FUND RAISING ON LOCAL PUBLIC TV & RADIO STATIONS IS WASTEFUL, DUPLICATIVE AND BROKEN

The whole fund raising system for public radio and tV stations in the U.S. is defective, wasteful and duplicative. What do I mean?

Take the state of Utah as an example. Utah has at least six public radio stations and two public TV stations. The public radio stations are KCPW-FM (Salt Lake City), KUER-FM (Salt Lake City) KBYU-FM (Provo), KRCL-FM (Salt Lake City), KPCW-FM (Park City), and KUSU-FM (Logan). The public TV stations are KBYU-TV (Provo) and KUED-TV (Salt Lake City).

Some of these stations broadcast a signal state-wide, so it is possible that a listener/viewer may receive two, three or even four public radio stations and two public TV stations. Here in Salt Lake City, we receive four public radio signals and two public TV stations.

Each "public" station engages in fund drives at least twice a year, sometimes three or four times a year. The public in Utah is constantly being bombarded by what seems eternal and perpetual fund drives and solicitations for donations and pledges.

Imagine if we had one national broadcasting service, something akin to the BBC. We could do away with all those pesky fund drives, all the pandering for local donations, all the unseemly commercials, oops, I mean "underwriting sponsorships." We could do away with all the overlay of each station having to cover its own monthly expenses. Instead of contributing to four, six, eight stations in a state, the listening and viewing public would be responsible for contributing to only one national radio station and one national TV station - I mean NPR and PBS.