe.

Our reply:

Thanks for your comment and question. The decision to drop The World Cafe and add Weekend America was based on what we have seen in listener reaction to our previous programming. Frankly, the addition of The World Cafe was itself an experiment with a type of programming we had never aired before. By all accounts, very few listeners were tuning in or supporting the show.

We felt that the addition of Weekend America would provide a source of news and informational programming that is more consistent with what listeners expect from WMUB Mondays through Fridays. The repetition of the two hours is very much the same approach we take with Morning Edition and All Things Considered, based on the fact that most listeners are not likely to tune in for as long as two hours at a time.

At this time, it is far too early for us to know if we are building the kind of audience we had hoped for although we have had numerous positive comments. We are continuing to watch Saturdays very closely. Comments such as yours are exactly what we need to assist in monitoring listener/member response.

Listener "Pam" writes...

Dear WMUB,, , This is a copy of an email I sent to Mr. Dvorkin at NPR. You have been soliciting comments about the NPR replacement for Tavis Smiley, News & Notes. These comments concern that show.

I've been listening to News & Notes with Ed Gordon for the past 9 days and while I had great expectations for him and for the show, I'm sorry to say I am utterly disappointed. Granted, it is an impossible task to follow the likes of Tavis Smiley and the show he pioneered with NPR, but that begs another question: how many times in one calendar year can NPR shoot itself (and its listeners) in the foot? First, the embarassing termination of Bob Edwards, and then the loss of Tavis Smiley (and to my mind, this is a greater loss than Bob Edwards).

Edwards' termination put a spotlight on NPR management that has not dimmed and Smiley's departure intensifies that spotlight. Clearly, NPR has some serious management problems!, , I am a 50- something white woman, university professor. Tavis was my NPR political/cultural/economic lifeline to diverse voices in this country, particularly African American and Hispanic/Latino/Latina voices. I never missed Connie Rice's conversations with Smiley, or those segments with Michael Eric Dyson and Omar Wasso. I loved the lively exchange of ideas, the challenges to cultural and political hypocrisy, and the joy of living that Smiley embodies. Now Tavis is gone and we are the poorer.

My disappointment with News & Notes is that it is NONE of the above - Mr. Gordon sounds like a "deer in headlights", stilted, too formal and unable to control a discussion (or roundtable). The homophobic rant by two ministers on the 2/9 show was appalling and Mr. Gordon simply let them rant. He lost control of the segement and there was never a recovery. Additionally, I find the conversants on the show to be boring, the questions formulaic, and the show lacks intellectual stimulation. When Tavis' show was over, I was always stimulated, energized, and always had something to share with colleagues: an idea, a book, a song/musician, etc.

The new show has no passion, is poorly packaged, poorly paced and offers no compelling reason to listen. All of those folks who were attracted to NPR by Tavis might as well go back to their iPods. As I understand it, Mr. Smiley challenged NPR to guarantee that his show was not the only "diverse" programming supported by NPR. Now that Smiley has departed, NPR has guaranteed that diverse voices are muted and boring beyond recognition.

Thanks for listening & thanks for your work,

At least two listeners have written to us with similar messages to this one...and we've had a few calls to the Listener Comment Line as well...


Could WMUB please announce the current temperature along with the weather report, especially in the early morning?

I am a WMUB member and long time listener. I have Morning Edition on by ~5:30 am and am out of the house by 6 am. While it is useful to know what the weather will be for the next day or two, I really need to know the temperature right now, in order to decide what to wear as I leave the house.

Can you please have the announcers state the current temperature during the weather report, even in the early morning? Obviously they have the information available, since the temperature is frequently reported later in the day.

Our reply:

You may or may not be aware that, during some hours of the day, announcements during our programming are recorded in advance and played back by our computer automation system. This is the case during the 5:00 - 6:00 hour, especially since Darrel Gray is no longer a full-time employee at WMUB. At some times, it is possible that "breaks" at around 5:50 AM and 5:59 AM are done "live" but that is by no means a certainty at this point.