Fund raising

It continues to surprise me that they do not use their website as a way of updating the pledge drive numbers. For the first time that I can recall, they seem to be doing a good job of telling us two things on air. One is the goal - 650,000 - and the other is where they are in trying to reach that goal. A day or two ago it was at 283,000 left to raise. This morning they said they were down to 208,000.

Given all the references to times being financially tough for so many, I wonder if any of the people at the station have accepted pay cuts?

I am still waiting for an answer to my query about how much Dick GORDON is paid.

And, in keeping with the spirit of getting it right, I hope someone has explained the correct pronuniciation by now of two words - Montreux in Switzerland and the first word in Bonne Soiree. I cannot believe that others have not corrected them, or maybe they just don't listen?

Weather!

You keep reporting that there were wind advisories today for Central North Carolina.


I just sent this to WUNC's main e-mail address.
"You missed this one.
Unbelievable. With all of the rain we have had, this is an important warning to all of us with trees nearby and missing it is a pretty serious blunder on your part and you ought to apologize on air and admit your mistake.
Is anyone paying attention?"

I sent this after hearing the on-air readers talk about how important it was to have "perfection and current numbers" in referring to a plug for the fund drive from someone at NPR.

--

As an addendum, I woke up the next day - 10 Feb - at 6 AM. On WUNC, I heard that there was a high wind warning on the coast, but nothing about central North Carolina. (Keep in mind that the warning issued by the National Weather Serivce remained unchanged from yesterday mid-afternoon until 11 AM today when they reissued it.) Then at 7 PM, WUNC's voice saidd there was a "high wind watch", the advisory superceded yesterday afternoon. At 7:05, it was the lead news item with a mention of a "high wind advisory", not giving the full strength to the "warning" that had been issued. At 7:06, he finally got it right, noting a "high wind warning" until this evening.

It really makes for a stark contrast between the local people at WUNC and NPR and their other program providers. With all of the money they collect and spend, one would think they could do so much better.

"MediaPost Publications NPR Preps Project Argo for Local News"

"Laid-Off Furniture Workers Try To Leap To Google" - NPR

Where is the reference to this three part series on the WUNC.org site? I cannot seem to find it.

Community Advisory Board — North Carolina Public Radio WUNC

You have to wonder whether the people who serve on this "board" whose terms were to expire almost a year ago got an extension or whether no one pays attention to the station's awful website.

"WUNC News"

This morning, WUNC carried an NPR report (as part of Morning Edition) on Italy and the financial crisis. In it, a chairmaker was reported to have set up a warehouse directly in NC. Where is the WUNC follow-up coverage of this? Was anyone at the station listening to the radio?

WUNC off the air....

I was listening to the BBC Newshour at 9:40 AM today when a story on Zimbabwe was interrupted abruptly to say that the station was going off the air for twenty minutes because of work on the transmitter.

That's fine, but where is the rest of the story.

On the website, there is a mention of concern for worker safety. What's happening?

Why was there no announcement on air that the station would continue to be available on the web?

Why no continuing announcement/news "on-air" (through the website) about the outtage.

Why no warning in advance?

Why nothing on the website about where a listener can go - with a precise link - to listen to the rest of the BBC story that was interrupted?

For an organization that spouts so profusely how important it is as a source of information, reality just does not measure up to the promise.