New Year's Eve Memory

My son asked me about a scar on my chin today. It was about 42 years ago on New Year's Eve. I was setting up for a gig at the Holiday Inn. I played lead and rhythm with a group called Snack. The group included Glenn Hahn who also played rhythm and lead. Glenn was the lead singer. 

Anyway, we were putting the amps and speakers in place when one of them was being lifted when I though we were putting it down. It caught my chin. The speakers were heavy. The amp won. It was bleeding a lot. I taped the wound shut and hoped for the best. We went on about an hour later.(I had a Gibson ES 359 and a Sunn Amp.) 

I have the scar and the memories.

Several DuPont Awards for NPR and PBS

The Columbia Journalism School announced the DuPont Award winners today. NPR won an award for its coverage of the conflict in Syria. Deb Amos and Kelly McEvers got special mention for their daily coverage of events there. Frontline won awards for Opium Brides and The Interrupters.   StoryCorps 9/11 and State Impact Pennsylvania also won DuPonts. StoryCorps worked with NPR, POV and, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to present a multi-platform history of 9/11.  State Impact Pennsylvania was a collabroation between NPR, WHYY and WTIF to report on the effects of fracking in Pennsylvania.

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honor excellence in broadcast and digital journalism produced for audiences in the United States by local stations, independent producers, networks and cable systems. 

Being first...being wrong

When social media and and old media team up, the results can be wrong.
Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports that news organizations around the country posted Facebook information about the wrong guy in connection with the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

There was also early speculation that the shooter was an angry father and, that the guns were all acquired legally. Yet, I heard the spokesperson for the Connecticut State Police tell reporters today that they had not finished investigating the history of each of the weapons. It is now assumed that the alleged shooter, Adam Lanza, was mentally ill. A logical assumption but, it is speculation at this point.

Whatever happened to checking the facts and confirming sources?

Is it live or, is it Memorex?

Do you remember that ad campaign from Memorex tape? The campaign was promoting cassette recording tapes. The assertion was that the quality of the tape was as good as a live performance.I'm guessing you're over 40 if you remember.

Fred Jacobs blogged today that more TV viewing is done on a delayed basis. Jacobs points to data that suggests that it is not rare for most of the audience for Fox's Glee is watching after the fact on DVR's or On Demand.

Fred says that radio's live quality is unique.

"If you think about it, radio looks like it may end up being the last live broadcast medium.  Not only is radio more personal – chances are you’re listening by yourself – but it also has that live, you-never-know-what’s-going-to-happen next feeling."

I'm in agreement. That feeling can be lost with voice tracking. The immediacy can be lost too. Voice tracking on weekends and at night is a great way to save money. But, if a line of thunderstorms rolls through or, if a tornado touches down or, if there's an earthquake. The fact that you have a lot of listeners on Saturday morning should be enough motivation to be live and engaging.  That opportunity to be engaging is lost with voice tracking. 

In public radio, voice tracking can kill the fund drive too. If the talent is unable to interact and react to the content or update the challenge...the immediacy and urgency is lost. At least, that has been my experience.

Engaging the audience is an important element of the radio experience. I was taught that radio is a personal medium. I was taught that the companionship of radio is important to the listener. That companionship can be lost when thinking about the bottom line or the convenience of the staff. Think carefully about when voice tracking can be used. The decision might be penny wise but pound foolish. Turn your audience away and it will affect listening. Diminished listening and you will diminish listener support.

Facebook was Down?

I missed it! Facebook was down!
I stumbled across this report from Huffington Post over four hours later.
Facebook Goes Down.
I thought...Perhaps I'm not really connected all that much. Should I feel bad? Am I just too far out of it?
Then I realized...Maybe not.
I was working on a quarterly report for South Church. I was under a deadline. And earlier, when Gmail was down, I was working on my job search...sharpening up my resume and crafting a cover letter.
There's something positive about not being totally consumed by social media.
I'm not celebrating. If the Internet had gone down, I would not have been able to complete the quarterly report, worked on my job search. looked at articles on-line or written this blog.

