Steve Tarter’s column in the Feb. 26 Journal Star was about a woman who was so upset that public radio station WBCU shifted from classical music with some news to all news all the time, she dashed to the phone to complain. Unfortunately, she fell and broke her hip in the process.

Which, I guess, makes a point about the benefit of changing formats. Tarter never mentioned the age of the woman, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and says that a woman who listens to a lot of classical music and broke her hip when she fell is probably  close to or past of retirement age.

This is not a coveted demographic, unless the station thinks it can convince home medical device companies to sponsor programming.

While public radio (and television for that matter) are officially not-for-profit, don’t for a moment think that free market forces do not apply. I’ve complained about past WCBU programming decisions that took news and information programs I liked off the air and replaced them with even more classical music. This time, the shoe is on other foot.

Frankly, the format change didn’t affect me in the least. I listen to radio via the Internet. I listen to WCBU and WGLT based on my mood. When I want local news I listen to the WCBU news feed. When I want music, a point the laptop to WGLT’s blues and jazz feeds.

But the change has been a blessing for my father. He used to listen to WMBD 1470, but often ended up screaming back at the likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Scott Robbins. He keeps it turned to WCBU and he can hear a variety of news programs that offer multiple sides of the issues.

Labor pains will give birfth to anti-Tea Party backlash

At this writing, members of the union representing workers at WEEK and WHOI are mulling over the final contract offer from Granite Broadcasting. The company is insisting on language giving it “flexibility” in job definitions. They used language like to this move move engineering jobs to Indiana. In the past, they moved weather reporting to Indiana. So, you understand they are a little hesitant to believe General Manager Mark DeSantis when he says they have no plans to move reporting jobs to Indiana (a practice the company does at stations larger that WEEK).

Over in Henry, 40 employees of Emerald Performance Materials were locked out after the voted to reject a contract that would give them a 30 percent wage cut.

And in Wisconsin and other states run by the Tea Party members who won in November, efforts are underway to trip unions of collective bargaining rights.

That large corporations will to anything to make sure workers get paid as little as possible is no surprise. And the conservative movement and organized labor have never gotten along. But the greatest conservative icon ever — Ronald Reagan — defended the right to collective bargaining as a basic human right.

The election results left the Tea Party feeling that it can do no wrong and that they ought  to pretty much be able to put their agenda in place by decree. I think they have vastly overestimated the degree to which voters agree with their agenda. General unhappiness with the economy generally leads to new people coming into office, regardless of ideology.

The hit-job they are doing on labor is going to backfire. And workers will start to see the value of being in a union .

Prediction: I have no inside knowledge, nor have I seen any poll. Look for at least three new members of the Peoria City Council after the election in April. They will be either C.J. Summers, Beth Akeson, former council member Chuck Grayeb or Chuck Weaver. Weaver has run probably the most issue-free, nonspecific campaign in history. He started running before anyone else and simply refused to express a firm opinion on where he stands on anything. Summers and Akeson are firmly in the essential services first camp. Grayeb enjoys support from unions because he talks the talk. I predict either Ryan Spain or Eric Turner will fail to get reelected. Turner is vulnerable because he keeps flipping on issues. I do think Sandberg is more vulnerable than usual. His die-hard supporters often give him all five of their “bullet” votes. This time, some of those votes will go to Summers.