Embrace Social Media...Fire the Madmen?

Does it make sense to lay-off all your marketers while embracing social media?

I don't think so. Not all of them anyway. At one of the public radio stations I worked for we had 200,000 listeners and about 4,000 people who liked us on Facebook. Our air time was still more effective for reaching our audience.  Social Media is another tool to use in getting your message out there. It has not replaced traditional media.

P&G is not replacing traditional media. But, they are finding that social media can help them keep costs down. You still need creative people to craft your message to reach the market segment (constituency) you want.  The Jim Edwards Article on the Business Insider Website points out, "P&G's Old Spice campaign is a  textbook example of what the entire company should be doing."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pg-ceo-to-lay-off-1600-after-discovering-its-free-to-advertise-on-facebook-and-google-2012-1#ixzz1kzq27J5i

Ira Glass Film at Sundance

Sleepwalk With Me was produced by Ira Glass (This American Life) and based on writer-director-star Mike Birbiglia’s harrowing tale of life as a not-so-good, but-getting-better comedian. 


Entertainment Weekly is calling "Sleepwalk with Me" bright spot of the Sundance Festival.


Variety says, "Appealing enough to launch Birbiglia in a big way, this warm, perceptive debut should win over auds, but loses some of the specificity that made his one-man show so personal."


And, according to a Sundance Exclusive clip shared by the Boise Weekly, Glass is a little befuddled by the whole process. Glass asks at the end of the video is anybody is going to see it. So far...6,822 views. It was added to YouTube January 18th.


Does this mean Ira Glass is going to have 'People?'

Public Insight Network Adding Journalists

Andrew Phelps writes for the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard that APM's Public Insight Network (PIN) that they will start producing stories from the information garnered through PIN's broadening network of experts. One of the original selling points of the network was that it would broaden perspectives by going beyond the usual sources that the media usually depends on. The trouble has been how to sort through all of the information from the 130,000 experts.

PIN will continue its primary mission of serving 60 newsrooms. The new team will not offer stories to the subscribing stations. They will generate original reporting. And, they’re starting without a distribution plan, or even a defined medium. 

http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/01/the-public-insight-network-now-swimming-in-data-launches-its-own-reporting-unit/

Jacobs Helps Bankroll KPBS Comeback

San Diego Reader | Jacobs Helps Bankroll KPBS Comeback

Major gifts top off a great fundraising year for KPBS. According to a report in the San Diego Reader, Irwin and Joan Jacobs of Qualcomm fame "wanted to do something that would enhance their ability to cover local news.”
http://www.scoopsandiego.com/mission_times_courier/community_news/newsroom-of-the-future-transforms-kpbs/article_26a7db06-3704-11e1-9c75-001a4bcf6878.html
It was in 2003 that the Kroc Foundation gave KPBS and NPR millions to support in-depth journalism.

http://www.current.org/npr/npr0309kroc.shtml

Downton Abbey Inspires Jewelry Line Controversy

The popularity of Downton Abbey on PBS has inspired a jewelry line being sold through PBS.
The creators of the show are apparently unhappy because PBS did not get clearance to do so.
Producers Carnival were forced to call in lawyers to stop the Public Broadcasting Service, the US network that airs Downton Abbey, from naming jewelry after the show’s most famous character, Lady Mary Crawley. PBS is being asked to pull the items. 


According to the Daily Telegraph, PBS is continuing to sell the jewelry as part of its Downton Abbey collection, but has now agreed to remove direct references to Lady Mary and other characters from the show – and all mentions of Downton characters have now been deleted from the website.

There are articles in the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.

Is this worse than Barney-Gate? Here's a link to that mid-nineties scandal!

http://www.current.org/mo504.html

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Marfa Brings Public Radio Back to Midland

Marfa Public Radio is on the verge of bringing public radio back to Midland and Odessa, Texas. 


Marfa Public Radio finalized its purchase of KOCV-FM radio from Odessa College in December for $150,000 in cash and another $150,000 in sponsorships over 10 years after the radio station won the bid for the frequency in February.


An ascertainment of community needs will be conducted soon. Station Manager Tom Michael says that the station will be programmed out of Marfa for a while, but plans are to localize the content.


There's more at OA on-line.

