Comments on: KUSP announces upcoming schedule change

By: Dag Weiser

Dag Weiser — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:52:47 +0000

I find it hard to believe that KUSP would shelve the best blues show on radio. Two Steps From the Blues has been a “must listen” blues staple for 33 years. Did you folks get that? 33 YEARS!! Imagine the fan base that 33 years produced, gone in an instant, as if it never even existed, to be replaced by more talking head blather. Most of us are intelligent enough to tune into news at a set time to get the headlines. Do you really need to have the stuff rehashed ad nauseum throughout the entire day and night? It’s like uh-oh, I missed the 4:00 news segment. Oh wait, I’ll catch it at 5, and if not 5, at 6. The wild and eclectic MUSIC mix that was KUSP has disappeared. What a tragic thing.

By: Jose Olivas

Jose Olivas — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:37:47 +0000

I am greatly disappointed in not only the change of format during the day time programming, but the choice of programs made. The Diane Rehm show? No more News and Notes? In an area where it boast cultural diversity is an priority, your recent programming choices reflects little of it. My wife and I spoke at length on how the programming schedule was “gutted” and we are simply frustrated We truly feel as though we lost a station in our community, we certainly did not gain anything from the boards choice. And our only means of protest will be with our dollars.

By: john hunter

john hunter — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:05:20 +0000

Well, Terry, I’ve given the new schedule a try and, hoping to be the tail end that wags the dog, I’ll add my belated comment now. Why not be straight up with listeners? You have some financial difficulties and you are competing with KAZU for increasingly scarce listener dollars in a time of ongoing retrenchment, no? Could you have done better fundraising to support the former schedule, perhaps with slight modifications to weed out weak DJ’s? Probably. You presented the present changes largely as a result of listener request. Without opening the likely question of how reliable your statistical surveys and methods were, depending on the questions asked, I suspect many respondents were like myself, and might have expressed dissatisfaction with some current music programming, without necessarily opting for the current new dispensation. And if financial distress is the background, isn’t retrenchment a possibility for the station as well as others in this economy? If not, why not explain clearly to listeners how and why this option is blocked? I say this because I have the impression that the current shift has been incompletely explained and presented as a way forward somehow required by listener preference. I am not yet persuaded.
But more importantly, let’s consider what you have achieved. Obviously, you are trying to out-KAZU KAZU, while still keeping enough local news and musical flavor to claim a special identity. But is it still special, or a hodge-podge of different effects pulling in different directions? KUSP had a distinctive brand, a longstanding identity as the premier music station on the central coast. No longer. Without Two Steps, without Rollin and Tumblin, without Rhythm Afrique, without Tanganyika Strut, you have lost your special edge, and other quality programmers have held on but dispersed to strange and unfamiliar time slots. Actually, your 1-3 musical mix time slot was high quality, it was the 11-1 Open Road that became weak and inconsistent, but now you’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater, when you really just needed to reassess a few shows. You’ve lost, I hope temporarily, that distinction for commitment to high quality music that made KUSP famous. What have you gained? I speak as someone who does listen to talk radio, and who seeks quality, not as someone who simply wanted more NPR because they couldn’t relate to the music. Any slot by slot comparison will show you lagging pathetically behind KAZU, as you try to be unique. Democracy v. Here and Now, advantage DN, although not invariably, since Amy Goodman, although deified around KUSP, is not a skilled interviewer and many of her shows play the same note over and over. The Story v. Fresh Air, advantage Fresh Air(if someone important is on, why wait until 6 so you can listen to local color on KUSP). Talk of the Nation v. Your Call, advantage Your Call(Rose Aguilar is your one positive addition, although even here one decides day by day according to guests). Day-by-Day v. Day-by-Day: what was the point of copying Kazu here with a weak show when much better ones are availabe? To the Point v. the Diane Rehm show, advantage To the Point, not even close. On Point v. the Diane Rehm Show, advantage To the Point, not even close. Giving 2 hrs to a mediocre interviewer with no wit or energy and an unlistenable voice was the giveaway that you guys are really clueless, groping and hoping to be different. If you are into public affairs discussions on air, as I am, there is absolutely no reason to be attracted to KUSP’s new lineup, except for occasionally checking in on Rose Aguilar. If you are inent on turning some of KAZU’s audience, you’ll have to do much better. If you suspect there is some third, alternative segment interested in your particular brand of talk radio, you will no doubt find some supporters but I doubt enough to replace the longtime listeners you have put off, and never enough to begin to solve your financial problems. Again, the issue is not just talk v. music but Quality and your Distinctive Identity. Before, I respected Talk of the Bay, and although I wouldn’t always listen, I found it part of your identity that was worth supporting, and I knew reliably when and where to find it. Breaking it up in pieces and then squeezing some into Morning Edition may sound clever, but I would never listen all the way through ME hoping to hear some local segment. So it no longer exists for me. I can respect the need for some programming adjustments, but this current version feels like a trial balloon that’s something of a lead balloon, and I wonder whether its originators, whoever and however many they are, will feel so attached that they doggedly keep trying to fly it rather than processing inputs and retooling the concept, before the once mighty KUSP becomes a has-been. Hoping for the best and fearing the worst. Good night and good luck. JH

