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When the leaves get serious about departing their trees, it's time for the fall fund-raising drive from your public-radio station. So it was no surprise to find a solicitation in my mailbox the other day.
And there I learned that Colorado Public Radio's
Morning Edition and All Things Considered keep you in touch
with the world every day...
The first lie: Morning Edition and All Things Considered do not come from Colorado Public Radio, but from National Public Radio.
The second lie: Colorado Public Radio does not keep me in touch with anything, because Colorado Public Radio, despite its grandiose and inclusive name, does not serve the center of Colorado. I got on the mailing list because they bought my name from the Washington Post National Weekly Edition, and CPR is more than happy to ask me for money, even though it provides no service here.
CPR is a front for KCFR in Denver, which is trying to take over all public broadcasting in our state.
Two public radio stations serve this area via repeater -- KUNC in Greeley and KRCC in Colorado Springs. I called both station managers.
It's deceptive,
said Neil Best at KUNC, and it
cuts into his station's income from listener memberships.
He gave an example.
KUNC serves Steamboat Springs via repeater; CPR does not. An attorney there got a CPR letter and naturally assumed it came from the folks who brought him Morning Edition -- the way the letter is designed, it's an easy mistake to make. So he sent $500, and then was quite surprised when he got a KUNC solicitation.
He called, saying he'd already contributed
handsomely,
Best said. And he had -- but not to us.
KCFR, using its 'Colorado Public Radio' name, made him
think it was serving him, when it wasn't.
And this isn't an isolated instance,
Best
continued. It happens often in areas we serve that they
don't, like Steamboat, Julesburg and Wray.
Mario Valdes at KRCC said CPR is cannibalizing our
membership base with these letters to areas we serve that
they don't. It isn't forthright at all. KCFR is giving all
of public radio a bad name, and there's nothing we can do
about it.
KCFR a/k/a CPR isn't just attempting to take members
away from other stations. It's also entering their markets.
A few years ago, they bought a religious station in
Pueblo, almost right under my antenna,
Valdes said.
More recently, CPR got hold of KPRN in Grand Junction.
Now, it would be one thing if KCFR provided community radio when it took over an existing community station. But it doesn't -- despite appearances, KPRN is not a Grand Junction station, but actually KCFR via satellite.
And that's only a start on KCFR's imperial designs.
Kristy McFarland, manager at KVNF in Paonia, said KCFR just
applied for a permit for a station in Montrose, where she
has a repeater. We're a small station, very community
oriented, running on a day-by-day basis,
she said,
and it's going to be very difficult.
Bill Humphreys at KAJX in Aspen said KCFR had plans for
a Glenwood Springs outlet that would overwhelm his station,
as well as KDNK in nearby Carbondale. They use that
Colorado Public Radio name to make people think it's some
sort of consortium of Colorado public-radio stations, when
it's not.
They're trying to take over the whole state,
he
continued. If they succeed, there won't be community
radio in Colorado -- just whatever Denver wants you to
hear.
So here's the situation. KCFR uses a deceptive name, Colorado Public Radio, when it solicits money from areas it does not serve. Meanwhile, it tries to blanket the state with call letters that appear to be local community broadcasters, but are in fact mere repeaters from Denver.
Believe it or not, there are journalistic ethics which Dr. Walter Stewart tried to instill during my college days. This inspired me to try to get the other side and call KCFR to ask for a Rebecca Young, who signed the deceptive letter I got. But she couldn't talk to me; they told me she was busy with the fund-raising drive.
I bet she was. And I hope that if you got a letter from her, you'll do everything you can to make her job more difficult.
It's probably impossible to stop this juggernaut, but we can have some fun trying to preserve a few independent local media outlets in Colorado. Sending them money helps -- but read the letter carefully to be sure you're really supporting public radio in Colorado, rather than KCFR'S Corporate Predatory Radio.
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