I guess it's the law, you just have to have aging pop artists be the big draw on ratings week. To…read moreavoid long gaps watching PBS, especially during ratings week, they must be watched more than once or you're out of luck if you're chasing relatively commercial-free TV (their biggest asset). I speak for poor people on the prairie, trapped in double-wides and small homes, sucking the signal out of remote desert air. They may indeed, in their modesty, thrive on those excellent dramas from the BBC (although less "murder" please). Some of us are just tired of old pop artists milking baby-boomers. But AZPM--you're doing so much right too--just not all the time when you could be. Question: Why is Channel 6.3 going to waste on trivia most of the time during prime time? People want to be entertained, not learn to paint, while the rest of us crawl up the walls looking for something to seriously engage us in stressful times. Another question: Why do you think that on specific evenings your whole audience suddenly shifts to wanting to see only serious themes and documentaries? What's this rigid fixation with super-serious Monday's and Tuesdays when you air nothing but further depressing subjects (in addition to everyday life). We have the internet for all that. People need an alternative to the dull documentaries of limited interest on Monday's and Tuesdays.* It would help to spread them out. You may be underestimating Americans desire to escape (both ads and politics) for the pleasure of say, 800 Words, on a Monday or Tuesday after their grueling, stormy Monday hustling a living. A lot of folks kick back on weekday nights and are just tired of Antiques Roadshow and genealogy shows about the same old celebrities. *Note: The above paragraph does not include shows about animals and nature, history, or documentaries about time-critical issues of crushing importance like PBS's recent documentary on plastics pollution. Now if Gloria Lucas had a clue how to pick a Saturday night film that wasn't a cliché of the Sixties or Seventies, or one that hadn't already been seen by just about everybody over 12--Wow--that would be Nirvana and I would want to donate much more. You're just alienating the part of the audience that thrives and wants intelligent drama. Shows like Doc Martin and Grantchester, which you recently arbitrarily pulled. And "Midwives?" Again? Bad, bad choice for your rating's week alternative programming, and why I decided to write today. Have seen it over and over already, and I'm male too. On a positive note, bravo for airing BBC, because as you must agree, American production values, themes and styles are clichéd and trapped in a Hollywood bubble. They pale next to what the BBC creates. American TV--most all of it, across the board, is just terrible. Thanks for trying to free us of it. Lastly... AZPM, just try, try, try? to put more shows on about real people and positive themes. This "murder" fixation is another liability. Too, too many shows on solving murders. I'm regularly mystified by AZPM's program manager's failure to be practical and balanced in deciding which programs to air and when. I hope you're not losing me. I'm really only here to help.

Arizona Public Media is a station in Tucson, but it's hardly a station of Tucson…read more Unlike public media stations in other cities, AZPM can boast virtually no locally produced programming. We need not compare ourselves just to comparably-sized cities--the 2,000 residents of Marfa, Texas crush us with the original content coming out of their tiny radio station. That station, like so many other public stations, is a treasure that serves its community. But here in Tucson, AZPM's local news coverage, if one can call it that, consists of a few shallow, taped phone calls and material recycled from the Associated Press. In over a decade of listening, I've never heard our station break a story or cover unfolding news in a timely manner. Why isn't there a block of local news and cultural content every day? Why isn't there a podcast to bring all of that material together and make it something we might actually hear? Their cultural TV programming is infrequent enough that you forget it exists and their online video presence is barely present. The television side has shown glimmers of life recently, but most of it seems like a rehash of the insipid tourist-fodder you'd expect from Arizona Highways or Sunset. There is essentially no local cultural radio, unless you consider the gruesomely boring and irrelevant Arizona Spotlight "programming." I consider it a failure of editorial judgment. Arizona Public Media is somewhat redeemed by the national programs it syndicates but, even there, it is timid and late to broadcast new shows. Instead, they run jazz all night, which, for most people, is no different than going off the air. Public media is an awesome thing, but Tucson could do so much better.