Jason Haap, "The Dean of Cincinnati"

Last week, Explore Cincinnati played back the debate between Jason Haap and John Schneider on the topic of the Cincinnati Streetcar proposal.  Both I and my guest Jake Mecklenborg added in our own comments as well.

Mr. Haap, who is the publisher of the Cincinnati Beacon and goes by the pen name “The Dean of Cincinnati,” has responded critically to our coverage of the debate.  He has published an article titled “Bearcat Radio Bias! The Streetcar Debate.”  (Incidentally, the name of the station is actually Bearcast Radio.)

We invite you to read Haap’s comments and then listen to the show this week, when we will respond to his points.

Update (2/16/09): Haap says that he intends to publish a list of questions that he wants us to respond to on this week’s show.  I will certainly respond to some of these, but I want to mostly focus on the accusations that my show is biased and unprofessional.  Our show’s slogain is “covering everything going on to make Cincinnati an even better place to live,” and we discuss the Streetcar project because we believe it will do exactly that.  Of course we add our own opinions into the show.  No one ever claimed that this show was “the news,” except for several former UC radio alumni who have decided to waste their time bashing UC’s current radio station.  All of this being said, I plan to have guests with a variety of opinions on my show, including some who are anti-Streetcar.

You can listen via our podcast, or listen below in your browser.

Thanks to Zach Mueller for his help in recording yesterday’s debate!

Season 1, Episode 5 of Explore Cincinnati for February 13, 2009:

(Please subscribe to the podcast or visit ExploreCincinnati.com to play this audio file.)

We also filmed the debate and will be posting the video version online early next week.  I’d like to thank Zach Mueller, Aleksandar Jovic, Kevin Bush, and Phillip Royal for helping with the recording/filming process.