Media

Wait, Wait . . . Don't Sell Us Out: Ypsilanti Radio Station vs. NPR Show

October 03, 2015, 12:26 PM by  Alan Stamm

Public spats are rare in the usually decorous world of public radio, but a fresh one erupts in Ypsilanti.

That city's NPR affiliate, university-sponsored WEMU, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a series of fund-raising events -- including a Thursday night taping of "Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!," a one-hour current events quiz program airing nationally each Saturday morning.

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After rejecting two EMU campus sites for size reasons, the Chicago-based producers chose Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor for the taping in front of a full house. 

What happened next makes the local station "embarrassed and disappointed," Ben Freed reports for MLive:

The Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me host and panelists wore University of Michigan hats and interviewed U-M lecturer and author John U. Bacon about the school's football team.

"We were shocked and surprised that the program centered so heavily on the University of Michigan," station general manager Molly Motherwell said in a public statement. "It was not our intent."

Her reaction (below) is on WEMU's website. Three hours after a link went on its Facebook page Friday afternoon, the show responded at its newsfeed with a photo of the packed auditorium's main floor and two balconies. "A huge thanks, and a happy 50th anniversary, to WEMU, who made our show in Ann Arbor this week such a success," it says. "Look at this place!"

Ypsilanti resident Genevieve Boss calls out the show in a pointed comment on its social media page:

Too bad you couldn't record in Ypsilanti, where WEMU is located. Or talk about Ypsilanti, instead of Ann Arbor.

It's a shame that once again, the deuce has overshadowed Ypsilanti. If it hadn't been our station's 50th anniversary, maybe it wouldn't be such a slight, but Ann Arbor and Ypsi are not the same. You should have at least tried to feature the city WEMU is in and that has supported it for those fifty years.

Mark Maynard, also of Ypsilanti, blogs about the rift under the headline: "Wait, Wait, Take Our Money and Ignore Us." He qoutes a pre-show release from WEMU with examples of its past support for the program.

Apparently that history doesn’t mean as much to [host Peter] ​Sagal and his staff now that they’re big enough to fill venues in Ann Arbor.


Friday's statement from WEMU's "extremely disappointed" general manager. (Image from MarkMaynard.com)


Read more:  MLive


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