WYPR delays pledge drive start for Steiner show replacement

By Chris Kaltenbach | sun Reporter

February 12, 2008

Andy Bienstock, vice president and program director at WYPR-FM, says the station wants listeners to have a chance to hear new show. (Sun photo by Amy Davis / February 17, 2006)

Baltimore public radio station WYPR-FM has canceled its scheduled pledge drive this month, more than a week after its decision to fire veteran talk-show host Marc Steiner drew anger from fans of the show.

Andy Bienstock, station vice president and program director, said yesterday the station will hold a combined winter and spring 2008 fund drive in April. Station management didn't want to hold a drive until a replacement for The Marc Steiner Show was in place, he said.

"It's not fair to ask people to contribute without their hearing what we are going to do," Bienstock said. "We want our new show to have been on the air for a couple of months first."

Steiner, who was instrumental in raising money to purchase the station when the Johns Hopkins University was looking to sell what was then WJHU-FM in 2001, wasn't surprised by the move.

"Clearly it's because the public response to canceling the show has been overwhelming and they're afraid to have a fundraiser," he said.

Since Steiner was fired Feb. 1 after nearly 15 years on the station and WJHU, outcry over the decision has continued in letters to newspapers, on radio, blogs and elsewhere. Some critics have threatened to stop listening or pull their financial support for the station.

WYPR President and General Manager Anthony S. Brandon addressed that concern in a posting on the station's Web site, urging displeased listeners to reconsider.

"If you are thinking of switching the dial because of this decision, please stop to consider how much Baltimore and Maryland need the spirit of involvement, education and community embodied in public radio," Brandon wrote.

Details of the station's planned replacement for Steiner's show, which aired from noon to 2 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, will be released later this week, Bienstock said. The show will have a single host, and will be on the air by the end of the month, he said.

chris.kaltenbach@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Jill Rosen contributed to this article.

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