Public Radio Print Partnership in KY

There's more on the partnership between WEKU, WNKU and the Kentucky Press Association News Content Service. 60 newspapers in Kentucky share content through the partnership. 23 newspapers have agreed to share content with public radio.  David Greer, director of the KPA News Content Service, hopes the partnership will help raise revenue for the service.
There's more on the partnership at Kentucky dot com. 

Vanity Fair on NPR

There's a lengthy piece in Vanity Fair about the bumpy ride NPR has taken in the past 18 months. In National Public Rodeo, David Margolick spends a lot of time on the Juan Williams incident. He also finishes up the article on Williams performance at the Republican Debate in South Carolina. Watching Juan at the debate was...uncomfortable.

Along the way Margolick takes on the role of the board, takes a swipe at Wait, Wait and NPR's management.

Community Radio/FCC to take applications in the Fall

Fox News.Com features a community broadcaster in Florida who was serving the people of his Dunbar neighborhood. Unfortunately, he was on the air without a license. He was recently shut down by the FCC and faces felony charges. Albert Knighten will not be able to get a license because of his arrest.

Knighten's case focuses attention on how commercial radio does not always serve the needs of the community.  The Dunbar community is a mostly black neighborhood in Fort Meyers. Knighten saw a need and decided to go ahead with his station in 2009 without a license.

The FCC is trying to address that need with the Local Radio Community Act. The act is being championed by the Prometheus Radio Project.

Communities were better served in the past before the ownership rules were changed allowing owners to buy more than 40 stations in the country. Since the cap was taken off in 1996 there has been a substantial drop in minority stations. There are limits within a market of five or more depending on the market size. According to an article by Common Cause, Clear Channel owns 1,200 radio stations.

The first of the low power stations should be up and running in 2013 or 2014. Commercial broadcasters are worried the low powered stations will cause interference.

Social Media & Viral Video

After being repulsed by the video of US Marines urinating on, and desecrating the corpses of Taliban fighters, my next thought is, what were they thinking? I have not watched the video. I do not plan to.

There's a thoughtful piece about the video and it's implications by NPR's Cory Flintoff.

There have been other incidents from both sides that utilize social media. Dawn Perlmutter, director of the of the Institute for the Research of Organized and Ritual Violence says, "There is this strange combination of primal rituals and modern technology that keeps happening."


This is an example of social media at its worst. It reminds me of the people who will say or do anything to be on those syndicated talk shows aired on commercial TV.

More Controversy for NJTV

New Jersey Public Television is back in the spotlight again. But, not in a good way. The controversy that was sparked when Governor Christie and Republicans in the Assembly pushed for the break-up of the network. The issue is still smoldering. 


Opponents of the network said the state could no longer afford to underwrite public broadcasting. the Governor compared to government funding of public broadcasting to the old Soviet Union.
The network was split between WHYY in Philadelphia and WNET in New York.
According to an article in NJ.com, not everyone in the assembly is happy with the change. 

"The lawmakers noted the station’s many failures in its brief history, including failing to provide coverage of Hurricane Irene, airing the cartoon “Angelina Ballerina” while nearly every regional and national media outlet covered the announcement of the governor’s presidential plans and now airing the cartoon “Thomas the Train” for the majority of the legislature’s reorganization and tribute to the passing of one of its elder statesmen."

You can read more in NJ.com.


The network was dependent on state funding. Donations form viewers and underwriters were not able to sustain the cost of the old network (NJN).

 

Jazz Moves off KXJZ to KXPR...and the web.

Capital Public Radio announced to donors this week that weekday jazz programming was being replaced by News and Information programming on KXJZ. The change was announced to donors this week in a letter.
There's more: Radio- Info.Com

Capital Public Radio's Karl Watanabe explains...Jazz in Sacramento remains on-air, it’s simply moving from our news station to our classical station, same hours 7-11pm. To quote radioinfo.com’s article:

“Capital favorite “Excellence in Jazz,” previously heard from 7-10 p.m., will move to Capital Public Radio's KXPR (88.9) in the market.”

Thus, the change impacts evening classical listeners, they’ll hear jazz during evening hours Sunday-Friday.

