Early last week at around the same time that my neighbor fell asleep at the wheel, taking out my mailbox in the process (about 1:30am), I got an email from a friend in Europe.
News and Notes had been cancelled.
I’ve been a fan of NPR now going back over twenty years. To say I believe in public radio is an understatement. When “smooth jazz” took over the airwaves in Detroit, stifling Miles Davis and John Coltrane in favor of Najee and Kenny G., the only place I could hear bebop, cool, and big band was NPR. When I wanted to hear hard-hitting interviews I’d either listen to Diane Rehm or to Terry Gross. And when I entered the ranks of the gainfully employed, my drive home was always accompanied by All Things Considered.
But there was still something missing. An entire series of voices I felt I wasn’t hearing.
Fast forward. Tavis Smiley creates the black equivalent of a media juggernaut (sad commentary on the state of black media when we think of what Smiley accomplished in those terms). And he comes up with the brilliant idea of expanding NPR’s audience.
News and Notes was born. Because he felt NPR wasn’t willing to give him the support needed to grow NPR as a brand in black urban communities, he left and was replaced by Ed Gordon.
And this is when they put me on. No. When Farai put me on. I met Farai through her (equally powerful, equally compassionate) sister. And in talking with Farai she told me that she was working on something that she wanted me to be down with.
I’d gotten wise enough at that point to smile and graciously say “thanks for thinking of me”, while not putting much stock in it.
Next thing I know I’m getting a phone call from NPR. And then regularly doing bits on News and Notes, and then later, Tell Me More. Not only was I finally hearing the voices I was missing, I was one of the voices. There are more people who have the integrity to actually speak the truth and WORK the truth they speak…but I only know a few. Farai is one of them.
In writing about the change, NPR execs focused on the dollars and cents. Whereas a couple of years ago they were 2 million in the red, that figure has jumped to 23 million. And given that a significant chunk of their money comes from corporate donors and philanthropists who have their money in the stock market, it should come as no surprise that they’ve got to make very difficult programming decisions in order to stay on the air. (As an aside this is an important reason why public radio should be PUBLIC radio rather than privately funded radio but I digress.)
But it’s unfortunate (to say the least) that a show like News and Notes became a casualty. Sounds a bit like the “last hired first fired” line that many of us are used to.
We’ll see Farai, and though they work behind the scenes, her staff again soon. Here’s hoping it will be VERY soon.
Thank you Farai.
You raise an interesting point about non-commercial radio versus public radio. NPR now isn't really much different than CBS Radio or Clear Channel in that its programming is just as centralized and lacking in localized content as Top 40 music stations. The network is effectively a monolith; the type of operation 'public' radio was intended to offset.
I'm curious as to what the reaction be of African-American listeners to NPR's (again) marginalization of Black voices.
Getting ready for work today, I thought about the show & what it meant to me over the last few years. The type of reporting they offered is simply gone & not available elsewhere, what a shame.
When they started the Bloggers Round Table, I was all in, because I heard common folk like me on a national program offering their opinion & analysis on minor/major news items.
Tomorrow, I will have to dig around for my own “Africa Update” since they took Ofeibea’s voice away from us also.
I understand why the cuts were necessary but it hurts still.
I like Tell Me More but it is no substitute for News & Notes.
Tafari
MIB, doesn't community radio subserve that purpose in your locality?
http://www.kkfi.org/
The closest thing the D.C. metro area has to a KKFI is WPFW, a Pacifica affiliate. The parent company makes sure its news/talk network programming takes precedence Monday through Friday weekdays. It's a disappointment; back in the day WPFW and WDCU (the latter now owned by C-SPAN) were outstanding community-oriented radio stations.
Morgan State University's WEAA is a much better example of community radio. I get great reception while driving in the northern D.C. suburbs; not so hot in the crib (and I'm maybe 15 minutes from downtown Baltimore).
I like her work. I met her more than a decade ago after she'd written “Don't Believe the Hype.” I was working in East Harlem doing leadership development with teens and I thought she'd be a great guest speaker for them to hear. She was great. The “kids” were definitely feeling where she was coming from. She'll be just fine.
Ultimately, it does boil down to distribution.
I met Farai and family at the baltimore book festival thru my son ,she we will be miss.The economical crises has long tentacles.
I have a different position in some respects. I wasn't enthralled with 'News and Notes.' I was however glad to run across Farai's show from time to time, and wouldn't listen to anything else if she were on. I was proud of her – but she was to “subtle” for my tastes which is what corporations produce.
So, I'm that while my appreciation of her was not quite what yours would naturally be, I am infuriated with the continuing “business practice” of chopping off Black programming when the dimes get tight.
And that is why, I continue to insist that we need to build our own empires. There are so many talented women and men out here who are as capable as she. If only they would all band together – with a wider variety of perspectives I might add – and start laying those bricks.
Thanks,
Terry
thanks for this response.
what is the future of cultural production in a jacked economy? if farai and others all of a sudden decided to jump on talkshoe or something how much income would such a move provide for them? during the new deal fdr spent a lot of resources on culture, paying people for example to conduct and transcribe interviews with formerly enslaved blacks.
there is nothing like this coming down the pike. and folks need to eat.
agree with your sentiments Terry. News and Notes will be missed though and until black folk create venues and enterprises of their own, we will always get the 'axe' when the going gets tough.