KBYU-FM FAILS TO GIVE LISTENERS NOTICE ABOUT PRE-EMPTION OF BBC RADIO NEWS TONIGHT AT 6 PM

It is annoying when management at KBYU-FM, "Classical 89," disrupts its regular schedule for some sort of special and then fails to warn listeners that normal programs will be preempted.

I specifically refer to the cancellation of BBC Radio News at 6 PM tonight in favor of a special piano performance by Leif Ove Andsnes from Carnegie Hall.

I don't object to "specials," but I find the lack of notice by KBYU about those programs preempted to be discourteous and frustrating.

BBC News takes only five minutes, yet it is an important source of world news for listeners who expect it.  It is thoughtless for KBYU not to announce that the program will not air because of the "special."

I had the same disappointment when KBYU discarded BBC News on Saturday afternoons at 5 in favor of its own in-house-produced Highway 89.  There was no warning that BBC News would not be heard.  Listeners were on their own and had to find out the hard way by tuning in for BBC News and then suffering the realization that it would not be broadcast.

So listen up management at KBYU  -  I mean you, Marcus Smith, general manager, and Eric Glissmeyer, program selector:  if you decide to cancel BBC News or any other regularly scheduled program, give listeners an advance warning, such as:

"We will be presenting Carnegie Hall Live on  . . . , and as a result KBYU must unfortunately cancel BBC News at 6 PM.  As a substitute, BBC News will be aired at 9 PM tonight after the special, and again as regularly scheduled at 10 PM."