WBEZ just had a pledge drive and didn't meet their goals.
NPR has its problems, but your local station does really valuable journalism for your area and it's accessible to all.
If you haven't listened to your local affiliate or checked out their website, see what you think of their work. If you find it valuable, and you have the means, I think it's good to support such work. Especially now, good, accessible journalism covering your local area and not just national news is important to preserve
@TechConnectify Shoutout @gbhnews - not my local, but my local in spirit.
@TechConnectify Seems like something that someone with a Patreon WOULD say! j/k, I agree 100%. I've started donating to indie news sites and even paid up for a year over at @arstechnica
@TechConnectify WBEZ, KNKX, KUOW (and a few others) aren't my home stations, but I do have recurring donations set up with them, as well my home station (OPB).
WBEZ does have a slight spot in my heart due to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! 🙃
@TechConnectify It does really worry me about how our media and news landscape could further erode without public broadcasting.
I'd love to see more options thrive beyond the NPR-heavy APM/PRI space though, and I don't know how we get there at this point.
@TechConnectify polka Saturdays every Saturday morning on the Rhinelander Public Radio. I live in LA now and I still listen to it
@TechConnectify I'm honestly surprised this happened to WBEZ. #publicradio is so important. #MichiganPublic (formerly #MichiganRadio) is how I first learned about the #FlintWaterCrisis -- long before it got the national spotlight.
@TechConnectify I don’t love the pledge drives, but they are essential to public media. I live in a media market with several public media options and give to a couple of them, but for many, only one option exists.
If everyone does something, even small, it solves the funding problem.
@TechConnectify WBEZ is an incredibly valuable resource for the community. Management has terminated nearly 15% of the 62 unionized content creators while the executive payroll continues to climb and appears now to top $4 million annually. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/363687394 #publicradio
@TechConnectify When I worked at WAMU, as it was climbing to become the most listened-to radio station in Washington, we had a staff of fewer than 20 people — everyone was either creating content, raising money or overseeing wires and cables (I produced the Diane Rehm Show by myself; the evening talk show was produced by the host). I looked at the WBEZ staff page today. (1/2)
