Talk:WBUR-FM

Jane Christo

deleted "The general manager is Jane Christo." jane christo resigned effective 10/15/04.Scranton 22:57, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

deleted "the station is operated independently." Think that the events of the past month demonstrate that WBUR is not independent of BU, BU officials forced out the GM, are investigating her, have installed an acting GM, and have absorbed mounting debts."Scranton 22:57, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Car Talk

"formerly" Car Talk? I listen to Car Talk on WBUR and I'm pretty sure they still say "a production of National Public Radio and WBUR." FreplySpang (talk) 19:38, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

wbur.org and cartalk.com both claim that the show is produced by WBUR. I removed it from the "formerly" sentence. --SFoskett 02:18, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

WRNI

Regarding WRNI - BU no longer owns WRNI anymore. Instead, it's a company called "Rhode Island Public Radio" and RIPR will also own WAKX 102.7 in Narragansett, Rhode Island (starting today). This means that WXNI will be sold off. I'll pull up the WRNI press release soon, but I want to know how to do a reference. --Daniel Blanchette 14:05, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Wbur-gray.gif

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BetacommandBot 20:23, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

BU connection

So, outside of being owned by BU, what connection does the radio station have to the university? Where are its recording studios located? On the BU campus, or elsewhere? Are they the main campus radio station, in the way that WERS is for Emerson College, or completely separate? LordAmeth (talk) 16:00, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

WBUR is not a college radio station, though it was founded as one. It is a professional public radio station that is sponsored by Boston University. It is targeting at the population of Greater Boston at large. Many NPR stations are sponsored by a university. WBUR has a mostly full-time paid staff, although BU students majoring in Communications sometimes intern there.

Boston University also has a college (student) radio station, WTBU, which broadcasts material of specifically of interest to BU students, including BU sports. My alma mater (UMass) has the same situation: WFCR as its professional NPR station (co-sponsored by 4 others colleges) and WMUA as a student station. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bostoner (talk • contribs) 23:52, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

$20 million budget

• www.current.org/wp-content/themes/current/archive-site/radio/radio0923wgbh.shtml

Published in Current, Dec. 14, 2009

WBUR-FM operates on a $20 million budget with a staff of 120 — more than half producing or reporting news content.

• www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/fear-on-the-air-1/

Fear on the Air

By Greg Lalas | Boston Magazine | January 2005

"Over her 25 years, she transformed a glorified college radio station with a $250,000 annual budget and 60,000 listeners into a $20 million operation with an audience of more than half a million. Corporate underwriting for WBUR plummeted from $8.6 million in 2001 to $5.7 million in 2002. Between 2001 and 2003, the station racked up more than $12 million in debt; between 1999 and 2003, WRNI alone bled $9.4 million. Christo's public spat with Christopher Lydon, the well-liked host of The Connection who she ousted when he asked for ownership of the program and a greater share of revenues, solidified her heavy-handed image, even though many observers agree that she was in the right."

• www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/editorial/documents/04162632.asp

It’s time for Boston University to hold WBUR accountable to the public that supports it.

Date: October 1 - 7, 2004

"Those with significant management responsibilities attest to being unable to find out such basic information as the amount of money that has been budgeted for their programs. There is considerable evidence that the station’s finances have been stretched to the limit; sources say there are significant delays in paying vendors and freelancers.

All this might have been tolerable when the station was growing, and listener contributions and corporate underwriting revenue were rolling in. But that is no longer the case.

But BU shouldn’t stop there. Because the real problem at WBUR is an overall lack of fiscal transparency, which renders it impossible for anyone but top university officials to make meaningful judgments about the costs and benefits of Christo’s decisions. BU holds a special trust in its administration of WBUR — one that it has certainly exercised far more scrupulously than for-profit media conglomerates, which all too often exploit the publicly owned airwaves for narrow gain rather than for the public good. But WBUR is as much a community property as it is a not-for-profit asset of the university, and it needs to be treated as such.

As with most public radio stations, WBUR’s $20 million annual budget comes mainly from listener contributions and corporate underwriters. Boston University should insist on a higher level of accountability, not just to BU officials, but to the public, which is paying the bills. Fuller disclosures, more frequent annual reports, and an independent, community-based WBUR board with real oversight authority would all be good places to start."

• www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/dont_quote_me/multi-page/documents/02028059.htm

Date: November 29 - December 6, 2001

Now more than ever we need NPR. The question is, who pays?

BY DAN KENNEDY

"Just a month ago, Christo told me she was going to broadcast first and figure out how to pay for it later. The cutbacks at WBUR — one of the largest and most admired of the country’s approximately 600 public radio stations — says something important about what’s going on in public radio generally. Public broadcasting today is largely paid for by affluent, well-educated viewers and listeners and the businesses that wish to reach them.

In fact, the on-air portion of the station’s fall fundraiser pulled in some $540,000, which was $140,000 above its goal — a testament to people’s willingness to pay for high-quality news and information during a time of national crisis. Nor is the federal government diverting its limited funds to other, more pressing needs; in any case, only about $1.2 million of the station’s $20 million budget comes from federal tax dollars.

NPR gets nearly 47 percent of its $99 million budget from member stations such as WBUR, which pay fees in order to receive NPR programming.

Public radio today rests on three financial foundations: listener donations, which at most stations account for about 50 percent of income; corporate underwriting, which usually comes to about 35 percent; and the remaining 15 percent, which comes from grants, foundation money, direct government support, and the like."

• lists.bostonradio.org/bri/v04/msg04240.html

Subject: Re: WBUR-FM suspends 2 in "Connection" flap

Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 22:21:04

"Thanks to Mark Jurkowitz's article in today's Globe, Lydon's salary, that of his producer, and WBUR's proposed increases and bonuses are now public knowledge. Christo's salary and bonuses are still private information, however. The Globe article says that WBUR's annual budget is $19 million."

• Where is the official public WBUR annual budget / annual report? Please add the annual budget to the article infobox?
  

-96.233.19.238 (talk) 14:42, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Obsolete repeaters?

I don't hear simulcast announcements for WCCT and WBAS anymore; these may have ceased rebroadcasting. -- Beland (talk) 22:03, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I found a source on WBAS's change to Portuguese language programming. I stopped hearing on-air announcements about WCCT and can't find any evidence they're still simulcasting, but on the other hand I haven't found a definitive source that they stopped. Moving them to former anyway; corrections, citations, or more info all welcome. -- Beland (talk) 04:12, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Wattage?

Info box says ERP (effective radiated power) is 8,600 watts. But article says "due to its antenna's height (1,174 feet) and configuration, WBUR broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 60,000 watts." Which one is right? SiimaTamba (talk) 02:21, 17 April 2023 (UTC)