WUNC Launches New Weekend Schedule

Dan from Detroit
01/11 06:46 AM

Can some of the native trianglers (triangulites, trianguluns?) tell my why the radio is so bad here?  I hate to bash anything & I know everyone had different tastes but the radio here is particularly bad (aka generic) compared to many other cities of comparable size that I’ve been to.  I was bit spoiled with Canadian radio and US radio options growing up but the triangle seems to be almost devoid of anything unique for my age group (80’s, 90’s alternative even classic rock etc).  88.1 is ok, but it’s still a whitebread college station.  I’m surprised more advertisers aren’t targeting the 20-30 crowd that doesn’t love standard top-40 crappola.

Ruby Sinreich
01/11 10:41 AM

Dan, it’s because your FM tuner apparently doesn’t function properly below 92. You should get that looked at. (ie: WKNC, WXDU, WSHA, WXYC, WNCU, WUNC… and WCPE for some)

Little Timmy
01/11 10:44 AM

This “radio” you speak of.  What is that?

GD
01/11 11:18 AM

I agree with Dan.  Even when i lived in Western Ma, the radio was better.  Our radio is not very good here outside a few stations.

No Thank You
01/11 02:23 PM

Ruby is right, and I never agree with her about anything!

Fred
01/11 02:46 PM

When will WUNC finally perform a People’s-Pharmacy -ectomy? They’ve tried to treat the problem by concealing it (though not well enough) in Saturday morning and an unremarkable Sunday afternoon lineup, but this thing needs to be removed!

CF
01/11 04:03 PM

How about a Diane Rehm - ectomy?  She seems like a nice enough lady, but every day she sounds like she may not live through the broadcast.  It is painful to listen to.

Micah
01/11 05:19 PM

I listen to the Peoples Pharmacy, and I have been listening to Diane Rehm for decades.  Sure, her voice is a little strange since her spasmotic something-or-another that she had like 10 years ago, but it is getting better and better all the time.  I think she is one of the most unique figures in public radio, and I almost always like her shows, even when the subject matter is not something I would have sought out otherwise.  I think that public radio does a pretty good job of having a good mix of different programming.  You aren’t going to like everything they have on the air all the time.  If you don’t like certain shows on NPR, then just podcast the ones you do like and listen only to them.  I try not to do that though, especially with news.  I think it is somewhat sad now that people have so many news outlets that they just pick the one that always agrees with them and stick with it.

chris
01/12 12:57 PM

It’s not Diane’s voice, but her pace of the show that is painful.  Guest hosts seem to cover twice as much territory in a single show.  But the NPR powers-that-be will never get rid of her because all of their senior citizen donors would raze holy hell if they replaced her—she will have to leave on her own volition, and I don’t see that happening soon.  She was on a cruise with NPR donors for a week a little while back.  I can only imagine what the clientele of that cruise looked like.

I also have a problem with “The Story” with Dick Gordon ... the thing is so damn repetitive like the worst of cable TV shows (lets recap what we just talked about for five minutes, both before and after each commerical break), about even more inane topics.  And Dick Gordon himself always comes off as smug, and the theme music ... so annoying and advertised every half hour!  Argh!  I guess WUNC sells this program nationally to other NPR member stations, though, so unfortunately it won’t go away soon, either. 

Frank Statio and the State of Things, however, this is a great show.

Micah
01/12 03:35 PM

You see, I don’t like Frank Statio, but I DO like Dick Gordon and Diane Rehm!  Oh, and I am 31 by the way.  You can’t please everyone!

art
01/13 05:50 PM

If we are voting, I do like Frank Statio and Diane Rehm, but I do not like Dick Gordon.  And I agree the theme music to the Story is annoying.  But I like WUNC and I have heard plenty of other stations around the country.  BTW, Rehm is not old at all.  Her voice just sounds that way because of some condition.

chris
01/13 06:46 PM

According to Wikipedia, Diane Rehm was born in 1936, making her 73.  I’m not saying she’s going to die tomorrow, but she’s no spring chicken, either.

DLewOnRoids
01/14 07:49 PM

Thanks, I’ll take substance over presentation.  With On The Media and TAL, Diane Rehm is one of the best things on WUNC.  She is far better than some dope like Tom Ashbrook, whose show is also syndicated by NPR in the same time slot.  If an unusual voice is the price to pay for the best daily interviews on radio—and she’s even better than Terry Gross—I’ll take it.

Skillet
01/16 10:39 AM

I was really looking forward to Dick Gordon when he moved to WUNC since I thought his previous show, The Connection, was so good. But, man, The Story is just lame. Extremely repetitive, a little too precious and he seems just a a bit too friendly with his guest. Not sure what it is but it’s kinda creepy. And the music…

I miss Ray Suarez.

CV
02/04 10:44 PM

Diane Rehm, while evidently much older than the rest of us, does have good interviews.  Her voice makes her sound much older because she has had multiple surgeries and other things done to her vocal chords for some kind of disease.

As for radio, one word responses: SIRIUS.  SOMAFM.  PANDORA.  (even) iTunes.