Saturday, April 11, 2015

'Fiercely independent', if you don't count the other people's money

Radio station KEXP, rebel without a co-sponsor;
KEXP's new Seattle Center studios will be finished in the fall. The biggest contributor to the $15 million project was supposed to be a state-funded arts grant, but that changed this week.
Once a college radio station, the now fiercely independent KEXP relies on private donors, along with foundation and government grants, to keep its eclectic collection of music playing and streaming to fans all over the world.
The station broke ground in January on its new headquarters, and it expected to get a $1.8 million state grant to help cover the costs.
If it were truly independent, wouldn't it get enough from its fans to operate? Of course, it isn't just a selfish thing, KEXP general manager Tom Mara wants you to know;
"If we don't know, then the people of the state of Washington need to know why that happened," he said. "Not just for KEXP's sake, but also for the process' sake."
Funny he should mention process, as we've been discussing that with the U of Wisconsin's Menzie Chinn too. He and Mr. Mara appear to be equally baffled by it;
Ed Hanson ends:
I suspect that in a varied and rich state such as Wisconsin, any necessary product coming from this Bureau can and would be created from other sources.
This is a remarkable statement. I’ll just call it the “spontaneous generation” theory of knowledge generation…and I understand why Ed Hanson would adhere to such a view!
And we understand why Prof. Chinn doesn't get it.

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