Let the Pubradio Deathwatch Commence

Good grief. The number of public radio shows that either are rumored to be ending, or have confirmed their ending, is getting ridiculous! Let's do the list, shall we?

• Radio Open Source (already well gone, albeit "reborn" as a podcast-only)
  
• Justice Talking (confirmed)
• Fair Game with Faith Salie (already gone)
  
• Word for Word (confirmed)
  
• The Bryant Park Project (confirmed)
  
• The Infinite Mind (rumored at KSKA's "Off-Mic" blog)
• Chicago Public Radio's Hello Beautiful and Right Now (confirmed)
• Free Speech Radio News (I know, not gone...but in dire fiscal straits)
• The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (also not gone, but also fiscally hurting)

Guess that lousy economy is really catching up with public radio. Or is it? In some cases I think that's true, but I also suspect that some of these shows did an excellent job finding a niche and serving it when they started some ten years ago, but they never figured out how to adapt when that niche didn't really need them anymore. Others were just good ideas that weren't given the admittedly long time it would take to really get enough affiliates to be worth it...although I don't deny that it's hard to keep spending millions on a show that only has a few dozen affiliates.

I don't really know for sure, but this is a mighty disturbing trend regardless. I especially find it troublesome that several of the most "unconventional" and "experimental" shows are the ones getting killed off. Granted, "experimental" by definition means you're not sure it's going to work...but I really think that most of these "experimental" shows should have worked but either weren't given the chance or were set up to fail.