The new programming initiative of Radio Kansas.
(editor’s note: see below about The Splendid Table, Marketplace evening report, The Daily and The Moth!)
Most listeners recognize that producers charge public radio stations for permission to present their shows. They expect each station’s listeners to help with production costs or distribution expenses. Even as they charge stations for the shows, many famous public radio programs are now available online and “free” as podcasts to listeners willing to suffer through advertising. This makes it less likely that we can pull together enough donations to pay those fees for FM distribution! In other words, you may love a show…WE may love a show…hundreds of other listeners may hope to hear it on the radio, but they choose not to pledge$10 per month for a show they can get “free” online! This makes it impossible for those of us who DO want it on FM!
You may speak of Radio Kansas as an “NPR station,” but there are at least 4 different networks offering programming for us to purchase. To present your favorite show we may first have to pay a fee as an affiliate station before we then can consider the fee for the show itself. This puts many shows out of reach in a way you may not expect!
Programs below have been requested by listeners and pre-identified by the Radio Kansas management team as meeting our commitment to public service. Unfortunately, the subscription fees for some shows are high-enough that we cannot take the financial risk of purchasing them until we know for sure that listeners agree they’re worth the extra money! We’d be happy to put them on…or put them back on…if enough listeners signal a willingness to help!
We’re putting you in the driver’s seat, and have made arrangements to purchase new subscriptions for shows below the moment enough listeners ask us to present them and commit to making them possible as ongoing members!
If you think we’ve cancelled a show, that’s usually not the case! We’ve carried most shows through the end of their run – whether it’s a 13-week symphony show, or a program that’s been on every week for decades. Occasionally new pricing will stop us from re-investing in a program after our subscription runs out. See this page for examples.
Please let us know how much more you can pledge in the coming fiscal year to bring any of these shows to our weekly schedule. Your pledge is merely a promise of additional funding if and only if we’re able to present your favorite show! Send us an e-mail at this link, and we’ll note our progress below! Thanks for your help, and good luck to all of us!
A Prairie Home Companion
Garrison Keillor retired years ago. The program was available in re-runs for some time but then the network stopped even offering re-runs and instead insisted stations carry the replacement program Live from Here. That program, too, has been cancelled by the network and is unavailable. We offer the best in jazz on Saturday nights, but all of public radio is looking for the next Prairie Home Companion!
Says You!
Program creator, producer and host Richard Sher died some time ago. We carried the program in re-runs until a final pair of celebratory live presentations in September of 2022. In that timeslot we’ve now returned Zorba Paster on Your Health to the air, further focusing our Science Saturday schedule!
Mountain Stage
We brought the program back when Kathy Mattea took over as host! We hoped that listener interest would be greater than our prior attempt to carry the show with a lesser-known host. The program’s cost was to double in October 2022 after an introductory price ran out. Listeners who might otherwise support folks insisted that – as a live concert show – there just wasn’t enough music on Mountain Stage, and indicated that they preferred our prior CD-based show. Folk Alley was selected with this feedback in mind!
Car Talk
Radio Kansas was among the last stations carrying Car Talk right up until NPR stopped offering it to local stations. It’s now online at the Car Talk website.
Riverwalk Jazz
Radio Kansas carried Riverwalk Jazz right up to the point it was cancelled by its producers. Rather than offer the program to radio stations each week, they moved its archives to Stanford University where you can listen online right now!
Ask Me Another, Wits, Whad’ya Know, etc., etc.
As above. Radio Kansas remained dedicated to each as long as possible. These programs have all been ended by their producers, with archival audio available on the internet.
Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
This is another example of a program that has transitioned to being a successful podcast. For years they used time during our broadcast to promote listening online. Eventually enough Kansas listeners recognized this option that helping us present the show on FM was not a personal priority, and fundraising could not sustain the show at NPR’s pricing – $18,900 per year for a station like ours. Click here for the podcast.
Morning Edition, All Things Considered
NPR changed the way it calculates station fees. Our price would have gone up 59%, but listener interest and pledging had actually fallen dramatically since 2016. See this page for info. With the savings we were able to finally return a number of shows to the air that listeners had missed for years! See below.
The Splendid Table
Our most popular request. We’ve just recently gained access to its network, so The Splendid Table now airs Sundays at noon!
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour is a weekly series featuring true stories told live on stage without scripts, notes, props, or accompaniment. Each Moth Radio Hour mixes humorous,heartbreaking, and poignant tales are said to captivate, surprise, and delight audiences with their honesty, bravery and humor. After years of listener requests, it’s on Sunday mornings at 11.
Marketplace
You’ve heard their Morning Report for years, and we’ve brought back the full, evening edition of the show Weeknights at 5. Actually, it’s at about 5:08 after national headlines and a full report from the Kansas News Service!
The Daily
From the New York Times, The Daily both breaks stories and digs deep. They tackle a couple of major stories each evening with the sort of depth you expect from public broadcasting. After long being suggested, the show now airs at 5:35 pm weeknights!
Fresh Air
The interview program Fresh Air with Terry Gross (not to be confused with the Nightcrossings album series Fresh Aire), comes from NPR, a network to which we no longer belong. That’s okay, as the show has a great archive and the current show online here.
This American Life
This American Life has dropped its network affiliation and now distributes directly to stations. Most listeners choose to listen to the show online as a Podcast, but it’s still available to over-the-air stations with enough listeners to pay for it. Pricing is in flux, but please let us know if you’d like us to consider the show.
Radiolab
Radiolab was from NPR but is now offered directly to stations by producing station WNYC. Let us know if you’d like us to keep this show high on our list, or just listen to the podcast right now, instead!