More than 300 of you responded, and many of you left detailed comments about the things you love, the things you don't and what you wish we offered.
We weren't surprised to see programs like "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" and "This American Life" atop the list of your favorite shows. You also had a lot of love for "1A," "BBC News Hour," and "Weekend All Things Considered," which airs Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m.
We also heard a lot of support for shows like "Living on Earth," "Left, Right and Center," and "On the Media."
Music after the news?
We told you we were hoping to add some music programming throughout the evening hours, all week long.
That drew some mixed reactions.
Some of you said it would be a welcome break from the news. Others said we should stick to just the news.
Select comments:
- "I do enjoy the Saturday evening music-oriented shows - they take me places I wouldn't necessarily choose to go but find interesting and sometimes give me a new artist/genre to play on Pandora. This line-up is a good break for a news junkie."
- "Not a fan of adding music programs. The classical station serves that purpose."
- "I drive a lot in the late morning, mid-day and early evening. I check to listen to you first, then keep scrolling if it is a form of political talk show. I'd rather have music or true news reporting."
Other thoughts
A lot of you expressed concern about the uncertainty of federal funding. Learn more about what that would mean for IPR.
The idea of changing our programming schedule was born last year, before federal support of public broadcasting was in serious question. It's possible these changes will save us some money, but the impetus has more to do with audience experience.
Some more of your thoughts:
- "I like the idea of more local voices as long as they do not diminish the national news. You are right; news fatigue is real. However, this is not the time to go 'light' on the news."
- "I love the locally produced in depth programs, especially the programs related to our environment. I hope that Stateside will continue on a daily basis."
- "The long list of varied programs you asked us to choose from is IPR's great strength."
And of course, we received a lot of comments about bias in the news. Some of you felt that IPR and NPR are the only places you feel you can go for independent and rigorous journalism. Others said that public media has become too left-leaning.
There's a conversation to be had there and probably one that requires more nuance than this web post. In the IPR newsroom, we see our mission as producing fact-based, independent journalism reported without fear or favor, and in a way that adds value to our community. We shorthand that as "add light, not heat."
What now?
We have some decisions to make. We'll have more to share with you soon about that.
What programs we keep, add or drop will rely on a combination of factors — your opinions, how we feel the program adds to the overall lineup, the service we think it provides to the listener and, yes, cost.
As I said in our most May 10 newsletter (sign up here!), the foundation of all of this is knowing how we can best serve you, and to that end, this survey was enormously helpful.
If you weighed in, thank you so very much. And thanks, as always, for listening.
