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Great Moments In Public Radio

KZYX Radio, Friday, June 29. Open Lines

KZYX General Manager John Coate: Hi. You're on the air.

Male Caller: Yeah. I got one quick question. There is a, um, I don't know what you call it, I don't know if it's an ad because you don't have ads, but Words on Books, how is that funded?

Coate: Uh, it's not really — well, if we get an underwriter for it, it would be funded in that sort of sense, but, um, you know, it's locally produced, it's a little five minute segment that's locally produced by Tony Miksak.

Caller: So he, so Gallery Books pays for that?

Coate: No. No. He has not been the owner of Gallery Books for some years now. There is no relationship.

Caller: Well how is it funded then?

Coate: Well, it's not funded unless there is an underwriter. He, it's like a local programmer. He's a volunteer.

Caller: So it's free advertising in other words?

Coate: Well, no. Not really. I mean, he's talking about books. He's not telling you where to buy them, how much they cost. I mean, he's talking about books. I mean, I guess if you have abstract it out then it means that he is encouraging you to— but then you can just go to a library and you can get those books, too, it's not really an advertisement.

Caller: Well it's an advertisement — for books.

Coate: No.

Caller: It's book reviews obviously to get people to buy books. I mean, he was the owner of Gallery Bookstore when that show started.

Coate: Sure. But that hasn't been true from for some time so I don't think he has, uh, a conflict of interest. He just loves books which a lot of us do.

Caller: So, what else would be allowed under that, if somebody wanted to do something called Notes on Music that owns a music store and sells sheet music? Can they do that for free as well?

Coate: Well, um, he doesn't own a bookstore, so they're not really parallel.

Caller: I'm not saying he owns a bookstore. I'm saying, you could start a similar kind of thing, Notes on Music.

Coate: If we thought it was good enough I wouldn't rule it out.

Caller: OK, I appreciate that. Thank you.

Coate: Thank you. Okay! Notes on Music! Well! It's a thought! Absolutely! Um, we talked about film reviews before. You know, it's culture! Culture is part of our mission. So…

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