It's Takeaway vs. Morning Edition in Minneapolis

On community station KFAI-FM in Minneapolis, The Takeaway, the live drivetime news show from Public Radio International that launched in April 2008, will go head-to-head with the powerhouse Morning Edition from 5 to 8 a.m. starting June 30, writes David Brauer, MinnPost's media reporter. He says The Takeaway "is like Morning Edition in a hoodie: more casual, younger-skewing, and international, but hardly the rush to the barricades" that Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! provides. (Democracy Now! will follow The Takeaway at 8.) KFAI, feeling pressure to draw a larger audience and maintain its CPB grant, is moving music to make room for news. Blanche Sibley's Friday Fubar Omniverse is one local show being shunted from morning drive to the 10 a.m.-noon slot. She told Brauer: “You take 15 hours away from community listenership. PRI has been pushing The Takeaway for two and a half years. Why should we whore ourselves out like that? We should have a pledge drive to dump the CPB.”