Hello, what is the process for a public radio station to change its format? WVIK 90.3 FM plans to change from its current news and classical music format to all news. (It plans to move classical music to a low power frequency, 105.7 FM which I can't get at my house.) How do I submit a public comment about this proposed format change to object as I have financially support the station for many years? Does the station need permission from the CPB or another entity to make such a drastic change? Are listeners and supporters allowed to have a voice in the decision?
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WVIK proposed format change
Illinois
Feedback:
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of the local public television and radio stations across the country. Each local public broadcasting stations makes their own decisions in regards to programming and CPB is prohibited from interfering in programming decisions. Your comments will have more weight if you contact your local station directly.
Judy woodruff
New Mexico
Feedback:
Yes. Judy Woodruff should retire. She is well past her prime and there are many broadcast journalists on Newshour who have much better interview skills, can read a teleprompter better and don't wheeze.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and is prohibited from interfering with editorial or management decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact PBS NewsHour directly: viewermail@newshour.org
The pain of inflation
New Jersey
Feedback:
Why can't the US news outlets follow up their strenuous, fear-making reports of inflation, with the REASON.... NOT BIDEN, NOT CONGRESS BUT OUR TRYING TO DEFEND UKRAINE from loss of its land, homes and freedom by using our money, resources and power.
Are we so selfish that we can't see that?
I wonder how we relatively well-healed Americans would feel if the roles were reversed!!!!!
Our news needs to temper cause and effect, with compassion....without that, we are not as free, selfless and decent as we think we are.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and is prohibited from interfering with editorial or management decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact your local station.
Newshour
New York
Feedback:
Re: Brooks and Capehart. While I am sure Mr. Capehart is more than qualified and well informed, he talks too much. I feel like I am getting preached to, and therefore, David Brooks or whoever the other panelist is, doesn't stand a chance to get their views properly aired I used to make sure never to miss this segment...now, not so much.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and is prohibited from interfering with editorial or management decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact PBS NewsHour directly: viewermail@newshour.org
Washington Week
New Mexico
Feedback:
This program has always been a favorite. Robert Costa brought a level of experience, expertise, clarity in his presentation of topics and interaction with reporters. I love and appreciate Yamiche Alcindor but not for this program. Also I have not been able to access the extra right away as I used to through the pbs website.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast or distribute programming. Further, CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact Washington Week directly: https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/webform/contact
pbs passport to nowhere
Massachusetts
Feedback:
I contribute to PBS ... but will shortly call them (and my bank) and stop contributing. Four of us ... have spent probably 7 or 8 hours total ... trying to get 'passport' to work so that I can see shows on the PBS app on my TV .... does not work ... I will certainly tell family members not to 'support' PBS ... and I will discontinue my support.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB and PBS are two separate and independent organizations. Please refer to PBS for questions about their PBS Passport service. https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/contact-information/
Who Will CPB Support?
New York
Feedback:
Congress just gave CPB another significant increase in its future federal funding, yet there is no public-facing strategy to ensure any of it will reach BIPOC documentary filmmakers who are eager to work in public media. A lot of people who signed on to support bipocmakers.com and publicmediaforall.com are fighting for a post-Ken Burns world. Where can people go to learn more about CPB's plans for its $50M increase?
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) about CPB’s FY 2024 federal appropriation from Congress. Each year, CPB distributes the federal appropriation for the public media system in accordance with a statutory formula outlined in the Public Broadcasting Act. Within the statutory formula, CPB supports public radio and television stations, independent producers, and diverse informational, educational, and cultural content and services. CPB’s commitment to funding diverse content creators is reflected in its longstanding investments in organizations such as the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the National Multicultural Alliance, the Firelight Media, Native Voice One, Urban Alternative, as well as support to individual producers and programs reflecting the diverse American experience. For more information about CPB’s stewardship of the federal appropriation, you can view its Business Plan online: https://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/financials/plan
donation
Feedback:
Two weeks ago I made a $60 donation to WDTV in Detroit. I received a confirmation but did not receive a code to access PBS Passport, as was promised from a PBS telephone operator. She said I would receive the code the day I made a donation. Since then I have tried to contact WDTV by email and phone five times, asking them to send me a code. No one replied. No code was sent. I have been a contributor for four decades but 'm afraid I have made my last donation. I live in Windsor, Canada, directly across the border to Detroit. - Brian Bannon
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB has no involvement in Passport, but I have forwarded your concern to Detroit Public TV.
