At Its Best
By Mitch Berg
Since I’ve gotten an IPod (a 30G video with a cracked LCD whose repair is in my December budget), I’ve just started to troll the world of podcasts.
And this piece from Saint Cloud’s public station – the recollections of a Holocaust survivor – is one of the great discoveries. As we honor and lament the passing of the World War II generation, we should also recall that the Holocaust survivors are passing as well. The survivors today were largely the teenagers and children of the ghettoes and camps – and they’re not getting any younger.
Anyway – this is the stuff that is public radio at its best. Give it a listen.
I mean, you’ve already paid for it, right?
November 1st, 2007 at 8:07 am
I’ve got a GREAT source for the repair. Just had Josh’s fixed. Drop off and pick up (Eden Prairie), 24 hour turnaround (you can alos mail it in). Less than $100 for Screen replace AND battery swap. Cracked screens tend to short out the battery, so the longer you wait, the more likely you’ll need a battery as well. And if it has already been awhile, you should plan on changing the battery anyway.
http://www.mnipodrepair.com/
Be sure to call/EMail first. The prices on the repair form may have a little negotiation room.
Flash
November 1st, 2007 at 9:01 am
Wow. That’s $30-40 better than the vendor the Apple Store recommended.
Thanx!
November 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
The batteries are one reason I’ve never been a big iPod fan. I prefer the SanDisc Sansa where the consumer can easily change the battery.
That said, I’ve got an nano with a terrible battery since they’re better for audiobooks. I traded my daughter my Sansa for it.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Yeah, you paid for 10% of the program, in that you pay for 10% of the budget of public radio through taxes. If the program was a CPB program – well then, you paid nothing… but whatever – it’s hardly important, and wasn’t worth the swipe in the first place. By and large, you didn’t pay for it, the members of public radio did, and I’m guessing, but don’t know, that you aren’t a member. So, as a member, ‘you’re welcome’ for 90% of the program, and “Thanks” for helping with 10%.
I pray that God has provided for them in heaven a respite from the hell they survived on Earth.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:32 pm
So, as a member, ‘you’re welcome’ for 90% of the program, and “Thanks” for helping with 10%.
Amazing that the rest of the entertainment industry does it 100% without any money taken from me at gunpoint. How do they ever manage?
November 1st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
If Wikipedia is to be believed:
Government funding, mostly through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, amounts to 8% of the network’s budget.
So, it’s about 11/12ths privately funded.
I think MPR would do well, being that close, to REFUSE public monies, just to claim independence.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
it’s hardly important, and wasn’t worth the swipe in the first place.
Then feel free to start your own blog and not write about it.
By and large, you didn’t pay for it, the members of public radio did,
Actually, the members are a part of the budget. So is lots and lots of corporate underwriting, as well as Public Radio’s various for-profit offshoots.
and I’m guessing, but don’t know, that you aren’t a member.
You’re right. You don’t know. You are just guessing.
I pray that God has provided for them in heaven a respite from the hell they survived on Earth.
Oh, good lord.
NPR (and especially MPR) are, according to friends of mine in the business (including inside Public Radio itself), just about the most posh gig left in the radio business. Union-level salaries (without union BS), sane workloads, and the kind of job security that you just don’t get in ‘mersh radio.
“The hell they survived on earth”. Hah. I hope that was satire.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:26 pm
“Yeah, you paid for 10% of the program, in that you pay for 10% of the budget of public radio through taxes.”
As soon as MPR becomes independent, it will lose its tax-exempt status and consequently all the tax write-offs from limousine liberals. As such,
MPR owes 100% of its existence to the taxpayer.
Does anybody think peev can grasp that little revelation, or will a 2,000 word soliloquy that everyone will scroll past ensue? I bet on the latter.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I pray that God has provided for them in heaven a respite from the hell they survived on Earth.
Oh, good lord.
Gee Mitch, get confused easily??
I was praying for the Holocaust survivors.. use some common sense, muttonhead.
And candidly, I don’t need to guess. An educated evaluation of your habits, disdain for public radio in general, and crass self-interests suggests VERY strongly you aren’t a member. Care to deny it? Your priggish, holier than though crap of ‘not knowing’ is yet another example of the childish bloviating that permeates this blog from top to bottom (myself included).
November 1st, 2007 at 3:30 pm
justplain, clearly I grasp FAR more than you do, because taking taxes from the government doesn’t equate to tax-exempt status. To be tax exempt, you need to operate as a not-for-profit entity regardless of your receipt of public subsidy. In short, they simiply aren’t a joined subject.
