THE PETER PRINCIPLE IN ACTION posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 16th 2009 at 7:34

As of today, I am officially Arizona Public Media’s Classical Music Director. That means I’m basically getting a title, an office and a raise for doing just a little more than the work I’ve been doing for the past several months ...

IS IT LIVE OR IS IT MEMOREX? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 30th 2009 at 8:12

The main reason I’ve hardly been blogging during the past few months is that I’m just too busy with other duties around here. At the beginning of summer, Arizona Public Media—suffering from the same budget crunch as the rest of the University of Arizona—had to lay off a few employees, including KUAT-FM’s afternoon announcer and its music director. Since the goal was to save money, those people’s work had to be taken on by employees who were already salaried, meaning, primarily, Bill Luckhardt and me ...

FTC BACKPEDALS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 20th 2009 at 8:37

In other news, the Federal Trade Commission is now telling book bloggers (and presumably CD reviewers) not to worry about its new rules on freebies and disclosure. It would be nice if the agency could get its story straight.

SECRETS FROM MEMBERSHIP CENTRAL posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 20th 2009 at 8:36

As you surely know by now, we’ve thrown ourselves into our autumn membership campaign. Coincidentally, last week Slate repeated an article in which June Thomas, after listening to campaigns on her New York City station, explained public radio's 10 most effective fundraising strategies. Read the article, listen to what we do, compare and contrast. And don’t forget to pledge.

BEYOND PREACHING TO THE CHOIR posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 9:13

We had a staff meeting yesterday at which senior staffers outlined Arizona Public Media’s growing use of social networking media. It’s great that we’re going to make a bigger push with Twitter and blogging and Facebook and such, but I’m not sure that some of us completely understand its potential ...

I HAVE RETURNED AGAIN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 8th 2009 at 8:03

A long, long time ago I announced that I’d soon be resuming blogging. Obviously, I was being too optimistic ...

NO TORTURE AT NPR posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 7:56

Alicia Shepard, National Public Radio’s apologist—er, ombudsman—wrote a column defending the news operation’s cowardly refusal to apply the word “torture” to the much-reviled interrogation practices authorized by the Bush administration. Salon.com contributor Glenn Greenwald wrote a column denouncing the NPR practice and Shepard’s defense of it, then invited her for an interview in which she could explain her position and NPR’s. Shepard cowers behind her desk, and refuses to participate in an interview—which is what usually happens when someone knows her position is indefensible. NPR continues to look like just another neocon mouthpiece, like most of the rest of the mainstream media, including the Washington Post and New York Times, let alone the usual suspects like the Wall Street Journal. The notion that NPR has a liberal bias is simply false, and this is further evidence. Start reading here, and follow the links.

CELEBRATING THE WHITEBOARD posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, April 10th 2009 at 8:01

Now that we have the Marketplace Whiteboards online (left side of KUAZ page), it's time to take a look back.

PLEDGE TO NPR? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, March 30th 2009 at 7:24

Just as our week-long membership drive gets underway at KUAT-FM, we get news that we may have future fundraising competition from NPR ...

CALL LETTER CONFUSION AND MORE posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Monday, March 30th 2009 at 7:20

This is an interesting week at Arizona Public Media, so don't be alarmed if you're listening to one of our radio stations and accidentally hear it identified as the other. Also, some of you may unexpectedly be saying goodbye to Channel 6 this week, if you've been ignoring the warnings. Now, on to the explanations...

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, March 24th 2009 at 8:31

The Washington Post reports good news about National Public Radio’s growing audience, but bad news about its dwindling budget ...

DIRTY FINGERS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, March 19th 2009 at 8:03

My Arizona Public Media colleague Robert Rappaport, one of the few people I know who still dirties his hands with newspapers instead of just browsing news Web sites, has an amusing blog entry showing how desperate the Arizona Daily Star is to get its product into the hands of people like Robert. But aren’t house ads that promote the newspaper merely preaching to the converted?

Meanwhile, National Public Radio personnel will no longer sully their fingers with other news organizations’ ink ...

SECRETS OF RADIO FUNDRAISING posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, March 2nd 2009 at 8:54

What are the secret strategies we use in public radio to get you to part with your hard-earned cash? Listener June Thomas has figured out a lot just by listening to pledge breaks, and she fills you in with this analysis published by Slate.

TIMES ARE REALLY TOUGH! posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, February 6th 2009 at 6:20

One thing I've learned in this business is to never "rip and read" wire service copy and trust it to be perfect. Case in point....

VIDEOS FOR THE WEB posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 7:03

NPR had an interesting report Tuesday discussing the changing face of music videos, now geared for YouTube and small screens.

