Question for Colorado Public Radio listeners...
How many more lies are you going to let Max Wycisk, Sean Nethery, and the gang at CPR tell you?

The Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN) was a loser for CPR; a Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) redundancy. And, under the helm of Max Wycisk and Karla Walker, it failed. During its last few years in existence, it lost Colorado Public Radio hundreds of thousands of dollars. Check CPR's financial statements. The losses are clearly marked.

As for KVOD, it is run by Karla Walker, the same person who managed CPRN. But it's not her fault more people don't listen to classical music. Minority music, just like jazz, will always have a small following. Which means that KVOD will only ever net a small audience.

With respect to programming efficiency, news content will ALWAYS net a larger return on EVERY dollar invested than will some other public radio programming. This is clear from DECADES of public radio market research. CPR knows that because they have been in bed with audience demographic monkeys since the time commercial radio data was first applied to public radio back in the 1980s. aND, Wycisk is nothing if not a data demigod AND demagogue. So, it only makes sense that if CPR is going to make cuts, they are going to make them in the most inefficient parts of the business.

If Wycisk had any real stones, he dump classical music entirely (or move it to one of his redundant HD channels that CPR is wasting) or even buy classical music programming from some other source, like his beloved Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). He could probably buy Classical-24 from MPR for a fraction of what he is paying announcers. Then he could cut the classical music staff for good, buy some more news programming from NPR, and run a dual-news stream on 90.1 FM and 88.1 FM in Denver. Of course, he won't do that. He will nibble a bit her and there, trying to make things work out.

In the meantime, CPR will continue to blame "the economy" rather than management. The company is has $12 million or so in debt, AM stations it can't dump, and several VPs making $100K/year, against assets that continue to plummet in value. It's time to put up or shut up. But CPR can't do neither. Wycisk cannot make the hard choices, and CPR can't stop begging. So, where and how does this thing end? If CPR weathers May and June 2009, when does the fall drive start? July 2009?

Unfortunately, Jimmy James Jr.'s attitude toward classical music seems to be prevalent in this bovine metropolis, and I've heard it from CPR staffers themselves. News-talk programming was moved from AM, where it belongs, to the strong 90.1 FM frequency in the asinine belief that the spoken word requires stereo sound. The minuscule 88.1 signal barely makes it out of the core city, so no wonder the classical audience is fractionalized. What's your idea of culture here in the Rocky Mountain Backwater, CPR? Tractor pulls? Cockfights? Kazoo bands? Surely not Beethoven; he's just for a "small minority" of snobs, right?

@Robert,

1. I like classical music.
2. I also like jazz, Tejano and polka.
3. Fact: News is more efficient.
4. CPR broadcasts 88.1 and 90.1 in mono.
5. Mono carries farther, that's why.
6. Classical audience is solid.
7. Classical audience nets about a 5.0%; at best.
8. "Back East," roots music is heard on HD.
9. CPR has completely wasted their HD space. HD is the Betamax of this century.
10. ListenUP! is CPR's "retail;" commercialism.
11. ListenUP! demo profile: rich, white, male and 50-ish.
12. NPR is elite news.
13. NPR demo profile: rich, white, male and 50-ish.
14. KCFR news is paltry against their bloated salaries (quantity).
15. KCFR news wins no awards (quality).
16. KCFR is the anus of the NPR alimentary canal.
17. CPRN failed under Wycisk and Walker.
18. KVOD is failing under Wycisk and Walker.
19. Moving KCFR to 90.1 increased CPR revenue.
20. Wycisk and CPR brought white news to the barren, Colorado wilderness.
21. Wycisk and CPR eliminated statewide competition.
22. CPR has $12 million in debt. Their assets are depreciating quickly.
23. Business are (rationally) not supporting CPR. Individual members (irrationally) are supporting CPR.
24. CPR is around 10% funded by tax dollars.
25. CPR deserves its situation. Management led it here. The economic downturn just magnified the problem.

Jimmy, my stereo light lights up on 90.1. I'm looking at it right now. Gotta have stereo for those music beds between ponderously slow news segments, I guess.

Why move music to a mono channel where much of its richness is lost? That indicates a total contempt for classical music and its audience, and makes it obvious why CPR isn't getting much support now from the classical audience.

HD radio is a passing fad much like 8-track tapes, quadrophonic FM and AM stereo. Hardly anyone is buying HD radios or even asking retailers about them, and even those few geeks who do are complaining about the sound breaking up just like a pixellated HDTV signal as soon as the listener gets 10 or 20 miles away from the signal. Those HD channels apparently aren't getting out much farther than 88.1 does.

