One of the PBS stations in my part of the country is having a beg-a-thon, asking listeners for money.
The station, which occupies one of the presets on the radio in my car, plays classical music. Since I don’t have an MP3 player hooked up through my car’s audio system, it’s one way to add some variety to my musical selection.
I might be tempted to throw 20 bucks their way, since they offer something I can’t find anywhere else on the dial, and they do so (largely) free of commercials.
But that idea disappeared the first time, about a month ago, I heard one of the DJs encouraged the audience to lobby Congress to maintain funding for National Public Taxpayer Radio.
At that point, I said, “sorry, I gave at tax-filing time. And oh yeah, there’s no legitimate reason for you to get funding through the coercion implicit in the tax code.”
Ironically, NPR has, at least as far as I’m concerned, given up more in a direct donation than they have gained in a government subsidy.
First published at the Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=2210