KQED the empire expands (unfortunately)

Saw this at the sacbee.com while doing my news scans. A crappy tale of bully moves by "listener supported" KQED. Do their listeners support this?



SacTicket // TV/Radio // Media Savvy: Public enemies?



The link has the story. Here is my take on it:



Once upon a time there was a nice well run public radio station group in the Sacramento area called Capital Public Radio. (CPR) Unlike many public radio stations they didn't just run NPR and ask listeners for money. They really served their community with radio shows and a mix of news, jazz, classical, and more on their airwaves.



As they say:



"Capital Public Radio, Inc., is a listener-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that operates the public broadcasting services of California State University, Sacramento, and University of the Pacific. CPR stations KXPR 90.9 (Sacramento), KXJZ 88.9 (Sacramento), KXSR 91.7 (Groveland), and KKTO 90.5 (Tahoe City) are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. KUOP 91.3 (Stockton) is licensed to University of the Pacific.



Capital Public Radio's classical music service is rebroadcast on translators 88.1 K201AZ (South Lake Tahoe) and 99.7 K259AP (Davis). The news and information and jazz services are rebroadcast on translator 90.9 K215DS (Truckee)."



The state assembly even passed a resolution honoring them on their silver anniversary.



A rare local frequency came up for sale at 89.3. CPR planned to buy that frequency and turn it into an all jazz format (a very rare radio format across the country) and then make another of their stations all news.



But soon to arrive on the scene was KQED. They drop 3 million and buy up 89.3. What do they put on the air there? How do they serve the local community so far away? A local staff? Local shows? Well not exactly. A simulcast of KQED with Sacramento traffic and news inserts.



And KQED did this because?



Well it's pretty clear they want to expand and move into the radio market of Sacramento despite the fact that the market was already being served by a 25 year old public radio station group.



Not much different than commercial radio would do.



Since I don't listen to KQED I wonder if during their pledge drives they asked for money, say around 3 million, so they could use the money their listeners donate to buy a station in Sacramento and nudge another public radio station out. It probably wasn't put quite that clearly...



KQED has a massive signal, runs almost no local shows, and other than pressing a button to run an NPR feed barely serve the local community. Now they are doing the same thing in Sacramento.



If you donate to KQED maybe throw a little to Capital Radio Group. Here is a link. They are trying to fight the good fight.



Oh and scan the bottom left of the dial. The college stations and other non comm stations could really use your help. And believe me they have far less wine and cheese receptions than 88.5.



Evidently KQED has more than enough money to run 88.5.