By: L. King

L. King — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:23:03 +0000

As a long time listener on the internet of your wonderful local music
programs, especially Charlie Lange’s Two Steps From the Blues, I am
devastated by your NPR-dominated changes. What happened to serving the
community with locally produced and eclectic programs that I thought
were the backbones of the station all these years? NPR’s canned national
programs are not what the majority of your listeners want to listen to.
I was a donor to the station in the past, but with these changes I see no reasons why I should do so in the future.
L. King

By: Myra

Myra — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:44:21 +0000

Now that KUSP has eliminated all local programming during the weekdays, I have turned off my radio for the first time in over 20 years of listening. Losing KUSP reminds me of how much I took the station for granted. Is anyone out there organizing to bring back our beloved station? Sign me up!

By: More sadness

More sadness — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:02:21 +0000

Bring back the Open Road! I listen to KUSP on-line to escape the drudgery of L.A. public radio and be reminded of the days when human DJs played music. Besides, how I love hearing the Open Road fade in and out of tune as I drive up the 101, escaping Southern California! On the drive up, it is like a beacon; on the drive down (I’ve always waited till 11:00 before getting on the road), it is like a lazy, long farewell.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:29:56 +0000

Yesterday afternoon I tuned into KUSP then clicked over to KAZU and the progamming was identical….only difference about a half second in timing.

Would Safeway build another store across the street from an existing Safeway?

By: Ben Harmon

Ben Harmon — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:11:21 +0000

I have seen lots of reasonable and intelligent explanations and rationalizations for making this change and I understand that you cannot do what you cannot pay for. Nonetheless, my motivation for listening to your station has come to an end. This is very unfortunate. KUSP was one of the last radio stations anywhere that I had an interest in listening to. I get my news from the Internet and NPR is everywhere. I can even get eclectic music from the Internet, and do. The one thing that KUSP had going for it that most of the other stations and the Internet do not were human beings in control of the playlists.

By: Brant

Brant — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:51:17 +0000

KUSP’s outside translators do not cost that much to operate and the equipment costs have long been amortized.

Much of KBDH’s equipment was paid for by federal grants. While it probably isn’t breaking even, it’s operating expenses are likely a small portion of KUSP’s overall budget.

People give to public radio and KUSP for many reasons. I, for one, give a good chunk of $$ to the station to HELP subsidize these outlying translators and repeaters because I believe that part of the mandate of a public radio station is to serve the Public, especially those that are under served. Is my support any less important than those that want to keep KUSP the way its been for decades?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:44:17 +0000

In recent years KUSP has expanded it geographical footprint by adding repeaters and KBDH (?) and other technology to send the signal down the coast to San Luis Obispo and King City, Los Gatos and other outlying areas. It is my understanding that it cost a big pile of money to make those expansions…

My simple question is : What is the return on this investment?

Does KUSP in any way make enough revenue from listeners and sponsors in those areas to get anywhere near making these expansions pay for themselves ?

OR is it us long time subscribers who are ‘subsidizing’ sending the signal to remote areas? If the expansions were paid for with some kind of grant thats not at the expense of the KUSP budget thats one thing, but if not, how can this be justified?

I know it sounds harsh to pull away a radio signal to those outlying areas but right now KUSP needs to make sound financial decisions and if there is not an adequate financial return for these costs then I think its imperitive that they be reconsidered and possibly sold off to help shore up the financial situation the station is in right now.
Its not nice, not fun, but stricktly a financial decision that could help the station to find its solvency again. After all, there is no guarantee that if you live in a remote area you will have choices in hearing broadcast radio. On the other hand, a lot of folks who live in remote areas do use satalite feeds to get their internet access and they could still ‘tune in’ to http://www.KUSP.org so its not a total loss of KUSP.

I think there are other methods to solve this financial problem that does not ‘kill’ the station us long time supporters have loved for decades..

I hope the board will reconsider some of these expenses…

Eileen