A1 Radio
Ohio
Feedback:
Dear CPB Ombudsman,
As a liberal Democrat and someone committed to minority rights, I am dismayed at my own annoyance with the IMO heavy programming about minority & underclass issues on Jenn White's A1 radio show which I listen to most mornings. While Ms. White is clearly very talented and does an excellent job, the mega dose of minorities injustices --- altho valid --- just gets tiresome. Maybe it's not the topics themselves, rather either their repetitive, downbeat slant or their overlay on stories in other news channels about the generally depressing state of the country/world. I'm emotionally exhausted.
I'd love to hear some positive stories on other critical issues as well such as the environment, economy, student loan debt, health care costs/access, the pandemic, etc. --- especially ones looking at progress being made, not just grievances and problems.
Thank you for considering my opinion.
Respectfully, Anne Blaisdell
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB has no Ombudsman as it does not produce, broadcast or distribute content. Further, CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial or programming decisions on local public television and radio stations. You may wish to contact the NPR Public Editor: https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/
Constant weekend fundraising
California
Feedback:
Since you have taken control of the local SoCal stations (KCET, KOCE, KLSC) you have fundraising EVERY WEEKEND. It is obnoxious. As well, you have decreased programming, showing the same things on all three channels. Where I used to be able to see different programming on each of them, more often than not, you get to see a rerun of something that has played on a sister station.
What are you doing with the money you raise? Doesn't seem that it is being used for new programming ( as is being "sold" on the fundraising script...
Really disappointed in public programming since PBS is in charge...
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting us with your concern about funding public media and its content. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting does not own, operate or control any local station. Further, local stations make their own decisions in regards to programming and CPB is prohibited from interfering in editorial or programming concerns. The public media system is a public-private partnership relying on multiple sources of funding in addition to the federal investment. Stations have always relied on donations from individuals to provide content to local communities and contributions from members to local stations are the largest single source of support for public television.
General Content
Colorado
Feedback:
While I still watch some programming on PBS, I find that some series I used to enjoy, Frontline in particular, no longer provide balanced, non-partisan, reporting. It’s disappointing that a once informative program has become simply another mouthpiece for one political party/position.
Case in point: “Trump’s American Carnage” - with a title like that it’s clear this is nothing but a full-bore attack on Mr Trump and his political party, even though the liberal media and Democratic politicians sowed much of the division and violence.
Maybe Frontline is working on a new episode, titled “Biden’s National Disgrace” recounting (in his first year in office!) his incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan, failure to secure the US border from historic illegal immigration, hapless efforts to deal with COVID, mounting inflation and supply chain issues, and increasingly violent democrat-led cities?
I won’t hold my breath.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media and its services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to public media content. If you would like to comment specifically about Frontline you may do that here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-us/contact-us/
If you would like to leave a general comment about PBS programming decision you may do that here: https://help.pbs.org/support/tickets/new
PBS Newhour
California
Feedback:
Please, please, please rescue the news hour from its rapid descent into inanity. Woodruff has steadily lurched the news show into irrelevance. She invites uninformed partisan guests, who balance opinions into a meaninglessness. She asks irrelevant questions and sparks a conversation with truism from the other side. The viewers can gather no new insight into the complex problems. I cringe on how far the show has fallen from its newsworthiness height of the MacNeil Lehrer or the Lehrer Hour.
Take a good survey. I think you will find that i do not cry alone about declining health of Woodruff's PBS News Hour.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and is prohibited from interfering with editorial or management decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact PBS NewsHour directly: viewermail@newshour.org
When is judy woodruff going to retire???
