Pacific Time expiring

This SF Chronicle article noted the demise of this NPR-ish radio institution:

KQED has canceled “Pacific Time,” the only nationally syndicated public radio program about Asian American affairs. The last installment of the 7-year-old program, which reached about 160,000 listeners weekly on 19 stations, is set to air Oct. 11.

Tragic that the “market” doesn’t support this kind of media coverage, as we suffer under stereotypes. So by our collective lack of interest, ignorance about Asia and Asian Americans will only perpetuate. Who knows how long the KQED Pacific Time audio archive will be available for listening.

And, note this statement from the Asian American Journalists Association: “Pacific Time” Ends — AAJA Issues Statement ::

The Asian American Journalists Association received news on Friday that KQED in San Francisco will be discontinuing its nationally syndicated public radio program, “Pacific Time.” The final show will air Oct. 11.

The weekly half-hour program — developed to provide news about Asia, Asian American communities and connections across the Pacific Ocean — first aired in 2000. MORE about the popular radio program.

AAJA issued the following statement yesterday:

“Pacific Time has allowed people to learn about the many issues related to Asia and Asian American communities. The producers, hosts and reporters consistently pulled together programming that was extraordinary in terms of variety and depth. This is a tremendous loss of a resource for the public. We hope that news media across the country can make up for the loss by examining what Pacific Time did so well and incorporating news stories that promote understanding between cultures and countries.” …

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12 Responses

  1. Reyes-Chow says:

    Yes, very sad to hear this news, but not unexpected. I think there needs to be a new generation, dare I say, Emergent, generation of journalists that will continue to foundational work of Pacific Time.

  2. Nina Thorsen says:

    As the producer and director of Pacific Time since we went on the air in November 2000, I want to thank you for these kind words. All of us on the production staff are honored by the response we’ve had from so many listeners, and we are so sorry that we were not able to continue the show. We have been assured, though, that the audio archives will be available permanently on KQED’s servers.