General
18 Jan 07
The post that was quoted here has been removedI work in South Plainfield, when I am not entombed in Toledo, Ohio and I was wondering about WXPN, I listen also, I play folk music professionally when I can get gigs anyway and wonder if they actually meant they are sending money. Maybe they mean 'support' in the sense of maybe sending volunteers? Something like that may be going on. Anyway, the amount of actual dollars sent wouldn't amount to much I am sure, my guess if they are sending bucks, it would be on the order of a thou here and there, not a big deal, my guess. I would say they spend more on meter maids then they ever send to WXPN. That said, however, I can think of worse places to put money. After all, where else can you get the kind of programming inherent at WXPN? All the shows like Austin City Limits, Garrison Kieller, the in depth news reports you don't find on the likes of a CNN. So I would not consider it wasted. Better than funding methadone clinics don't you think? Even there, I would guess the amount spent there would be a hundred times greater than anything sent to WXPN.
In the UK everyone has to pay a special tax of around $200 a year - this goes straight to one single broadcaster, which produces mostly populist drivel, and not even well-made populist drivel. It produces some good things too, but the state enforcement of this tax is worthy of some crazed Soviet-era dictatorship. If you don't pay the tax you either can't watch TV (whether or not it's broadcast by the state-owned would-be monopolist), or you are committing a criminal offence, will be fined, and ultimately even jailed.