I have made references to no longer being a monetary supporter of Wyoming's one and only National Public Radio station since they made some, what I consider to be, horrible programming changes three years ago: classical moved from early afternoon to primetime television viewing hours 7-11pm; Met Opera dropped, mostly because Met opera wouldn't let them play it when they wanted to; and, IMHO, a move to a playlist which is nearly indistinguishable from any other commercial station on the dial. One trait I've noticed, in particular, is a penchant for playing what I consider to be good *oldies* NOT by original artists, but by some wannabe that sounds terrible.

The only redeeming music factor, IMO, is the weekends when they play a mix of acoustic with Celtic, folk, etc. BUT, even then, I find a preponderance of whiney, sing-through-their-nose crossbreds of country/western/traditional/contemporary. We usually wind up turning it off.

I sent a fairly long email to the programming director and a cc to the gen. mgr. I referred them to the Mudcat for ideas on programming and recommended more of several of our Mudders who have CD's out. What follows is an excerpt from the GM's reply to me:

Regarding your taste in music and preferences - I'm sure you know how much that varies amongst any group of people. Don's (the programming director) show has a loyal and significant following of people around the state who in fact do not find the selections to be like any other radio station, commercial or non-commercial. I think the fact is that depending on one's preferences, greater or lesser distinctions are made by any listener. Your taste runs more to folk and what I think of as "Americana." That's what we feature on Saturday and Sunday's in a fairly significant amount of time - roughly eight hours. Don's show has a contemporary music focus, although there is some overlap or relationship to the weekend's programming. We have considerably more support for our weekday programming than the weekends, but are committed to doing both.

Rog has a theory that since NPR is advertising that anything you hear on there can be bought at their website, they have differing lists which stations can purchase to play from; he thinks our station bought the "C" or "D" list and that's why they play so much crap.

How is it where you live? Have you noticed any similiar trends; any explanations?

Thanks,

katlaughing