PHONE-INS ARE CONFIRMING REHNQUIST COVERAGE ON NPR
Two Los Angeles public radio stations have been preempting regular programming this week for gavel-to-gavel coverage of Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist’s Senate hearings for confirmation as the nation’s next Chief Justice.
Management at KPCC-FM (89.3) and KPFK-FM (90.7) decided when the hearings began Wednesday to broadcast them uninterrupted and in their entirety.
“We’ve been carrying them all week and, up until today, I hadn’t heard any response one way or the other from our listeners,” KPCC engineer Doug Johnson said on Friday.
But the hearings--zeroing in on Rehnquist’s views on race relations--caught on by week’s end, Johnson said. By Friday, the National Public Radio satellite “feeds” that the station has been carrying began drawing call-in praise from listeners.
The station airs them live, beginning as early as 5 a.m. here. NPR congressional correspondent Cokie Roberts interjects explanatory commentary from time to time during the broadcast, he said.
The hearings are expected to resume Monday.
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