The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

I just read that NPR’s “News & Notes” was one of the two shows that are being cut from the lineup due to budget constraints.

Public radio cancels 2 programs, cuts 64 jobs
By Chris Kaltenbach
Baltimoresun.com

National Public Radio announced yesterday that it is canceling two programs and eliminating 64 jobs, blaming a “sharp” decline in corporate underwriting and other revenues.

The move, part of an overall 7 percent work force reduction, comes as NPR’s radio and Web audience has been growing. About 26.4 million people are listening to the NPR programs every week, while its Web site, npr.org, is getting 8 million visitors a month.

[...]

Many of the staff cuts were realized by canceling two shows, Day to Day and News & Notes. Both are scheduled to go off the air March 20.

“It’s crucial to realize that these programming changes are being driven by a loss in revenue, not relevance,” Ellen Weiss, NPR’s senior vice president for news, said in a statement.

Andy Bienstock, program director at Baltimore’s WYPR-FM (88.1), said the NPR cuts will have no direct effect on the station, except for the loss of News & Notes, a public affairs show hosted by Farai Chideya that looks at the news from an African-American perspective. It currently airs at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The station’s November pledge drive raised $5,000 more than last year’s and, while the average pledge was down, the number of new pledgers rose significantly. (more…)

I am really sorry to hear about this as many of us in the Black blogosphere have been featured on that show. I for one have have made five appearances on the show. To my knowledge, Farai is one of the few nationally-recognized Black journalists/commentators out there who reached out to Black bloggers and gave them a voice on the national stage.

Thanks Farai and thank you NPR for having News and Notes.

P.S. To hear all my appearances on the show, click on ‘Media’ in the menu above. Hopefully they have not killed the links.