Listener Support

I'm getting ready for another fund drive. I volunteer my services at WNPR. I ask for contributions on the air for an employer that let me go. I do it because of a sense of loyalty to the people I used to work with. I do it because I think the information provided by public radio is important for promoting civil conversation in our society. I value the content from NPR, PRI and APM. I also value the content produced locally when done well. The local stations need funding to keep you informed regionally and nationally. I'm glad I can help.

The model I use comes from Audience 98 - The Stairway to Given.

1. Someone must be a listener or a user of the service. 
2. The individual relies on the service
3. The content or service must be personally important. (Personal importance and sense of community.) This is the idea that the content and the services are the ties that bind together people with certain shared values. 
4. Funding Beliefs – Users must believe their support is crucial. They must understand that funding from other sources is only a piece of the fiscal puzzle. Individual support is the most reliable source of income. 
5. Household income is a contributing factor in whether someone will give, but that it is not nearly as significant as the other steps of The Stairway to Given. 

People give because they rely on the service, find it personally important and believe their contributions are truly needed.

As more of public radio's audience switches to digital content on social media, the web and  mobile devices as platforms for their information, the question becomes can the listener service model be used to raise the revenue needed to support the services? 

John Sutton's recent blog asks Will Listeners Voluntarily Support Web-based Services? The impetus for John's question is the report in Current that corporate support for NPR was off by $9 million last year. NPR's Stephen Moss says the potential for growth in digital ad revenue is limited by competition and downward pressure on the price of ads.   Corporations and foundation support cannot be the only sources of income for public media. 

What's working? Are there examples within public media of successful revenue generation from users?

Can the system build on that success? I think we need to find those answers. I'm willing to help.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports on the Gallup finding that 24% of Americans give journalists high ethics.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating.

Before journalists start chortling to themselves they should realize their rating of 24% is in the lower half of this poll. The results are not surprising when you consider a Pew Survey in 2011 that found that 75% of Americans thought journalists could not get their facts straight. Those being interviewed were kinder to the news organizations they used. 62% believed the news organizations they used got it right. They also believed that the organizations they did not use got it wrong 66% of the time.

PBS and NPR often tout surveys that show they are the most trusted sources of information in this country. The slap of reality is that the Pew Survey found that PBS and NPR are not top of mind when it comes to news sources. NPR was mentioned by 3% and PBS was mentioned by 1%.

Part of my experience is in journalism. I actually did some reporting before moving over to public broadcasting management. Since I spent a lot of time raising money, I'm pretty sure journalists would rate  me somewhere just above car salesmen.

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

The friends group contends the stations are in the state their in because of mismanagement. The Friends of Delmarva Public Radio, Inc. also say the proposal from  the consultant, Public Radio Capital (PRC), would culturally diminish Delmarva. PRC recommended the stations become mostly automated. WSCL would become a classical service with programming provided by an outside service. WSDL would become a AAA service with programming provided by an outside service. The Friends hope to preserve the current services according to an article in The Cape Gazette.

Two major obstacles stand in the way. They are facilities and funding. DPR's facilities are being demolished to make way for a new library at Salisbury University. The Salisbury University Foundation has made it clear they no longer can afford to fund Delmarva Public Radio's deficit.

If the friend's can get a reprieve and find new facilities, they need to find a way to grow the audience, increase listener support, increase foundation support, and increase corporate support. They'll also need to look for ways to decrease expenses. These things don't happen overnight.

What could be done?

• Seek help with your fundraising and your goals and objectives. The Station Resource Group and The Development Exchange have resources to help stations.
• Be Brilliant on the Basics. Check out the article by Deb Blakeley and Israel Smith.  How far from the basics is the local content?
• Focus - Do a few things well.
• Look for alliances to increase the quality of local content. Start with other public media outlets.
• Could Delmarva Public Radio find ways to work with their competition without being consumed?
• NPR's flagship programs are expensive. Alternate information programming is available through the networks and independent content providers. The Public Radio Exchange is a good place to start.
• The two stations can still have local content under the PRC proposal. There is room for local programming within the two services being proposed.