Promiscuous Listening

It's happening. 

I'm no longer involved on a day to day basis.
When it comes to fundraising on Public Radio, I'm more like your typical listener. I tune away. If I can get the same content elsewhere without the funding pitch, I'll do it. The only time I didn't do that today was when there was content I knew I couldn't get anywhere else.

What's the Lesson?

It's the content. It's always been the content. To think otherwise is foolish. The listener/user comes to us for the content and their willingness to support us depends on the listener's relationship with the content. Consistently meet their expectations and you will have their loyalty. Fail to meet their expectations and risk losing them to somebody else. It's kinda' like relationships.

The Downside of Protectionism

Holy Cow! 

Are trade restrictions a good idea. It depends on who you ask. One of the lessons learned from the Great Depression was that protectionist policies made the depression worse. Here's a look at what trade restrictions can do. Canadian farmers are happy. Wisconsin farmers are not. "Dairy Farmers of Canada, a trade group, said in a statement in 2016 that protections for the country’s dairy farmers were in place before the Class 7 pricing rule, but weren’t being enforced, resulting in approximately $231 million in annual revenue losses for Canadian dairy farmers." The Canadians are being accused of protectionism. 

Isn't that what we want to do?

Wisconsin’s Got Milk, But Canada Doesn’t Want It

Why do I care? I grew up in Wisconsin. My uncle owned a dairy farm near Shawano. He was successful, but success is getting harder to achieve for the small farm.

This may not hurt the corporate farmers, but the mom and pop operations that are a part of Grassland Dairy Products will feel the pain. These 75 dairy farmers are in danger of going out of business. You may not be able to tell by the price of dairy at the supermarket, but currently, there's a glut of milk on the market. That limits the options for these 75 farmers.

Most Say Tensions Between Trump Administration and News Media Hinder Access to Political News

New research from Pew asserts that the tensions between President Trump and the Press are getting in the way of real information.

I'm willing to guess that where you place the blame would depend on where you lie on the political spectrum. Most Say Tensions Between Trump Administration and News Media Hinder Access to Political News: Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say the relationship between the two is unhealthy.

Other polls indicate the approval ratings for Trump are headed for all-time lows. The disapproval is not necessarily from his base but is instead from those who previously said they did not have an informed decision, but the poll numbers from Quinnipiac suggests erosion from his base too. If, Trump is trying to deflect blame to draw attention away from his mistakes by creating smokescreens of misinformation, it is not working.

You can find more information about Trump's approval ratings at The Hill. The results are from a Quinnipiac Poll.

"Tim Malloy, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s poll, said Trump’s approval has not yet reached the low point of former President George W. Bush, his most recent Republican predecessor."

“President Donald Trump continues to struggle, even among his most loyal supporters,” he said. "Many of them would be hard pressed to see even a sliver of a silver lining in this troubling downward spiral.”

Of course, Trump lashes back by making statements about fake news. Newsweek looked into the accusation from Trump. They conclude the polls are not fake. One of the issues with the election polls they found was that there were so many people unwilling to give an opinion about their choices during the election.

 "Possible reluctance of respondents to voice support for Trump has frequently been cited as a possible reason that pre-election opinion polling, and post-election surveys, may have underestimated support for the Republican."

They are weighing in now in increasing numbers. Something you might want to think about, the next election is about 18 months away.