Regular readers of this space know I am a strong proponent of public radio (although not a fan of the sanctimonious National Public Radio, where the executives don’t give a rat’s tail what the listener wants), and a stronger proponent of the concept of commercial public radio…I honestly believe a commercial, for-profit model can be constructed for public radio-style programs, just as cable channels have profited from PBS-style programming. XMPR, the public radio station on XM Satellite Radio, was the first legitimate attempt to create a for-profit public radio station. But it’s more and more apparent that it is failing.

The problem is, there were from the outset a whole bunch of problems. XM channel websites are something of a laughing stock; next to “Customer Care,” the pitiful system of websites, with their outdated information, is a main complaint against the system. The sites are actually set up in-house to promote not changing the information there, since it is not under the direct control of the channel directors but rather must go through the MIS department. It’s a hassle to get information updated, so channel directors are conditioned not to bother. Looking specifically at XMPR, it becomes impossible for the channel to promote anything well; consider the channel’s airing of The Kalb Report; not only must the station delay the broadcast an hour (I’d frankly prefer this program to be live, but I can certainly understand why the delay), but there’s simply no good way to advertise it, other than on-air. That’s fine, but as someone who daily listens to The Bob Edwards Show and Here and Now (sorry, I cannot stand Tom Ashbrook, so I only listen to On Point when he’s away and a replacement host’s guests can get a word in edgewise, and there are few programs over the weekend I’m interested in hearing…and even those few I record on the XM2Go and listen later in the week), there have been times I haven’t heard any announcements for the show.

Other specials fair even worse; there are occasionally special programs I’ve accidentally stumbled over over the weekends where there have been no mention whatsoever that anyone I’ve talked to has heard. The painful truth is, if you don’t tell people a program is going to air, no one is going to listen to it.

The XMPR-produced programs are vanishing, too. XM Nation, a program that started with considerable promise when the channel began back in fall of 2004, is gone; in its place is On the Media Blame the Media, an interesting program buried on Saturday night (with the Sunday morning reair eliminated, but more on that in a sec). From the Nation’s Capital still airs, although along with On the Media Blame the Media these are co-productions, not programs produced completely in-house. Only The Bob Edwards Show is handled completely within the building, and that isn’t under the direct control of XMPR - think of it as an in-house-produced program that syndicates itself to XMPR.

And the schedule hasn’t changed much since the premier of the channel. My gut tells me this isn’t because they have a schedule that works for the listener, but rather they’re stuck by circumstances. One of the “major” changes was the removal of the daily air of Whaddya Know, which certainly played itself out (I used to enjoy listening to this program over the weekend, but I got so weary of it every weekday afternoon that I ended up avoiding it over the weekends as well), but it was replaced by…yet-another-reair of This American Life, a program that played itself out even before Whaddya Know did. It may be popular, but it sure as hell ain’t worth three rerun hours a day every weekday.

They are short on hard-news programs; when the CBC went exclusive on Sirius, the channel lost As It Happens to eventually replace it with the audio feed of television’s The News Hour. Here and Now is still the best mid-day news magazine on public radio (one that should be rebroadcast instead of the five hours of On Point), but it isn’t enough…and it is frankly annoying to me that (because of the difference between the NPR and BBC clock) there is no news broadcast during this program. (I am convinced this is doable, but would be a major, royal pain-in-the-rear to accomplish. I accept that it’s easier to go the Writer’s Almanac route, but I don’t have to like it.)

And even the precious little new programming that shows up doesn’t make any sense. The newest program, one that took the place of the Sunday morning rebroadcast of Planetary Radio/On the Media Blame the Media is a shoutfest called Left Jab. It is bewildering to me why an XM Extreme reject would move to XMPR…I mean, certainly there’s a place for loudmouthed “shout radio,” but it ain’t on this channel. Of course, the first thing the “broadcasters” on this program do on their first “official” program is insult the XMPR listeners, confuse NPR with public radio, and basically suggest that XMPR listeners should stop wasting time with all that intelligent talk radio and start listening to this drivel. No thanks, kids…if I wanted to listen to wannabe frat boys confusing volume for intelligence, I’d tune to XM Extreme. (Apparently XMPR is even rebroadcasting this painful show early Monday mornings; although it isn’t listed on the PDF-format schedule on the always-out-of-date website, the PAD data on my radio now shows it airing as I type this…no, I’ve had the sound muted for hours now so I haven’t had to actually suffer through listening to it.)

I’m coming to the conclusion that the operation of XMPR is becoming a bit…stale. It could be that everyone involved is tired of spending a lot of time on it (for various reasons, I can understand how that could happen) and is simply allowing things to run along by inertia until next year, when National Pretentious Radio’s exclusive contract with Sirius is over. You can bet that somewhere within the bowels of XM, someone is already in discussions with NPR.

Of course, if this is the case, it misses the entire point of the existing XMPR; a quality alternative to the dictates of NPR executives (anyone remember NPR convincing WBUR to yank The Connection to replace it with the interruptive style of Ashbrook’s On Point - and oh, yes, once we do that we’ll co-produce the show so we can have a bite of the syndication monies?). I would like to see more non-NPR news and information programming, not less…and I’d like to see it turn a profit, too.

I don’t have the answers, just pointing out the problems. I do think it’s possible that bringing on-board someone who’s worked extensively in public radio would probably be a good idea, but it would have to be someone who has no allegiance to NPR, someone interested in creating a viable national alternative. This person would have to be able to draw in the “public radio listener” by knowing what shows do (and especially which do not) “fit” the public radio model. Someone not afraid to sell more commercial time (before you faint from the shock, chill already - every public radio station in the country is selling commercials in the form of “underwriting announcements,” but XMPR can be honest and call them commercials since it’s for-profit) to national companies, filling as much of the break time as possible with paid messages…the more money coming in, the more XM will be willing to spend to acquire or produce programming.

Admittedly, this isn’t going to solve everything - the website will never be a promotional tool for the channel until the corporate mindset changes (for a technology company, the executives at XM are surprisingly clueless on how to use the technology of the Web to their advantage; Flash nonsense does not a website make), but perhaps some “fresh blood,” with a track record in public radio, might infuse a bit of excitement to XMPR, while bringing in more “public radio listeners.”