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

WPR - St. Norbert Poll Creates Buzz

Check out the buzz surrounding the latest poll published by Wisconsin Public Radio and St. Norbert College. The poll comes at a time when the recall petition for Governor Scott Walker gains momentum.
I have a link to one of the stories here.

Wisconsin Public Radio is using the poll results for news stories, their Ideas Network and on-line. Poll results has also been picked up by media through out the state.

It's a remarkable partnership between two cultural institutions.

Other stories can be found by searching "WPR St. Norbert."
Here's a sampling of what I found...
From the Chicago Tribune  Poll shows most favor recall of Wisconsin governor
From WPR's Ideas Network 
From the Ashland Current
From the Huffington Post   WI-Walker Recall: 58% Remove, 38% Keep In Office (St. Norbert/WPR)
From WLS, Chicago Wis. Legislature approval rating rises to 37 pct.
From the Green Bay Press Gazette Approval ratings rise for Wisconsin Legislature