Hooked on the junk

I can't stop listening to BBC Radio online. It's not just the Anglophile thing, either, although being Irish, that is a can of worms better left unopened...the fact is that the programming is ridiculously good and it's weirding me out. My shriveled libertarian heart cannot handle the cognitive dissonance. I live in a country that is advertised (mostly by us) to be the epicenter of market-based experience. Economics is judgment-free and supports whatever is accepted by the greatest number of individuals making individual decisions. So if people want drivel, we provide it. *cough! Baywatch! cough!*

So what is with the Beeb? The government controls/has a hand in all the major media outlets, and they are spoiled for choice. You can hear any type of program you want on the BBC. When I listen to the radio here, I hear almost the same content on every station. It's inexplicable, right? What if it isn't? What if the basis of most of my beliefs (the Invisible Hand etc) is wrong?

The flip side of relying on the market to make all decisions is the danger of letting the middle always win. If you are required to appeal to the broadest number of people you are also required to cut any content that may appeal to either side of the bell curve. The BBC is not bound by such constraints, and is therefore free to produce specialized programming appealing to only 10% of their audience. Craziness. Counter-intuitive.