• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Leaders meet to discuss WLRN’s future. Instead they ask about diversity and coverage.

TheBigA said:
The answer might come from how the schools themselves serve those communities. If they have classes taught in Spanish, then by extension, they'd probably expect some radio programming in that language. Think of it from their point of view. It's not necessarily the way a typical radio station is programmed. It's also why at one time some non-com educational stations used block programming rather than format programming.
Click to expand...

And by doing that, they fall victim to the same thinking that took KPFK in Los Angeles from low ratings to almost no ratings: they mixed languages and, thus, listener bases. The regular listeners only had to tune in a couple of times and hear programming they did not understand to lessen their usage of the station.

If you buy Sprots Illustrated and find the contents of The Economist, you won't buy that one again.

But try explaining that to a school board.
 
DavidEduardo said:
But try explaining that to a school board.
Click to expand...

It's one thing if the school board owns the license. Quite another if tax money is being used for programming & staff.

The easiest situation for everyone would be to move the station to a neutral location, with staff paid by the Friends.

Then set a payment plan that would change ownership at some agreed-upon date.

That's how WNYC made the conversion from a city-owned station to one owned by a community group.
 
strangelove said:
Does the school board actually provide any funding for WLRN or are the stations on their own for revenue?
Click to expand...

If you read the full article by clicking the link in the OP, you'll see the studio is located in a district building, and the GM is a district employee.

Plus it says 19 reporters and editors work for the district.
 
TheBigA said:
If you read the full article by clicking the link in the OP, you'll see the studio is located in a district building, and the GM is a district employee.

Plus it says 19 reporters and editors work for the district.
Click to expand...

Right, but what I'm curious about is whether the funds from donors and underwriters are the sole resources that support the operation of WLRN or if their funding is augmented by the school board's general budget.
 
strangelove said:
Right, but what I'm curious about is whether the funds from donors and underwriters are the sole resources that support the operation of WLRN or if their funding is augmented by the school board's general budget.
Click to expand...

It appears to be both. Wherein lies some of the conflict. And according to the article, some of the donors don't live in Dade.
 
TheBigA said:
It appears to be both. Wherein lies some of the conflict. And according to the article, some of the donors don't live in Dade.
Click to expand...

That seems logical. The non-Hispanic white population of Miami-Dade County is now 14.5%, with Hispanics being 64% and African American/Caribbean Blacks being 19%. Much of the audience for WLRN is going to be in Broward, and that makes an even greater case for creating a "Friends" organization to take over the station as a South Florida service.
 
strangelove said:
(I could do without BBC World Service overnight, truthfully. Classical would be nice)
Click to expand...
They used to run Caribbean music overnight. Then something happened to the long-time host. (I don't remember exactly...maybe he died? retired?) After that, they dumped the music for BBC. I think a lot of NPR News/Talk stations run BBC overnight.
 
Does WLRN still run "WLRN-Miami Herald News?" At one time, I thought, the people on air were partly paid by the Herald.
 
AMRocks said:
Does WLRN still run "WLRN-Miami Herald News?" At one time, I thought, the people on air were partly paid by the Herald.
Click to expand...

Yes that's in the OP:

"WLRN has a news partnership with the Miami Herald, sharing office space with the newspaper staff in Doral, collaborating on some journalistic work and sharing some content."

I don't see where they're getting paid per se, but getting access.
 
TheBigA said:
That's how WNYC made the conversion from a city-owned station to one owned by a community group.
Click to expand...
Off topic, but how does a commercial station wind up changing to non-com (KING, Seattle & KDB, Santa Barbara)?

That must reduce the station's value a LOT.
 
Last edited:
AMRocks said:
They used to run Caribbean music overnight. Then something happened to the long-time host. (I don't remember exactly...maybe he died? retired?)
Click to expand...

It was hosted by Rich Davis and he died back in 2014. He also hosted a show on the former 1040 WLVJ, but I think that was only weekly.
 
TheBigA said:
It appears to be both. Wherein lies some of the conflict. And according to the article, some of the donors don't live in Dade.
Click to expand...

It's an interesting problem, especially since the radio station covers such a broad area. Whatever agreement they come to hopefully the news and programming will be left to the people who know how to do it.
 
Okay out of that 51% Hispanic what percentage is bilingual and listen to english speaking broadcasts?
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Okay out of that 51% Hispanic what percentage is bilingual and listen to english speaking broadcasts?
Click to expand...

About half is Spanish dominant, and about 75% of Hispanics use Spanish language radio.

Certain formats in English have great appeal even among non-bilingual listeners, as lots of listening in Latin America is to stations that play English language music or a mix of both languages.

Since the majority of immigrants in Miami came as refugees or because they qualified for investment visas (you can get a long-term visa if you invest and employ in the US above certain levels), they tend to be of the middle and higher income / education levels. This is the case for Cubans, many Colombians, Nicaraguans and now Venezuelans. Even, for a period, Ecuadorians fled the military dictatorship of the 70's including what seemed to be half of my high school class!

And that means that musical taste may be quite international. So you often see Spanish dominants listening to English language music.

The real issue for adult stations is reconciling the slightly different tastes in English language music by those born outside the US or those raised in a Spanish speaking household.
 
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article226891999.html

Here is an update on WLRN

Miami-Dade County School Board members met Wednesday to chart the path of WLRN, South Florida’s sole public radio news station, as its license holder.

After a nearly four-hour workshop, board members appeared to inch closer to the idea of either overhauling the station’s community advisory board and expanding its power or creating a new separate non-profit entity to manage the station. Selling the broadcasting license and maintaining status quo were not entertained as possibilities.

WLRN and the Miami Herald have a news partnership, with journalists of both organizations working in either newsroom and sharing some news content.
Click to expand...
 
RadioPatrol said:
Here is an update on WLRN
Click to expand...

It's an interesting situation. From what I can see, the issue is about journalistic integrity of the 25 staffers who are employees of the school board. Neither the school board not the Friends group seem to be pursuing a sale of the station. That's refreshing, because we're seeing so many institutions, mainly colleges, selling their broadcast licenses due to the expense. The school board seems satisfied with retaining that expense. They just don't want to have the news reporting tainted by how those reporters get paid. To me, that's a pretty simple problem to fix.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom