John Wiser asks:

>At the risk of being repetitious -- I'm coming in rather late in this
>thread, I think -- let me ask which you would rather have: Programming
>arising [at least ideally] from musical considerations, or programming
>subject to the control of a marketing manager in turn beholden to
>advertisers?

I choose the former, of course.  However, I agree with Karl: I don't see
that public broadcasting at this point is any different in its thinking
than commercial stations.  It panders to its audience for ratings and
money, just as commercial stations do.  That it takes in not as much money
or reaches as large an audience as commercial stations do merely means that
it's not as good as its job.  However, make no mistake: its job is to
garner ratings and money, not to educate.

Steve Schwartz