WLRN has cancelled Sundial, replacing it with an extra hour of Here & Now. Here & Now is a news program produced by WBUR in Boston, Sundial was a lively and wide-ranging arts & cultural program specific to South Florida. Host Carlos Frias, an excellent writer who had been the food writer for the Miami Herald, proved himself to be a gifted interviewer, bringing a joy and an energy to the show that is rare in public radio. He had as guests people as diverse as film connoisseur Rene Rodriguez, Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill, and the Finnish housecleaner and YouTube sensation Auri Katarina. (Carlos’s interview with Katarina was hilarious, the two of them working in sync like a brilliant comedy team.)
“Keep it local” used to be the media’s mantra. Now, it seems, it’s “keep it cheap.” That would seem to be the only explanation for WLRN’s detrimental actions. Management may argue that these are critical times, and people need to be informed. But they also need to be entertained and enlightened – particularly during anxious times – and nobody entertains and enlightens better than those from the creative realms.
