The News & Observer and WUNC

In listening to WUNC describe a News & Observer story just now, it occurred to me that WUNC could very well become the audio voice of the newspaper with little effort. The announcers on WUNC simply read copy as it is, and often with errors, so working with a professional news organization would be good for everyone. WUNC could reduce its staff, the N&O would get more exposure, and, most important, we would all be so much better served.

Support?

On air, the announcer this morning said, I think, that 3,200 (updated to 3,900 on 25 Oct 2013) people had bought a chance for free trips and favors this go-round. Where on the WUNC site are the numbers of "sustainers"? Evolution of number of people giving money to WUNC? Is the average amount annually, per person, going up or down? That last announcement said the 3,900 was in addition to "sustainers". Numbers, please! At some point in the course of this, I think they mentioned 525,000 but not sure if that was goal or money that they had either received or was pledged. (That was back when they said that 2,600 had participated in the pledge drive to that point.) They said more than 4,000 on 1 November 2013.

BBC World Service - Newshour

To avoid the bingo game fund raising on WUNC, you can listen here to the BBC Newshour without commercial interruption!

NPR to End ‘Talk of the Nation’ - NYTimes.com

You have to wonder what the relationship between this announcement and "The Story" may be in the minds of WUNC management. Now would be a good time for a full accounting of the successes and non-successes of The Story for WUNC. How much has it cost WUNC? How much revenue has it earned WUNC?

3.500?

Was it about 3,500 who gave to WUNC the last pledge drive? I heard 3,300 on 15 February and then 3,440 a little later. Still not sure if that is new people, "sustainers", or some other group.

Heart

When did "heart" become a verb? I missed that.