Dependable Erection

Friday, January 25, 2008

Durham media alert!

Rumor has it that NPR's "Weekend America" show will be doing a feature on Durham during tomorrow's broadcast, including a segment recorded at the Hillsborough Rd. LocoPops shop.

2 pm, WUNC-FM, 91.5

A couple of quick thoughts. First, when the hell is WUNC going to acknowledge that the American Tobacco Campus from which they broadcast is in, you know, Durham? And second, does anyone at NPR or WUNC ever test their web pages to see how they work in Firefox on a Mac?

Holy cow.*

Anyway, tune in if you can. Inside sources tell me it's a fun show.

=================

* OK, maybe that was on my end. Every time i tried to access the Weekend America home page, Firefox asked me if i wanted to download the .php file, and i was never able to actually get to the page. Seems to work OK on my mac at home, though.

UPDATE: A couple of commenters have taken issue with my claim that WUNC does not identify its broadcasts as originating from Durham. I'll have to take y'all's word for it. I've certainly heard "from the American Tobacco Campus" regularly on WUNC. I've never heard "from the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, North Carolina." Maybe i don't listen enough. I've also noted in the comments a list of non-commercial radio stations in the area that i do listen to regularly. Although a couple of them carry some NPR programming, none of them are NPR stations in the same sense that WUNC is. And that, in my mind, is a very good and rare thing.

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10 Comments:

  • Looks OK on my firefox, although it appears that the ads are an afterthought so it stretches the window too wide.

    Instead of wunc.org, check out unc.org. It's a pisser.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:00 PM  

  • I'm pretty sure I've heard Durham name-checked on WUNC on several occasions.

    By Blogger Brian, at 4:35 PM  

  • Brian,

    Most of the time, on the nationally broadcast shows, like "the Story," they say Chapel Hill, still.

    It's kind of like how the Food Network identifies Magnolia Grill as being in Chapel Hill -- apparently Durham is too scary and not very cultured-like.

    By Blogger Dan S., at 4:46 PM  

  • But "The Story" is broadcast from Chapel Hill. The main studio is in Chapel Hill.

    "The State of Things" is broadcast from the Durham studio.

    By Blogger Brian, at 2:22 PM  

  • WUNC often identifies broadcasts as originating from the "American Tobacco Campus." I have never heard them locate the ATC in Durham. It's possible that they do, but i've never heard it. I also don't see on their website that the ATC is in Durham, either.

    By Blogger Barry, at 2:36 PM  

  • I frequently hear them mention the Durham location of the ATC on the station. Also, when Marketplace runs stories from the Innovations desk at WUNC, the dateline on the story is always "Durham, N.C."

    The news operation and The State of Things is based in Durham; most everything else is in CH. (Not 100% sure about that -- People's Pharmacy or another show may originate at ATC.)

    Having lived in towns with horrible public radio (Orlando) and great-turned-horrible (Boston's WBUR) -- WUNC ranks at the very top of my list of public radio stations.

    The only place with a better public radio infrastructure I know of is Louisville, Ky., where the U. of Louisville and the local pub radio station merged in the... 80s? 90s?... to form the Public Radio Partnership. Leading to three 24 hr public radio FM stations -- one all-news NPR/APM, one all-classical, and one adult album alternative/rock station.

    What I wouldn't give to have the latter on our lousy radio dial.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 3:02 PM  

  • If they are saying "Durham," that's great news. I've never heard it, but i don't listen to NPR except when i have to.

    Local radio stations that i like better than WUNC:
    WXDU - Duke
    WXYC - Carolina (student station)
    WSHA - Shaw (NPR news)
    WNCU - NC Central (NPR news and some programming, also FSRN)
    WKNC - NC State

    we're truly fortunate to have so many non-coms that are not strict NPR stations in the area.

    By Blogger Barry, at 3:24 PM  

  • I wonder if someone told Bill Radke not to go out in Durham. As far as I heard, he didn't mention going to any restaurants in Durham.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:57 PM  

  • My sources have confirmed that he was in LocoPops one afternoon earlier in the week.

    By Blogger Barry, at 6:59 PM  

  • Turns out that "Weekend America" only mentioned LocoPops in the closing moments of the show. The bulk of the food feature centered on a trip through Chapel Hill--Three Cups, Lantern, Allen & Sons, etc.

    Bill Radke mentioned that the ATHD is in Durham once, something I've never heard Frank Stasio do.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:41 AM  

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