So a mono signal travels farther? Oh, fine. That means I'll start losing 88.1's puny signal in Parker instead of in Lone Tree. Big whoop. Meandhile, stereo stations from the Springs come in fine all the way up I-25 almost to Erie.

And speaking of Colorado Springs: Down there, classical KCME at 88.7 is going strong in beauriful stereo with plenty of listener support. Does the CPR braintrust mean to tell me that a town full of hip-hop-loving soldiers, neo-religious wackos and gun-totin' rednecks appreciates classical music more than sophisticated, DNC-hosting Denver??

@Robert,

Can't speak to your receiver mono/stereo thing. The info I have from a CPR insider is that mono gives 60% more coverage, which is why they do it. Toggle between 90.5 and 91.5 in Denver to listen to the difference.

The reason CPR put music on 90.1 when news was on 1340 was because of fidelity. The reason CPR moved news to 90.1 and music to 88.1 is about money. Efficiency, pure and simple. If CPR was truly worried about quality, CLEARLY music would have stayed at 90.1. You may regard this as contempt. CPR regards this as rational. From a purely financial standpoint, it is logical. That doesn't make it right or wrong, except when compared to CPR's "mission statement." Clearly, their posture regarding news verses music is a commercial one.

CPR probably expects to apply for permission to boost the KVOD signal once the analog spectrum is finally vacated.

You are correct. HD radio is a bust. Fortunately, CPR wasted as much of taxpayers money (CPB grants) to invest in it as they did membership dollars, just like they wasted CPB dollars to fund CPRN. What do they have to show for it? HD radio spectrum is unused, because they have not distinct programming to offer up. Whether analog of hybrid digital, the dearth of creative content is the problem at CPR. They are a huge distribution machine with not nearly enough product. So what do they do to save money, fire an announcer. How brilliant is that?

CPR's mission all along is to say "more public radio is better" while fighting with other public radio broadcasters (religious and secular) to dominate the non-commercial frequencies in Colorado. Wycisk is a station builder; nothing more. And, as you say, smaller organizations -- ones with real links to the community -- sound great. So, the next trick in Wycisk's hat, if he can weather the economic storm, is to gobble up the creative companies that compete with him. CPR is the Microsoft of public radio. Or perhaps a better metaphor is that they are the Bank of America of public radio. Members pay now to pull his ass out of the fire, so that he can squeeze KUVO, KUNC or KCME later.Mergers and acquisitions are next. Just wait.

-JJJ

It will be nice to have more localism with the classical music format. Local performance groups can rejoice, but let's see what the unimaginative management team does with this potential. We're dealing with unimaginative programming at the top of the CPR food chain, restricted by the audience-building extreme nonsense that has driven the place for 25 years.....a mindset started during the Reagan years, when Reagan's Budget Director David Stockman proposed to kill the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. WIDESPREAD PANIC ensued in the public radio system, and a lot of public radio "heavy hitters" went off the deep end, with concepts that in moderation work fairly well. So, let's hope KVOD does something unconventional for a change to show us all that the pub radio days of Reagan are truly history.

Mr. Wysick, tear down this wall !!!!!

As for KVOD 88.1 increasing power: KGNU at 88.5 already has approval to increase power from 1300 to 4000 watts, and that should be accomplished by the end of the calendar year. That action limits KVOD's potential power increase at 88.1. The only way KVOD will be able to substantially increase power will be when the FCC allows expansion of the FM dial, at least down to 87.7 where current tuners go (currently Channel 6 audio). KVOD could then move to 87.9 or 87.7 and increase power substantially (Fort Collins, are you listening?).

If those who really care about such issues are not putting in their two cents with the FCC about FM band expansion: SHAME ON YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I agree with a lot of the comments on this post, all of it is meaningless until the FM radio technical platform is expanded. Most of the Channel 5 and 6 FM spectrum can be reserved for existing AM broadcasters and lower powered commercial FMs to relocate; but it's only logical for the NCE/Public portion of the FM band to expand a few frequencies down from its' current stopping point at 88.1.

JAZZ LOVERS, BEWARE!