FACEBOOK? NO WAY posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Tuesday, January 13th 2009 at 6:36

I created a Facebook page to allow for better interaction beyond this blog, but I deleted it already. Here’s why...

CANCEL THE RESURRECTION posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, January 12th 2009 at 11:35

Here’s an interesting development: Tonight’s New York Philharmonic broadcast will feature the orchestra’s New Year’s Eve pops program, rather than the scheduled performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony under the baton of Mahler fanatic Gilbert Kaplan, the well-heeled musical amateur obsessed with Mahler’s second symphony, and a man who has bought his way onto the podiums of most of the world’s leading orchestras. Kaplan has even recorded the work twice, once for Deutsche Grammophon. Kaplan’s recent NYP performance got the customary respectful reviews, but some musicians in the orchestra thought the performance was a tragedy, and the griping, including a blog by a trombonist, got significant coverage last month. I wonder if the negative publicity led the Philharmonic’s management to pull the concert off the broadcast schedule?

BOOK 'EM posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, January 9th 2009 at 8:05

As Robert Rappaport has already blogged, the Arizona Public Media site has a new book and author feature up, and you can find it here. Look down on the bottom left of the page, and you’ll find an audio feature that I did last October, an interview with Jennifer Lee Carrell about her Shakespeare-saturated mystery novel Interred with Their Bones. By the way, I also reviewed the book for the Tucson Weekly.

MARKETPLACE WHITEBOARD posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, December 5th 2008 at 6:31

One of my favorite shows on KUAZ is Marketplace, which often makes difficult financial things easy to understand. Case in point...

HIGH-TECH GOES LOW-TECH posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Wednesday, December 3rd 2008 at 7:13

The promotional machine is gearing up here at AZPM to tout a new iPhone and iPod Touch application that allows you to listen to KUAZ on your cell phone. This sounds familiar...

NPR REINVENTS ITSELF posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Monday, November 17th 2008 at 8:01

NPR once had the connotation of being a bit stodgy at times, but the network seems to understand the future of journalism is the present.

CENTRIST MEDIA posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 5th 2008 at 8:55

I haven't blogged in the past few days because the temptation has been too great to make some sort of political comment, and this is not a political blog ...

FUNDRAISING IS BACK posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, October 17th 2008 at 9:54

When you tune in to your favorite AZPM radio stations this week, you'll no doubt encounter pledge drives. For the first time, KUAZ and KUAT-FM are conducting simultaneous campaigns.

DEDICATION posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 16th 2008 at 7:36

Here's a radio newscaster who won't let anything stop the show ...

AN ACCOLADE posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, September 26th 2008 at 7:51

In case you missed it, KUAZ was once again named "Best Radio Station for News" by readers of the "Tucson Weekly."

PROGRAMMING CHANGES posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Wednesday, September 24th 2008 at 7:25

The KUAZ schedule will be modified Friday to allow for live coverage of the first presidential debate.

RADIO SHOW VIDEO ONLINE posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Monday, September 22nd 2008 at 7:21

If you were unable to attend last Friday's live edition of NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, you can catch a short video of it online.

NPR POLITICAL COVERAGE posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Monday, August 25th 2008 at 6:10

If you have any questions about how the presidential candidates sound on the radio, you might be interested in an email I received recently from NPR.

FOLLOWING UP YESTERDAY posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Wednesday, August 13th 2008 at 7:46

If you read yesterday's blog, the dust hasn't quite settled on the recent KUAZ programming change, so I'll throw you a bone.

THE NEW SHOW IS... posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Thursday, July 24th 2008 at 6:28

If you read yesterday's blog, I'm sure you're here today waiting for the name of the new addition to the KUAZ schedule August 4th. That show is...

NEW WEEKDAY SHOW COMING posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Wednesday, July 23rd 2008 at 8:10

Okay, it's not new, per se, but it's new to KUAZ. This particular show is quite popular on other NPR stations and it will debut locally August 4th.

I'M CONFUSED posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Wednesday, July 16th 2008 at 7:52

Did you ever notice that when an NPR host is not on the air, that host is "away?" What's up with that terminology?

A DAY WITHOUT E-MAIL posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Monday, July 14th 2008 at 7:59

Many people try to get away from it, but can't. However, when it's not your choice to be away from e-mail, it can be quite frustrating. Case in point...

WE'RE BACK! posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, July 11th 2008 at 8:23

An overnight power outage crippled Arizona Public Media, to a certain extent, but things are back to normal.