Minnesota
Feedback:
Judy Woodruff's biased opinions politically, and otherwise, are anything but proper journalism. Walter Cronkite must be doing flip-flops in his grave because of her one sided opinions on her personal views.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. However, CPB does not produce, broadcast, or distribute programming and is prohibited from interfering with editorial or management decisions related to programming on PBS or local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact PBS NewsHour directly: viewermail@newshour.org
One sided journalism
Minnesota
Feedback:
PBS is a public funded corp. It's funded by ALL the taxpayers, not just the democrats!
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB and PBS are separate organizations. If you would like to leave a comment with PBS you may do that here: https://help.pbs.org/support/tickets/new
Streaming of Wgbh and Wbur on Google Home Hub
Massachusetts
Feedback:
My Google Home Hub stops broadcasting both WBUR and WGBH every hour at about 3 minutes before the hour. Is this something driven by these public stations or is it a shortcoming of the Google Home system? Is there a way I can make an adjustment so that this won't happen?
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB does not broadcast programming. Please contact your local station with your question.
March 1st Programming
Illinois
Feedback:
Dear CPB,
Would it be possible to add screen some of the following PBS shows or Welsh films on or around March 1st for St. David’s Day.
The Welsh are the 23rd largest ethnic group in the USA, but seemingly have very little representation. It would be great if PBS stations could have a ‘Wales night’ and dedicate a couple of hours to a travel documentary, a music special and maybe a movie.
Diolch yn fawr iawn/Thank you very much.
Dave Parry Chicago Tafia Welsh Society
PBS Shows
A Soundstage Special - Tom Jones
Live from the Artists Den - Marina And The Diamonds
Great Performances at the Met - Bryn Terfel & Friends in Concert
Visions of Wales
Wales - Great Britain’s Wild West
Curious Traveler - Curious Southern Wales
Rick Steves Europe - North Wales: Feisty and Poetic
Wales – The Land of Storybook Adventures
Movies
American Interior IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2778266/ In 1792, John Evans, a farmhand from Snowdonia travelled to America to discover whether there was a Welsh-speaking Native American tribe walking the Great Plains.
Pride IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3169706/ U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
Patagonia IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020559/ A young Welsh couple travel to Argentina to work on their relationship in Argentina.
Very Annie Mary IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188128/ After her father suffers a stroke, his daughter is forced to take care of him.
Solomon & Gaenor IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181830/ A tragic love story between a Jewish young man and a Welsh woman in the beginning of the century. The movie is mostly in English with parts in Welsh and Yiddish.
Set Fire to the Stars IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3455740/ An aspiring poet in 1950s New York has his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas.
The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain. IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112966/ When an English cartographer must tell a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill, the offended community sets out to change that.
August IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115591/ Chekov's Uncle Vanya, transposed to turn-of-the-century North Wales, where the peace and tranquility of a country house is disturbed by the arrival of the estate's tyrannical owner.
Tiger Bay IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053361/ A twelve-year-old tomboy witnesses the murder of a woman by her Polish merchant marine boyfriend, but bonds with him and thwarts the police in their investigation
The Proud Valley IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031828/ In a Welsh coal mining valley, a young man with a beautiful singing voice is called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice when a pit disaster threatens.
Pink Suede Shoes IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12389254/ Jasun Watkins brings his pink, brash and very camp Elvis impersonation act to Porthcawl in the biggest Elvis tribute festival in Europe.
Dirt Ash Meat IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9074950/ In the aftermath of a foot and mouth outbreak on their farm, a family of Welsh hill farmers are consumed by bitterness and paranoia. Adapted from 'White Ravens' by Owen Sheers.
Beddgelert: Gelerts Grave IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6984528/ Based on the ancient Welsh legend, Beddgelert tells the story of prince Llewelyn. Grieving for his dead wife, he seeks solitude in a remote hunting lodge, taking with him his newborn son and his most trusted hound, Gelert. But despite Gelert’s companionship, Llewelyn is blinded by grief, and fails to see the new danger that threatens his family.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). By law CPB is prohibited from producing or broadcasting programming. Please contact PBS or your local station with your suggestion at http://www.pbs.org/about/faq/contact-us/.
