N.O.P.E. to NitWTTWits

When I was a youngster, some friends organized a informal protest against some of their alma matter's policies. They were the N.O.P.E. Club -- Not One Penny Ever.

They held no meetings and they collected no dues. They just responded to every single solicitation from their university with, "N.O.P.E. -- Not One Penny Ever because of [whatever their complaint was]."

I have no idea if their protest was as effective as it was simple, but it popped into my mind after reading the stories in Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times reporting that WTTW-Ch. 11 is adding commentaries by Mancow -- Mancow! -- to its flagship program, "Chicago Tonight."

I am curious about the financial considerations behind this decision.

Certainly the brahmins at Channel 11 knew that there would be many WTTW members who will spontaneously form autonomous WTTW N.O.P.E. clubs and refuse to contribute any more money to the station on the off chance that their dollar would help finance the broadcast of :::shudder::: Mancow.

But how does WTTW intend to recoup that lost revenue?

With Mancow listeners? Doesn't anyone at Channel 11 understand the nature of Mancow's fan base? I find it unlikely that people who cannot afford $12.95/month to subscribe to Howard Stern's satelite radio will spend their limited income on joining their local Public Television station.

WTTW-Ch. 11 would be better served catering to the tastes of those who watch Frontline documentaries rather than those who are the subjects of Frontline documentaries.

Update: Boing-Boing has another incident in the decline of public television.