BIO FEEDBACK posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 8:13

My colleague Robert Rappaport blogs about his latest assignment, writing his own bio for our Web site ...

BIOS SCHMIOS posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 6:28

This website soon will have long-overdue bios about the on-air staff. For those of you who actually care what we look like and where we come from, you dreams will come true, but there is a caveat...

EAR TO THE BOOKS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, July 1st 2008 at 7:50

Daily newspapers have been reducing or eliminating their book-review sections during the past year or so (they've spent a decade trying to appeal to non-readers, so why waste space covering reading?), but NPR is expanding its book reporting, especially online.

END-OF-WEEK NOTES posted to Rappaport's Notebook

From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Friday, June 13th 2008 at 10:08

It was an interesting week here at Arizona Public Media. The blogs were launched, new ideas are in development and a certain staff member came back from vacation with a story of a random meeting.

SMILE posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, January 4th 2008 at 7:06

    Some of us in the radio biz already know this, but it comes as a surprise to a lot of people: You can actually hear a smile in someone’s voice. Now there’s a study to prove it. The conclusion, according to one of the researchers: “When we listen ...

UNDER WRAPS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 9th 2007 at 7:42

    National Public Radio is ashamed of classical music, its cultural mainstay since the network’s beginnings in the early 1970s. How can I say that? The classical presence is severely downplayed on the home page of the new NPR Music site. NPR describes this as “a free, multi-genre Web site ...

CELEBRITY UPDATE: ME posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 10th 2007 at 7:40

    In case you’re tired of reading the latest turn-of-the-screw stories about unfit actress moms and drunken TV-star drivers,, here’s a piece of my exciting life:
    Yesterday I stayed home, sickish. My wife transferred her cold to me, and on Monday I was afraid I’d be in for ...

HEARING AID posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, September 11th 2007 at 7:35

    We radio announcers can listen to ourselves any number of ways. Of course, there’s the old hand-cupped-to-the-ear technique made famous by Gary Owen (an actual DJ at the time) on Laugh-In back in the late 1960s. But we also have many technological options. Here in the KUAT-FM control room ...

PERILS OF THE CLEANSED COLON posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, July 25th 2007 at 7:48

    After reading yesterday’s confession by yours truly, another broadcaster—not one who works here—sent this message:

The first time I ever filled in for the afternoon shift at KBAQ, I had to juggle underwriting credits for both news and traffic. My first break involved a very funny aligning ...

CONFESSION posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, July 24th 2007 at 7:30

    Every time I read the underwriting credit that mentions "mobile phlebotomists," I have a barely suppressed urge to giggle. "Phlebotomists" is a funny word to begin with, and making them "mobile" is somehow hilarious. Beyond that, if you know what phlebotomy refers to, and you conceive of it as a ...

KUPBEAT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, July 11th 2007 at 7:58

    I just stumbled across something unexpected: Kupbeat, an archive of interviews conducted by Edward Kupperstein, KUAT's former radio boss and, before that, program director and, before that, music director. According to the home page, "KUPBEAT is a celebration of Edward Kupperstein's dedication to the the arts community in ...

BAG IT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, July 9th 2007 at 8:53

    Newsman Robert Rappaport and I both rolled our eyes at the funding credit for the 8:01 NPR news this morning: The NPR Shop is hawking the “Nina Totin’ Bag,” an accessory decorated with Warhol-style images of NPR legal-affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. I guess you can use it to carry ...

PAYDAZE posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, July 9th 2007 at 7:41

    I wasn’t aware of this until an unhappy colleague pointed it out, but the Arizona Daily Star’s Eric Swedlund has posted a searchable online database of the salaries of University of Arizona employees (and those at the other state universities). There’s a small uproar in the comments ...

I SEE THE LIGHT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, July 2nd 2007 at 9:27

    It’s a little disorienting, after two and a half years of leaving home at 4:30 a.m. to start my KUAT-FM shift at 5, to wake up an hour later, leave the house at 5:30 in actual daylight, and arrive by 6. This was my first day ...

TOM MACHAMER posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, June 26th 2007 at 7:14

    Back in the early 1980s, the local news didn’t have to wedge into little slots in Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as it does now. (KUAT-FM doesn’t carry those programs, but our local news is simulcast with KUAZ, which does.) Newscasts back then lasted a full 15 ...

THRIVING posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, June 6th 2007 at 6:55

    From the Washington Post:

    A bunch of European composers who haven't had a hit in decades have been very, very good to radio station WETA.
    Since dropping news and talk programming for classical music in January, the Arlington public station has seen its fortunes soar. Ratings have more than ...