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GBH is becoming the Boeing of public broadcasting, one viewer like you writes

By adamg on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 10:50am

Martin Evans compares Boeing's quality-control issues with GBH's recent and "shameful" layoffs and show terminations, says both have lost sight of their "core competencies:"

GBH is very much in the news business so decimating the staff is a major failure to protect and enhance the core competencies of the organization. This failure will not show up in the immediate future but, over time, he organization will become less and less able to fulfill its local news gathering responsibilities.

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Comments

By anon on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 11:17am.

I would think GBH is becoming the BPS of public broadcasting, would be far more accurate.

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By anon on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 11:18am.

How about GBH is becoming the Boston City Council of public broadcasting?

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By anon on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 11:21am.

What about GBH is becoming the Massachusetts State Police. of public broadcasting,

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By Michael Ellis Day on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 11:32am.

Over the past few years, the BBC -- source of many programs a lot of Americans first saw thanks to WGBH -- has been talking up its plan to go streaming only and eliminate broadcast television altogether over the coming decade. The British Broadcasting Company, minus any Broadcasting.

To accomplish this, for some reason they have to cut the amount of money they spend on actually making programs; they brag about how they've already cut over a thousand hours of original programming. So no broadcasting, no viewers or listeners who lack an Internet connection, and let's cut down on the drama and documentaries and arts and comedy and all the other stuff that once made the BBC something to envy all over the world. Television on both sides of the pond has truly reached the "let's rip the copper wire out of the walls and see how much we can get for it" stage.

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By Sator on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 12:21pm.

You're thinking about cable television? Broadcast uses an antenna.

Ask grandmother about "the wireless".

By Michael Ellis Day on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 1:46pm.

Actually, when I think of copper wiring in the walls it's for landline phone service, not cable television or even cable Internet connectivity. That's how old I am.

(But I hope people realize "tearing the copper wire out of the walls" is a common and widely used metaphor to convey the idea of sacrificing usefulness and functionality and structural integrity in pursuit of a fast payoff.)

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By Waquiot on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 2:19pm.

They've got 2 networks, BBC2 and the other one, that they fill with programming. I don't see them ceding anything to ITV and Channel 4. I don't see them killing off East Enders and Doctor Who, though common sense would have dictated that at least the last one should have ended with the end of the 12th doctor.

By Cleary Squared on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 3:08pm.

I didn't watch Dr. Who often, but Peter Capaldi was a badass #12. Once he regenerated to Jodie Whitaker (#13), the writers (and Disney) took the fun out of the show and turned it into a politically pretentious preachfest. Judging from the comments on YouTube, the dedicated Whovians (ones raised on 1-12, plus the War Doctor) despise the show's writers, the showrunners and Disney for turning the show into garbage.

By plt3012 on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 12:12pm.

I'm unsure how this whole cutback situation applies to the radio side of the station. I noticed that after the death of Brian O'Donovan, founder and host of the Saturday afternoon "Celtic Sojourn'' radio show, it has disappeared.
I would occasionally view "Greater Boston" to get some perspective on local issues, even though I disagreed with much of it. It's gone too.
What we're getting in place of these programs is of much less quality. I guess this would be considered a doom-loop for this local station.
It's unfortunate.

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By Sator on Sat, 06/22/2024 - 12:55pm.

Just give Henry Santoro the mic, and one producer. He can wing it. Always has.

I could listen to Henry all day.

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By necturus on Sun, 06/23/2024 - 10:44pm.

It was once a major producer of PBS programs. The radio side, which was then just WGBH-FM 89.7, seemed like the tail to TV's dog. It sounded as though management didn't know quite what to do with it or who its target audience was supposed to be.

Now, with the spread of myriad cable and streaming channels, PBS itself seems to be desperately searching for a mission. Virtually everything it used to present now has is own dedicated channels elsewhere.

On the radio side, WGBH bought WCRB from the rapidly expiring Nassau Broadcasting in 2009 only to see the classical station's ratings collapse. 89.7 was converted to all news, but Boston already had an all-news NPR station in WBUR, and WGBH carries many of the same programs, making it a waste of bandwidth. What was it adding to Boston's radio dial? Not much, it seems to me.

So why, exactly, does WGBH exist?