Welcome
Welcome to our new Blog created especially for the members of the NCPR Executive Council and the NCPR listening community.
If you take a quick look at our Bylaws, you will see that one of our roles is to advise the Board of Trustees of St. Lawrence University (the owners of NCPR’s license) and station management on whether the programming and policies of the station are meeting the specialized educational and cultural needs of communities served by NCPR.
As such, we are essentially an independent liaison between the owners and management of the station and the public in our listening community. This blog has been created for you to provide input for us and is a forum for independent discussion.
We look forward to your comments, thoughts and ideas in helping to make NCPR an even better media experience in the North Country.
Mike Clarke, Chairman of the EC
As a regular Canadian listener of NCPR, I know that a significant portion of your audience and I suspect of your financial support comes from this side of the border. In looking at the list of members of NCPR’s Executive Council, I notice there is no Canadian representation. Maybe this is a function of state or federal legislation, but if not, it seems like something that ought to be considered.
Keep up the good work.
George +
Thank you, George, for being a listener and for raising the maple leaf on behalf of our Canadian listeners and friends.
We do have an audience in Canada. However, unlike US public television stations located along the border, public radio does not have a history of major audience/membership in Canada. One of our local public television stations, for example, has had times when as much as 75% of its membership was Canadian. Here at NCPR, in a typical year, about 2-3% of our membership is Canadian. Why the dramatic difference between Canadian interest in US tv vs. radio? My totally unscientific theory is that Canadian public radio–the CBC–was historically one of the best radio services in the world. I don’t think Canadian tv enjoyed quite the same position.
Now, having said all this, I think your suggestion for Canadian participation on the Executive Council is an excellent one and I plan to bring it up at our next EC meeting which, by the way, happens to be our annual meeting. We encourage public participation at this meeting: Thursday, July 28 at View (formerly the Old Forge Arts Center) in Old Forge at 6:00 pm.
Again, George, thanks for taking the time to write and for your interest in NCPR.