Public Radio, Cont.

I’m not sure what the point was of Sean Mitchell’s May 27 cover story (“Public Radio, Under the Influence”), but I sure wish he had called me.

As chairman of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting and a longtime broadcaster in Southern California, I have a perspective that I think might have been useful. CPB oversees and supports more than 1,000 public radio and television stations in the United States. Southern California’s major public radio stations (KCRW, KPCC, KUSC, KLON, KCSN and KPFK) are trend-setters for the rest of the nation. Each is developing its niche in a way that not only delivers the highest quality radio to ever-increasing Southern California audiences, but is doing it without undo reliance on government funding.

The past decade has been a challenging time for public radio. While too many public radio stations are clinging to past practices and facing extinction, public radio in Southern California continues to be innovative and dissatisfied with the status quo.

FRANK H. CRUZ

Washington

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I was oddly reassured by the article: I thought KCRW’s yanking of Mara Zhelutka’s “Music of the Spheres” and KUSC’s removal of Fiona Ritchie’s “Thistle and Shamrock” amounted to a rejection of my peculiar musical preferences. Now it seems what they rejected was the principle that made public radio a courageous custodian of, among other independent ventures, two rare and beautiful musical subcultures. Medieval music? Celtic song? No profit for public radio in those ventures! How sad.

BETSY KORBONSKI

Pacific Palisades

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Mitchell stated, “Classical KUSC, recovered from its earnest but misguided multicultural experiment of the early ‘90s ....” I mourn the loss of that multicultural, experimental KUSC of the ‘90s. I learned more about music from it than from any teacher I ever had. More important, it was the most enjoyable and stimulating musical format I’ve ever encountered.

How I wish we had a radio station like that in Southern California today!

DEBORAH BROOKS PETTRY

San Diego

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There is indeed a quality public radio station that is keeping the public radio feel and yet is not bowing down to ratings, federal grants and the corporate atmosphere. That station is KUCI-FM (88.9).

It seems as if Orange County stations (especially KUCI) are missing from your regular radio coverage. This is a shame, as KUCI is sounding the best it has in years. There’s intelligent, thought-provoking drive-time talk on a daily basis. How do I know? I host one such program (“Topics on Fridays” at 4 p.m.).

EVAN SIMON

Irvine

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Mitchell accuses Rick Madden of representing “numbers Nazis” at the recent Public Radio Conference in Seattle. In fact, Madden was there to receive public radio’s highest honor, the Edward R. Murrow Award. (Strange how this detail was missing from the article.)

Moreover, Madden has been a champion of public radio for more than two decades. He provided the start-up funding for “Talk of the Nation,” “Fresh Air,” “This American Life,” “Marketplace,” the “American Radio Works” documentary series and dozens of other public radio programs. He has supported the work of cutting-edge independent producers like Jay Allison, the Kitchen Sisters (producers of NPR’s “Lost & Found Sound” series) and David Isay.

It is not an understatement to say that Rick Madden has been the taproot for many, if not most, of the advances in public radio over the past two decades. BILL DAVIS

President, Southern California Public Radio, Pasadena

The reader who wrote that listener contributions to public radio only support local staff and station operations and not the NPR news is wrong (Letters, June 3).

KCRW will pay just under $1 million to NPR to directly support “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” in the coming year. Station contributions remain the single largest source of NPR’s financial support. At the station level, listener pledges are the largest source.

At KCRW, we don’t apologize for underwriting. Without foundation and business support, we would be forced to run three fund drives a year, instead of two.

About one out of every three underwriting spots at KCRW is devoted to paid public-service announcements by nonprofit organizations: arts organizations, performance venues and hospitals. Spots are frequently offered at a reduced rate. In most cases, nonprofits could not otherwise afford to advertise in one of the most expensive radio markets in the country.

WILL LEWIS

KCRW management consultant

Santa Monica