Listening to WYPR this morning on the way to work, I was shocked and saddened by the news that the radio station had decided to get rid of Marc Steiner. Sheila Kast was in the middle of interviewing Steiner when I tuned in, after which they broadcast the opposing point of view from Anthony S. Brandon, President and CEO of the station. And although Brandon claimed it was a simple matter of ratings, the undisputed facts appear to indicate that it was truly an easy way to edge Steiner out over a six-year running fundamental difference of opinion over what public radio means.

I don't plan to recap all that was said here. Instead, I want to focus on Steiner's belief that public radio is really just that, public radio, meaning that it is in fact the listeners themselves who are the true "owners" of the station (regardless of an legal matters about non-profits, boards of directors, and what-not). Brandon, on the other hand, seemed to indicate that the only voice of the people that mattered was that coming from the rating system - nothing else.

Well, if WYPR wants ratings, it might as well drop the whole public radio bit altogether and start broadcasting mind-numbing mass-appeal music and talk shows. That'll surely draw in a bunch of listeners, just not the kind that normally think too critically about the real issues.

Steiner's view of the trust and obligation placed it the hands of public radio captures, in this Blogger's mind, the true essence of what it means to be in public broadcasting. Isn't the it charge of a station like WYPR to bring important issues to light, even if those issues (and the people who expose them) aren't necessarily the most popular, that is, don't garner the highest ratings? Isn't it the charge of "Your Public Radio" to keep people like Marc Steiner on the air, who bring on guests from all facets of Baltimore and Maryland life to explore such diverse issues as marine wildlife and urban crime, despite an apparent shortcoming in listeners compared to other programs?

Ah, but is it really "Your Public Radio" anymore? Can you actually trust the Board of Directors of WYPR to make decisions in your best interest, when all they see you as is one data point in many that makes up the rating statistics? After all, that's how they saw you when it came to a decision to cancel the Marc Steiner show, and that's how they'll see you in future decisions. Higher ratings, assuming they're even accurate, indicate more listeners, and more listeners translates into a larger audience for advertising, which translates into more ad revenue for the station...