The head of GBH is floating the idea of a merger with WBUR, its cross-town NPR rival/cousin, as the Globe reports. For now, WBUR doesn’t appear very interested, ghosting the preliminary courtship gestures. … But the idea does lead to some interesting questions: Who’s financially worse off and needs this merger more, GBH or WBUR? Who would inevitably dominate a merger? (I’ve covered too many corporate “mergers of equals” to know there’s no such thing as a merger of equals.) … My hunch is that GBH, the significantly larger and more stuffy of the two, would ultimately consume ‘BUR’s identity in any merger.  And the scrappy WBUR knows it. Thus the initial scram ghosting from Commonwealth Ave. … Then again, WBUR radio has maintained a bigger audience (at least as of 2024) ever since GBH decided in the early 2000s to switch to ‘BUR-style news-and-talk format. … Any way you look at it, this seems to be a shotgun-wedding situation.

Personally, I hope a merger doesn’t happen. I like the competition. GBH is also too establishment for me. I mean, you can’t get any more establishment in this town than Boston Public Radio.