New funding process frustrates small stations

MinnPost - New funding process frustrates small public radio stations

Some are saying the change in the way the State of Minnesota funds public radio is politically motivated. "The only reason it was done that way was just because a bunch of Republicans didn't want to give money to MPR," charges Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley. 

An article in the Minnesota Post reports that the opposite has happened. The smaller stations, members of AMPERS and independent of Minnesota Public Radio, ended up with smaller grants and MPR has ended up with more.

New Platform for Marketplace - Current

American Public Media (APM) is making Marketplace and The Current will be offered on another platform. It will be available through Slacker.


According to the press release, Slacker enables music lovers to play highly personalized music online at the Slacker web site, in Ford vehicles with SYNC AppLink, on connected home devices or on-the-go with Slacker Personal Radio applications. Slacker mobile applications are available for Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, Palm webOS, Nokia, Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry smartphones. For more information visit: http://www.Slacker.com/about.


Material from The Current will curated and update weekly by station programming staff.


Marketplace on Slacker Radio will offer Marketplace flagship program, Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report, Marketplace Tech Report, Marketplace Money and the Marketplace Index.

Checking the Fact Checkers

During the election season, politicians often misspeak (I'm being kind). In the past, newspapers were known for checking the facts on their comments. It was a way to hold politicians accountable. With so many newspapers in trouble, fact checking organizations like Factcheck.org and Politifact have taken up the responsibility. But, who's checking the fact checkers? Is the information they distribute being used to influence public opinion? Do the organizations that check the validity of the comments have an agenda? Those question will be explored today on Talk of the Nation.
If you're running a newsroom at your station, what are doing to insure accuracy?
It should be an interesting conversation.

Head of PBS Says It's Up to the Audience

When I first became involved in Public Radio we had stickers all over the station that said, "Think Audience." PBS CEO Paula Kreger says it's up the audience whether or not Public Television grows.

My experience in public radio is that the audience is indeed the ultimate judge of what they are willing to support. The question for public television will be,can their core content support itself? Is the audience loyal enough to rally around "American Experience", "Nature" and the "NewsHour?" Will more programming like this in the schedule generate enough audience and loyalty be self sustaining? And, can the local affiliates find sufficient funding for local productions?

A substantial core audience can make that happen. At Connecticut Public Radio we defined that as about 40% of the total audience tuning in 10 times a week for about an hour each occasion. CPTV had a much larger audience but, occasions didn't come close to what we had for radio.

The exception for CPTV is  UConn Women's Basketball. That has a large and loyal following.

Can Public Television offer substantial programming for a substantial audience? Will the Public Radio model work for Public Television?

There's a lot more about what Paula Kreger has to say in the Chicago Tribune:

PBS kicks off winter TCA tour: Prexy-CEO Kerger willing to 'make tough decisions' in 2012

Essential Public Media's Music Partnership

Essential Public Media is joining in a partnership to ZooBeats to schools in the Pittsburgh area. ZooBeats is an animal themed music education tool developed by WYEP. The experience allows children to make music intuitively. There's also a financial partnership created by the project. The ZooBeats project receives funding from the Sprout Fund and PNC Bank.

Radio Bilingue Featured by AP

Radio Bilingue, has a weekly audience of 500,000 listeners a week with seven stations in California and 100 affiliates nationwide.

Radio Bilingue offers public radio programming in Spanish.

Public radio in Spanish gives US Latinos a voice - Marin Independent Journal
With so many Spanish speaking people in my home market, there is reason to believe Radio Bilingue could be self-sustaining here.

WCQS Renewal Challenged

Ashville's Citizen-Times reports that WCQS license renewal is being challenged by The Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsible Public Radio. The committee says WCQS has failed to establish a community advisory board and failed to survey its listeners (assessment of community issues?). 

Programming changes may be the base cause for the petition to deny the  renewal. WCQS recently focused resources to enhance local news coverage. In the process they took some locally produced programs off the air. The Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsible Public Radio is led by Fred Flaxman a public radio producer and retried executive. Flaxman also complained in the petition that the station doesn’t air programs created by local independent producers, including himself. He produces a classical music program called “Compact Discoveries.”  Station Manager Jody Evans says an episode of Compact Discoveries was carried by WCQS a few years ago as a special. Flaxman lists the station as carrying Compact Discoveries on his website.

Evans says all of the issues in the challenge have been addressed in the station's response.