If you don't care about the fate of the current occupant of 88.1 in Denver, but you love Jazz and Blues, consider the possible horse trading that could take place between CPR and KUVO (both financially-strapped right now). The only thing keeping Max Wysick from pulling the trigger on a proposed frequency swap with KUVO today is having enough cash on hand to offer a few million and 88.1, for 89.3. Max has a cash flow crisis, largely due to the 1340 AM albatross around his neck; an albatross that could be far more effective for CPR if they would just loosen up a bit and do something other than repeat what's heard over 90.1 FM.* You're right, this isn't an imaginative programming powerhouse we're dealing with as listeners; it's an empire-building/ toe-stepping powerhouse with a hole in its' soul.

*Next time you have the chance, ask a CPR big-wig why they refuse to run ANYTHING produced by KCRW, Santa Monica. The answer will amuse you. The truth is, Max, Minnesota's Bill Kling, and other dinosaurs in the "White Man's Public Radio Club" despise KCRW Manager Ruth Seymour (where are all of the radio feminists when we need them?) for her outspoken stance on the mission of public radio. She wanted nothing to do with the Reagan-induced panic that took place in Minnesota, KCFR, and other "enlightened" places.

Wow - I must be in the minority here. I love both stations of Colorado Public Radio. The news is first rate. I love the national news from NPR, but I also really enjoy the interviews that they do on Colorado Matters. As for the classical station, KVOD plays great music. I find myself listening to it more and more. Granted, I'm mostly a news listener, but I find myself listening anymore to about half music/half news.
I'm not sure what all the fuss is about from the other posters. You must not have lived in other cities. CPR is much better than public stations in other places I've lived.

Wow, you are in the minority! Public radio is a lot better in many other cities and states: Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, LA, NYC, Austin, Madison, Minneapolis, DC, San Francisco...

I listen to content from all of these cities online, and I take shows with me on the road when I drive, bike, walk and run.

Yes, public radio is more classic music diverse in other cities and states. KVOD programming is rather predictable and narrow in scope. I greatly appreciate classical music and listen to the programming from other cities and states and know what imaginative creative programming is like. Get on the ball KVOD. My wife and I give money to Maine Public Radio.

Maine Public Radio?

CPR management's take is probably something like this:

>>for every "Schmo" who supports an out-of-state/region public radio "service" (as CPR brain-trusted legends like to call their programming options), there are 5 or more "distinctive" front range listeners who do pony-up with cash for the CPR coffers.

Sad thing is: it may be true, but what they conveniently keep out of such explaining away is the highly elitist demographic component involved which has helped dictate just what CPR bosses consider viable programming.

With audience research methods seeded about 20 years ago with money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CPR's highly scientific (almost mechanical) method of determining musical and other programming content is based on a type of focus group research normally used by commercial radio (that side of the radio world which operates without tax supported funds).... In essence, commercial radio and CPR have selected focus group participants by zip code. For CPR it has been a highly-effective way of determining just what people with deep pockets prefer to come over their radios; from which Mozart pieces are acceptable, to what type of interview and feature reporting topics are "relevant" for CPR news.

Stop here for a minute, and reflect on the recent movie starring Jamie Fox as the homeless, world-class classical musician....and then ask yourself if CPR's methods warrant: 1) public funding at all; and 2) a CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION.

Public-funded research should mean the information is accessible to anyone wanting to see the methodology. But when asked for information on their research methods (funded by public dollars), CPR management has claimed the information is privileged; only available to other public radio stations who are willing to pay for it.

Such focus group distortions gives all of public radio a bad name, yet at CPR it is just one component of a wounded, tired, and ultimately distorted culture....a place where a lot of good people contribute what they can to the best of their abilities, but they are guided under the warped parameters set by upper management. If you think this is far-fetched, I invite you to go on line and listen to MAINE PUBLIC RADIO, Vermont Public Radio (where former CPR classical music host Cheryle Hicks now resides); KCRW.ORG, and WNYC.ORG for public affairs programming which is highly imaginative and available to CPR, if only they would carry some of it -- instead of repeating CAR TALK, etc. on the weekends. There's also WFUV.ORG; WBEZ.ORG; and WBUR.ORG, just to name a few more legitimate public radio entities with a lot more spunk. The stations listed have emerged from the Reagan nightmare for public radio and have moved ahead very well. Even during those darker days, they did not revert to highly selective focus group methodology to make a few more bucks, at the expense of common folk; the type of people who have remained avid followers of NPR news shows and certain other programming heard over public radio stations.

It's hard to criticize the cash cow which CPR became. They do some things well. But until KUNC arrived with its metro-wide signal in July 2007 there was nothing but CPR in "the 303" to compare it to. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether or not there's something better on the horizon, and if some action is needed.