Rise of Podcasts

It is all changing...but how fast?

It has been said many time before. Radio...as we know it...is dead. Television, Cable, Satellite Radio, Internet Radio...now podcasts?  Maybe.
Check out this report heard on Weekend Edition today.

Podcasts Rise In Popularity, Funded By Advertisers And Listeners

Funding includes crowd funding, and advertising. This makes a few of these podcasts self-sustaining. Are podcasts ready to supplant radio. By public radio standards the audience is still niche. The costs are a lot lower than radio. It's an advantage. Running a public radio station is expensive.

Disruptive Technology

New technology is around the corner that will take away radio's advantage in the car. John C. Dvorak is cohost of the No Agenda podcast. He says this new technology is also bringing into question the future of broadcasting itself. "I think it is disruptive. And eventually, when we have real-time Internet availability in a moving car, it's going to be very difficult for conventional radio to compete with this model. I just don't think it's possible."

Public Radio is safe for now. Once the community of listeners disperses in large enough numbers to other platforms, Public Radio will no longer be able to support itself. I fret that the true loss may be the editorial gatekeepers.  I search for trusted sources for information. Where are the firewalls and editorial standards in social media? I'm not sure I can trust bloggers and podcasters. Not from what I've read and heard.

I Read the News Today

Oh boy!

I found out there were at least seven irregularities in the initial investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.   Ferguson Grand Jury Evidence Reveals Mistakes, Holes In Investigation. At the very least...the police were unprofessional.

The language used by Officer Darren Wilson to describe his confrontation with Michael Brown was racists. So we might have a racists cop in fear for his life firing at least six rounds into an un-armed man.  In Darren Wilson's Testimony, Familiar Themes About Black Men.

Public Media Fundraising Model

Significant Programs for a Significant Audience

(How a development function should be built and how integrated communication is necessary to support that function.)

Development, marketing and communications are co-dependent. My qualifications and skills in these areas are based a significant experience in public media. Through research of the intended audience, fundraising-awareness programming strategies were developed that were focused on building the following:

·         Regular, frequent, loyal donors;

·         A strong perception of personal value;

·         And an understanding of the importance of giving.

I believe the concepts (and lessons) learned in these projects are applicable to most community service-based development functions. I have a belief that community service begets community support.

Of course great content, by itself, doesn‘t raise a dime and there is no meter running that automatically brings in revenue without these factors:

·         Reliability and trust of the offered service;

·         The contributor understands his or her personal importance;

·         A connection with the contributor’s personal values

It is only when these essential factors are combined with a disciplined, coordinated development program that users become givers and the virtuous cycle of public service generating public support to fuel still more service—begins to engage.

Content and giving are interlaced. Good marketing efforts are wasted if the content provided by a service does not match the values and lifestyle of the intended audience.

Giving is dependent on the following:

―If a person:

• Has an awareness of the service;
• Uses the service;
• Finds the service to be valuable;
• Believes he or she needs to do his or her share;
• Has money to give and…
• Four of the five factors are driven by the services own performance. (Audience 98)

In public radio we confirmed that:

• Public radio givers can be predicted primarily from patterns of listening.
• Reliance may be measured by purely behavioral variables like loyalty to a service and becoming a core user.
• Personal importance is an internal realization.
• Individuals who not only listen but also sense that public radio has become important in their lives are more likely to become givers.
• Education adds predictive power to our model. Half of public radio givers have earned an advanced degree, an indicator of their socially responsible values and upscale lifestyles.
• Belief that public radio depends on listener support adds some predictive power to our model, but the strong predictors are behavioral reliance upon public radio along with a sense of personal importance. (Public Radio Tracking Study, Turning Listeners into Givers)

These studies highlight how quality fundraising success is really about building a relationship with the intended audience. 

Car Talk Regrets

The Story Ended Happily

John Dankosky's Blog about Tom Magliozzi (Why Everyone Who Loves Public Radio Should Thank Tom Magliozzi) reminds of the time I decided to take Car Talk off the air. We had a classical music audience. The phone calls about the show were hostile...vehement. Based on those calls and the urging of the station manager I pulled the plug. It was a big mistake. I learned a lesson about programming by phone call. The caller represents his or her interest...nothing more. Audience figures over the next six months convinced me I made a mistake. Our Saturday morning audience went to our public radio competitors. Fund raising took a big hit. Within a year Car Talk was back. The program was welcomed back in a big way with a huge audience and blockbuster fundraising as described by John in his blog posting. I've been told the audience for Car Talk continues to be strong.

Community of Listeners

Reinstating Car Talk was the the impetus for the gathering of the public radio community. That community is one of the key concepts of the Audience '98 research project.

                  A Sense of Community

If givers think of public radio as a community, then a fund drive is a barn raising, not the Home Shopping Network. On-air pitching is passing the hat, not selling Beanie Babies. Shirts and mugs – still the most popular premiums – are emblems of membership and pride in the community, not merchandise exchanged for cash.

"Sense of community" may add dimension to the seminal concept of personal importance, and thereby help public radio professionals to influence giving, focus fundraising messages, and schedule programming. 

Communication technologies let us choose our neighbors based on their sympathies rather than their proximities. Being connected to other people by psychological rather than geographical space isn't so alien anymore.

Audience loyalty and support grew by leaps and bounds after Car Talk found a permanent place on WNPR's schedule on Saturday Morning. It was as if we had crossed a threshold of Core Listening. A solid base of support resulted. Radio at Connecticut Public Broadcasting became self sustaining.

If that sense of community disappears...Public Radio will become a memory.

PTV In Yakima Closes Doors

Local No More

KYVE in Yakima, Washington closed its offices last week. It was the last vestiges of local public television for the community. The station has been in decline for the past few years according to an article in the Yakima Herald Republic. Local programming ended in May

Rebranded / On the Air

The station remains on the air as a repeater of KCTS, Seattle. KCTS officials are looking into ways of returning some localism. One idea is to open a development office in Yakima.

It's all about...not the news

What would Cronkite and Murrow think? 

There's a TV anchor in our area that uses drama in her presentation. She adds all sorts of dramatics to words "deadly" and  "murder." It always bothered me. I couldn't understand why, at first. Now I do. She's making the news all about herself as a news personality. The emphasis is on schtick over substance. It diminishes the importance of the story.