Sex Sells Contributes

I’ve been listening to (some would say enduring) the pledge drive on my local NPR station and throughout the day they’ve been telling listeners that the free T-shirt that comes with their pledge will help them attract members of the opposite sex. People have called in and talked about how they met someone because “he noticed my KPCC shirt” and so on. It’s really weird. There’s plenty of good reasons why you should contribute to public radio, but “our shirts are gonna get you laid!” is not one of them.

Okay, they just announced that Edie McClurg is going to match any donations over the next half hour dollar-for-dollar. That’s weird. Who knew Mr. Rooney’s secretary was so cool?




posted by greg on November 18, 2003 @ 5:39 pm

6 comments

  1. There was a Reason Magazine blog entry asserting basically the same thing. For dumb young urbanites, listening to NPR is a signal of suitability. Can I finally blame classic rock for my not getting laid?

    http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/003327.shtml#003327

    Comment by Charles — November 19, 2003 @ 8:50 am

  2. Well look, I mean, speaking as somebody with pretty much no game whatsoever in terms of opposite-sex interactions, I can think of worse conversation-starters than a public radio t-shirt. I mean, I’m happy it’s not something I have to think about anymore, but as a way of identifying a somewhat like-minded person, I can certainly think of worse ways to go about it. Quiet people have to meet each other somehow.

    Comment by Brianotron — November 19, 2003 @ 9:55 am

  3. P.S. — From my own on-the-job experience pitching during public radio fund drives, let me also say that you run out of shit to talk about reeeeeeeal quickly. Hell, we run out of stuff to say by about Tuesday afternoon, and we only pitch two hours a day–a strategy that people really, really dig, let me tell you, when compared with pitching all day, all week long. It’s really weird to me that we’re one of the only stations that does their fund drive this way. What can I say, though, we’re fucking brilliant.

    Comment by Brianotron — November 19, 2003 @ 10:01 am

  4. all day long today all five pacifica stations are having a fund drive for thier archives. if you want to hear a fund drive that’s actually engaging, with premiums like the voices of langston hughes and jack kerrouac and miles davis and malcom x and on and on, tune your radio into 90.7 all day today.

    http://www.kpfk.org http://www.pacifica.org

    why is kpcc even having a pledge drive? aren’t they a fully owned subsidiary of mcdonalds now?

    it’s disingenuous to call it “public” radio any longer…

    Comment by josh — November 19, 2003 @ 10:14 am

  5. why is kpcc even having a pledge drive? aren’t they a fully owned subsidiary of mcdonalds now?

    it’s disingenuous to call it “public” radio any longer…

    Uhhh…no. National Public Radio and the local stations are completely separate entities. The $200 million that Ray Croc’s wife gave to NPR helps cover their costs, but it doesn’t do anything to help local stations pay the bills, which is why she also gave $5 million to her local NPR station in San Diego.

    I know McDonald’s is a
    “big, evil corporation”, but this donation is something that should be applauded. Considering that most rich dead people give their money to their rich do-nothing kids or the Republican Party, I’m glad to see that NPR isn’t going to have to worry that much about money for a few years.

    Comment by greg — November 19, 2003 @ 10:24 am

  6. have you ever listened to kpbs (nas diego)? un-listenable. i’m speaking of course of the very few locally produced shows. and kpbs and kpcc have more locally produced programming than most. in scranton, where i’m from, the npr station doesn’t have one minute a day of local programming. even the classical music comes out of wisconsin or somewhere.

    look, garrison is cool. and npr is not without it’s moments. i remember a year or so ago when the house was debating the iraq war resolution kpcc interrupted it’s pledge drive to cover it. kpfk wasn’t. that’s great. now, if they could only actually tell me that my money was going to local programming of real substance and that it is not beholden to exxon, monsanto and the like, well, they’d get my money.

    unfortunatly, they seem more interested in the big payday. even bill moyers knows this. read the expose of pbs/npr that cursor has on that site. pretty damming.

    and, “big evil corporation?” are you serious? did you read “fast food nation?” they are as big and as evil as it gets. that $200 mil is BLOOD MONEY. npr should give it back.

    Comment by josh — November 19, 2003 @ 10:53 am

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