Or perhaps you think that Habitat for Humanity isn’t tax exempt, or maybe the Catholic Church? Do you think EITHER takes public funds.
As for limousine liberalism, it’s your party that staunchly defends the rich – not the Democrats – but I completely agree that public radio would be far better off choking off the ludicrous bitching of the right by forgoeing public subsidy, at least in a cost/benefit relationship – because it would de-tooth the wingnut brigade, of which you and Mitch are clearly active members.
Mitch, CPB accounts for WHAT percentage of MPR’s budget? Care to guess? Past that..what is your point with this comment..
Actually, the members are a part of the budget. So is lots and lots of corporate underwriting, as well as Public Radio’s various for-profit offshoots –
When did I say the members WEREN’T part of the budget, actually, I said the membership WAS 90% of the funding – i.e. the accounts receivalbe, or income side of the budget.. what is your point here? If it’s that corps donate, well you know what, corps donate to lots of charities, civic functions and entities. None of which makes that portion ‘public subsidy’ any more than corporate donations to MRP are public subsidy.
The answer to my question Mitch, is about 5% of programming is paid for and/or supplied by CPB – therefore, MRP’s position is that CPB makes up about 5% of the total funding.
So.. let’s stammer and yammer more about how you pay for it.. that big 8% of the Holocaust programming that public funding paid for, of which your personal contributions was maybe what? .0000001 cents? Bully for you.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Gee Mitch, get confused easily??
When absolutely no context is provided to indicate that you’d changed subjects? Yes, occasionally I do. You have to admit it was an abrupt, unmarked change of subject, you…um, muttonhead.
And candidly, I don’t need to guess. An educated evaluation of your habits, disdain for public radio in general, and crass self-interests suggests VERY strongly you aren’t a member.
Disdain for the public and crass self-interest suggests that I actually AM Garrison Keillor.
And yet again, Peev, you are wrong; I “dain” all sorts of public radio. I have complemented plenty of public radio output when called for.
I’m terribly sorry, but there are many, many ways I just don’t fit your preconceptions.
But carry on with the failed attempts at clairvoyance!
Your priggish, holier than though crap of ‘not knowing’ is yet another example of the childish bloviating
No, it’s an example of “my personal affiliations and finances are none of your damn business”
November 1st, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Peeve didn’t disappoint – more non-sequiturs without addressing my assertion, that if MPR loses it’s not-for-profit status, which it holds by virtue of being tax-payer subsidized (ie “joined subject“), it will not be able to survive because most of its donors, most of whom are limousine liberals, will not donate any money they cannot write off. We can all see how well that other liberal bastion of free speech, AirScamerica, fared in the free market.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:59 pm
justplainangry:
“.that if MPR loses it’s not-for-profit status, which it holds by virtue of being tax-payer subsidized”
Wrong. Non-profit status has nothing to do with tax payer subsidization as Peev pointed out, but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Also, the whole “limousine liberals” thing, nice try. I am guessing that a majority of donations MPR receives are very small in nature…
November 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I am guessing that a majority of donations MPR receives are very small in nature…
Look, it’d be disingenuous of me to rip on private contributors, whatever their wealth or politics. More power to ’em.
But N/MPR’s audiences are primarily primarily upper middle class and left-leaning. That’s just a marketing fact.
Nothing wrong with that, although I think they can dang well do without the 5-8% they get from the CPB plus the millions (as in, 1-2 million, last I heard) that MPR gets from Minnesota.
November 1st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I think peevish is just Mitch’s sockpuppet. He is too perfect a parody of the over the top lefty to possibly be a real person. I call shenanigans.
November 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Jeff, you’re not the first to suggest that.
But there’s no way I’d have the time to devote to that big a project.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I’ve long been convinced that Angry Clown is Mitch’s sock puppet. Kind of like the annoying little dummy that sits on a ventriloquists lap and makes snide remarks.
November 4th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
my personal history with ipod businesses unfortunatly cost me 300.00
wishing i had known this before doing business w john e. at mnipodrepair.com. just thought others might like to know this seeing as how flash is advertising on this hostory blog. i did send an email but i guess they did not want to deal with it. does flash know john qoutes proverbs about not cheating. Flash should ask john if he enjoyed cheating me out of the money he owed me for shipping.
Praise and Thanks to those whom have suffered to give us our freedom.