After airing just three programs in the new 2001-2002 season, WYSU has abruptly cancelled “Commentary Cafe.”
The program, which ran for six years on Youngstown State University’s public radio station, was hosted by Robert Fitzer and Dr. William Binning, chairman of YSU’s political science department.
In August, co-host Fitzer made the news and became a staple of talk radio when he was seen observing – with binoculars and notepad – the participants of a monthly “Cafaro Roundtable” meeting.
Despite the ensuing publicity that Fitzer and the program received, WYSU Director Gary Sexton attributed the show’s cancellation to the September terrorist attacks on the United States. Sexton added that other local programming was cut, including “Focus,” a public affairs program, and “Bookworm,” a show that discussed works of literature.
“After Sept. 11, the whole world changed,” Sexton said. “At that point, we added news coverage [by the BBC] to the 7 p.m. hour.” Sexton, though, did confirm that WYSU had received “one or two complaints” about “Commentary Cafe,” but added: “I’m not willing to say who they were.”
In a late October phone interview with The Metro Monthly, YSU President Dr. David Sweet indicated that his office had received calls “by a number of people” – for and against the program – which prompted him to request that WYSU “take a look at it.”
Still, WYSU management has attributed the program’s cancellation to the recent “addition of news and information programming” in the 7 p.m. hour.
Prior to cancellation, Binning and Fitzer both received letters from WYSU regarding the future of the program. Binning said that a first letter indicated the need to pull “Commentary Cafe” from WYSU’s schedule due to the station’s expanded news coverage following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
A second correspondence, which Binning called “more formal, more notelike,” indicated that the program had been cancelled.
Around the same time, Dr. Sherry Lee Linkon, co-host of “Focus,” received word that her public affairs program was being “put on hold.” But she said that she and co-hosts Dr. Dale Harrison, Dr. Victor Wan-Tatah and David Vosburgh were “still taping the program with the expectation that they [WYSU] will run it at a later date.” Later came sooner for “Focus,” though. According to WYSU’s November program grid, “Focus” now airs at 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays.
“It [“Commentary Cafe] was a great show in the early years,” said Binning, avoiding on-the-record commentary about the controversy surrounding the program in recent months.
“A lot of the political crowd listened for a while,” Binning added. “We filled a niche in the market.”
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