Dear GCR Listeners and Partner Stations:
This seems to be a monthly routine. Once again it is necessary to make some alternations to the schedules of both GCR1 and GCR2.
Several changes to GCR1:
We are dropping Liberation Radio, as, it seems that they are not maintaining a regular weekly production schedule as was previously hoped. We are implementing a new stricter policy at GCR when it comes to programmers not supplying us with new shows in a timely manner, and on a consistent schedule. Instead, we are adding the weekly broadcast from Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) which will now air Mondays at 10 AM Eastern.
In keeping with this new policy, we're dropping This Week in Radio News from our Sunday night media block, as we haven't seen any new shows posted to their website in over a month! Sorry, guys! We're adding the weekly 15 minute audio bulletin from the American Radio Relay League, ARRL Audio News, which will offer reporting on some of the latest developments within the Amateur Radio Community. This airs Sundays at 10:30 PM Eastern. Immediately following at 10:45 Eastern, it's Skeptoid, hosted by Brian Dunning. This weekly podcast discusses popular myths and conspiracy theories, and offers strong evidence and facts which help to debunk said myths and conspiracies. This was a popular feature on the now defunct Skeptical Sunday program, and we are pleased to bring it back to the GCR schedule!
Earlier on Sunday evenings on GCR1, we are adding two new short features to our block of arts oriented programming, both hosted by Kristin Dreyer Kramer. At 6:55 PM Eastern, following Filmspotting, you can hear her weekly film reviews on Reel Discovery. One hour later, at 7:55 following Arts Express, hear her weekly review of books called Shelf Discovery.
On GCR2, we regret that we are dropping the two syndicated shows hosted by Bob Francis. Rocketman Roberts Classic Radio Show, and Vintage Gold Classics. This has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of these two shows. Unfortunately, serious concerns have arisen lately about the commercials for businesses such as GoDaddy.com, which are contained within these programs. These commercials DO NOT qualify as underwriting under the FCC's current guidelines. If we were solely an internet webcast still, there would be no issues, as we could run full blown commercials whether we were receiving payment for them or not. However, as GCR has evolved into a program service designed specifically for rebroadcast by non-commercial terrestrial broadcasters primarily based here in the US, we need to follow FCC guidelines concerning non-commercial radio to the letter of the law, whether we agree with those rules or not. So, Bob and I mutually agreed to suspend his programs from GCR for the moment. Bob has said that he may make these shows available as commercial free offerings, but, there will be a per station fee attached to carry the shows. Right now, none of our partner stations are carrying GCR2 late on Saturday afternoons when these shows would air. If, at some point, one of our current partner stations, or a new partner station, begins carrying GCR2 during these hours, and, if the stations would like to have these shows reinstated on the schedule, then we will consider purchasing these programs from Bob Francis. Watch this space for further developments.
In the meantime, we are adding The Pirate Years, another great offering from Paul Peters out of the UK, and, Saving the 70s, a program produced and hosted by Mike Walker. We hope everyone will enjoy these new shows which will air Saturdays between 4 and 6 PM Eastern.
Also, we may need to make changes to our overnight programming soon, as we received word from one of our hosts that they may soon need to cut back their production output due to a change in their personal and financial circumstances. Again, I must remind you all that most of our hosts are volunteers who do their radio shows as a true labor of love. As such, it often becomes necessary to make changes to or even cancel a radio show if drastic changes occur in their personal or professional lives. We at GCR understand this, we hope our listeners and partner stations do, too.
As always, thank you for your continued support of GCR. And, again, as always, we'll do our best to continue to bring you the finest commercial free programming from around the world.
Kind regards,
Jason Longwell
GCR Station Manager
