David Cheng wrote:

>Good information helps their listeners make money on the stock
>market, which in turn allows said listeners to give more money to NPR
>stations and buy Lexus cars from the local dealerships that advertise
>on the radio stations.

I had to chuckle at this.  Ithink you're right on about what I would call
the "non-affiliated", those not connected with universities, etc.; they
seem to be completely ratings-driven at this point, and have jumped
straight into a niche in the radio spectrum which no other category of
station is filling: information and talk for college graduates, and
preferably possessors of post-graduate degrees.  Fortunately for them,
there have been enough American college graduates since the GI Bill to
give them sufficient audiences to draw support from.

Ironically, the actual university and college stations (at least in this
area) tend to leave the jabber-jabber to the non-affiliated stations and
concentrate on music of the types, including classical, which are too
unpopular to support commercial FM stations.  The coming digital/satellite
radio revolution may change all this, but it's too soon to tell.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]