Didn't you do a story on, Democrats & Clinton Attorney Perkins Cooey lawfirm, Spying on Trump and John Durham investigation. .
Idaho
Feedback:
Dear CPB, sorta Disappointed that you and other media outlets who accused Trump of working with Russia. . . . I'm a Democrat, some of my friends and Conservative, they said we were wrong for going after Trump for two years with no proof, that spying is espionage and that what we did was more serious than Watergate where several people were put in prison and that an apology from, you, CBS, ABC, NBC, etc. should be forth coming, that we the Democrat Party and the Media owe this to America. . . We spied on Donald Trump, an American Citizen and the President of the United States. Did I miss something? I waited for you to apology all day. . ?? The Public Broadcasting Corporation of America, talked about other things that the CPB found negative about Trump, but you never apologized or said anything about spying on the President . . the favor of a reply is requested. . We'd like to know your thoughts. . . Tax money from Americans should not be used to promote one political party or another, just give us the news, when you are wrong we all expect an apology. . . the country needs to heal, you need to do your part. . . .
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We welcome all comments about public media. However, CPB does not produce, distribute, or broadcast programming. Further, CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to programming on public radio and television stations. Please contact the producer of the program of concern.
NPR news
Florida
Feedback:
I grew up listening to npr. Npr was unlike the usual news reporting like fox ,cnn or msnbc which are all reporting extremely left or extremely right political views in everything tgey report. CNN is simply an extension of the federal government and reports whatever the government needs people to believe and provides very persuasive reporting in favor of everything our government does. Npr was different. I have been a listener for 44 years from infancy to my current day. I even supported the fundraisers but that has changed. Unfortunately, in my opinion and if you are a long time listener you’re noticing a big difference in the way npr reports the news in our current present day. Npr no longer provides balanced Un contaminated by government Minders who tell them what news to report.( it seems this way). Npr used to give you both sides of a story with no bias whatsoever and I really appreciated that they were a new source that was genuine and supported by the listener instead of corporate parasites whose money comes with an attachment for its host. These are not just my opinion. Look at how much they reported everything trump did as terrible yet they bow down and take a knee for Biden or Obama or bush junior. All part of the hood old boy system of politics and all the true terrorist in this country. ( sorry I’m giving my opinion but I’m not a reporter or journalist. Perhaps their new journalist at npr have no or little experience and don’t know how to keep their opinions from their reporting? I constantly find myself turning my radio off because it’s so bad. I can go fifteen minutes of npr without hearing how horrible republicans, white people, or people dissatisfied with their federal government are Npr reports the trucker strike in Canada from Tge view points of government making these citizens seem like the bad people. I find myself wondering what planet I’m on. I feel betrayed by npr. All I want is what npr has always been from my childhood to 2016. Npr has been hijacked and me and my coworkers and fellow students at my college are trying to find a news source that can replace npr. It was a unique trustworthy source of news and I’m so disappointed, sad even about the fact that I no longer have a news source that’s honest and unbiased. I suppose the Beijing Times os the closest thing I can find to honest these days. I really hope it changes and npr returns to its original formula for reporting the news. Thank you.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB and NPR are two separate organizations, and CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial concerns related to public radio programming. To contact NPR, please visit http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx.
The News Hour
Illinois
Feedback:
The News Hour program generally acknowledges prominent persons that have died. Although the BBC acknowledged the death of J P O'Rourke, his death was not mentioned in this program.
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). We welcome all comments about public media and its services. However, CPB does not produce or distribute programming, including PBS NewsHour. CPB is prohibited from interfering with editorial decisions related to programming on local public television and radio stations. Your comments will have more weight if you contact Newshour directly: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/contact-us
News Hour David Brooks
Missouri
Feedback:
You’re smart, you’re a good newsman, you’re fidgeting is driving me crazy. You’re to good to be this nervous, you look like you forget to pee before going in the air. Please relax. Thanks
Note from CPB: Thank you for contacting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Although CPB does not produce or distribute programming, we welcome all comments about public media’s content and services. CPB does not employ any journalists. Your comments will have more weight if you contact Newshour directly: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/contact-us