The Story

One might hope that there is a NC story to tell along the same line, no?

"Lisa McCarthy and her three sons Cole, Jude and Bennett started a recycling program at Mark Twain Elementary School in Long Beach, CA. Sounds much easier than it actually was. When Lisa first realized how much was being thrown out at lunch time, she approached school officials. They approved the creation of the recycling program - if Lisa did everything herself. She pulled together a group of volunteer parents and eventually kids. Lisa and her sons talk to Dick about the obstacles they overcame while helping their school go green."

"Calculating aid for Haiti" - PRI's The World

I really do not understand why WUNC would not want to creat a link to this story that the station broadcast today from PRI's The World. It concerns a NC company and work it is doing in Haiti. Why does WUNC not collect whatever they have done relating to Haiti and put it all in one place on the site? One would think that a station that calls itself "North Carolina Public Radio" would want to be drawing on resources all over the state on issues of importance. Why they don't is a mystery to me.

"Malaria: A Student’s Firsthand Account" - Nicholas D. Kristof Blog - NYTimes.com

I don't understand why WUNC does not grab something like this piece and link it from its website. Well, I suppose they need to have a decent website first and a real relationship with listeners and other customers. For the money they spend on soliciting contributions you would think that they would learn a lot of this, but it does not seem to happen.

President OBAMA's news conference

The President is holding his first press conference in 10 months as I type this. ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and probably many others are carrying the conference live. Why is it that WUNC chooses not to do the same?

WUNC News — North Carolina Public Radio WUNC

One of the quite incomprehensible aspects of WUNC management is their failure to recognize that most people who listen to the station's tiny amount of original news reporting also have computers and access to the internet. This morning, for example, WUNC has broadcast what I would call a "promo news" piece for Greesboro's sustainability efforts. One would think that they could have invested the 5 mins that I did to find a link to the report that will be released today in Greensboro....and put the link on their website. Right now, there is not even a mention of the story, let alone anything more. I just shake my head in non-comprehension of WUNC's organization and management.

"Community Advisory Board — North Carolina Public Radio WUNC"

The next meeting....

More fund drive numbers

At 7 AM today, the announcer said 7,800 had called. At 9 AM, the announcer said they only needed to raise 68,000 more by the end of the day.....

And the announcers now - just before 6 PM - say that they have "heard from" 9,191 people who have contributed the 880,000 that was the goal. I look forward to seeing a breakdown of how much of that money winds up going to pay for all of the trips and other expenses, plus the people at the station who work on fundraising instead of programming. As I recall, that adds up to maybe a quarter or a third of this total and I bet most contributors don't realize this.

On Sunday evening, I heard the announcer say that over 9,000 people had contributed or pledged, and he said that it was the "most successful" fund drive in the station's history. (He might have inserted "spring" before fund drive.)

Even better - I see that the WUNC has added this note to its home page:

"Spring Fund Drive!


Thank you! With your help WUNC made goal ($880,000) in the 5 PM hour Friday and the phones kept ringing. Our previous record for a Spring Drive was $898,000--we are ending the night with $906,000 raised from more than 9,400 donors. You are the best listeners and supporters! Many thanks!"