Public Radio Partnerships: Strength in Numbers

If I had just one wish for Public Broadcasting it would be more collaboration and less competition within the system. We would be so much better at serving our audience if we just found ways to work together.

Unified Vision

When I first came to New England, I was working with several stations on a project that looked at better serving our audiences locally and collaborating regionally. The premise of the regional collaboration was to better serve the public radio audience up and down the I-91 corridor with a high quality service meeting the needs of the region. Despite honest efforts, it never came to pass as stations focused on their own issues without drawing on the experience of others.

The collaborative spirit was replaced by competition and distrust. 

There have been some hopeful efforts recently funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Three notable collaborations include stations along Ohio River Valley, A News Initiative in Indiana and Alaskan energy issues. The hope is these collaboratives will motivate others to do the same.

Earlier Efforts

I was involved in previous efforts. Most notably, the Environmental Initiate at WNPR, a collaborative with solid funding that involved several stations in the Northeast. Once the grant ran down, the stations were unable to sustain the regional effort. Shared funding was suggested based on listener hours, but nothing re-lit the collaboration. I also assisted in the Kentucky Public Radio Network collaborative. KPRN is still going strong and involves several of the stations working together in the Ohio River Valley project.

These partnerships are like any intense relationship. They take work and compromise to keep them together. The pay-off is higher caliber content that has a stronger appeal to the public media audience. They also have the advantage of pooled funding and shared costs.