mediacrit.com

The current attack on public broadcasting is like 1972 all over again. That is, like Nixon’s White House, this administration wants to intimidate and silence news and public affairs programs that are sometimes critical of them. And this time, the White House has an insider – CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson – on their side, as Tomlinson injects partisan politics into the very entity he is supposed protect. At the top of his list is NOW, a weekly news program that until this year was one hour long and hosted by veteran reporter Bill Moyers.

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In fact . . . decreasing state funding and achieving “economies of scale” are fundamental concepts to the Regents’ vision of Iowa Public Radio. Although the Bornstein plan suggests that the stations reduce their university general fund support by $300,000 over the next five years, the plan is ultimately about preparing the stations for the eventual complete elimination of university general funds (which is already the case with WOI in Ames).

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The new network involves University of Northern Iowa stations KUNI (90.9 FM) and KHKE (89.5 FM) in Eastern Iowa, University of Iowa stations WSUI (910 AM) and KSUI (91.7 FM) in Iowa City, and Iowa State University stations WOI-AM (640) and WOI-FM (90.1) in Ames.

Each station will retain its on-air call letters, but will identify itself as part of “Iowa Public Radio” beginning sometime in summer 2005. The plan also proposes a future network affiliate station based in Sioux City to cover the western part of the state.

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