Raising Awareness

In public radio circles we've often discussed raising awareness about what we have to offer. Getting outside the building and actually participating in the community is a great way to increase awareness. Just waiting for the audience to come to us can be painfully slow. The increased connections created by these events not only increases public awareness but can also enhance marketing opportunities.
Where I used to work, Where We Live goes on the road regularly. Bringing A Prairie Home Companion and Wait Wait to Connecticut greatly benefited the station, the programs and the audience.
Now Michael Barone and Pipedreams are doing the same. According to an article in the Miami Herald, "Michael Barone, the host of American Public Media's Pipedreams, is bringing the first ever Pipe Organ Weekend festival to Miami."

Peconic Makes Down Payment

The community group that wants to keep WLIU local to Long Island's East End made their first payment to the University that owns the station. Long Island University accepted $158,000 from Peconic Public Broadcasting according it Radio Ink. The group still needs to raise $850,000 by June. It's as serious undertaking by a radio station that had about 300 contributors a year ago.
There's more detail in 27East.

Cuts for Public TV and Radio

Revenues for state governments continue to decline. For public media, it means cuts in funding. For smaller stations the cuts are deeper. An article in the Duluth News Tribune interviews managers at the local public TV and radio station about what the cuts mean for them. In both cases cuts to local programming. The TV station will probably cut staff. I thought you might find the attached article interesting in light of cuts proposed by other states. 

WFPL-FM launches environmental reporting collaboration

Public radio partnerships like the one announced by WFPL in Louisville help stations build on their strengths.
According to an article in Business First, WFPL is teaming with 18 public radio stations in five states to report on environmental issues in the Ohio River Valley. To create the initiative, WFPL also built relationships with three foundations and Hanover College.

The experience we had with other stations and foundations at WNPR to create these kinds of partnerships helped the station enhance it's content around the environment, health issues and, reporting and on politics in Connecticut's capitol region. The collaborations drew the public radio stations in our region closer together, even those with which we shared listeners. It also brought several foundations a platform for their community service issues. The network of community service oriented non-profits was enhanced by these alliances.

I must note there was clear firewall between the funders and the news content. Through regular communications with the funders, WNPR was able to satisfy the foundations' needs. High quality reporting was making the public aware of the issues near and dear to the station's funding partners. We also found that these collaborations raised the bar for regional reporting among all of the stations involved in the initiative.

There's more about how public media can become involved in community service alliances at the National Center for Media Engagement.

Haitian Radio Station Exemplifies Community Service

An FM radio station in Haiti was an informational lifeline for the people of Haiti in the hours and days after the quake there. NPR's John Burnett filed this story for All Things Considered about Signal FM 90.5.

KCSM TV Closer to Being Sold

It's looking more likely that the public television station in San Mateo will be sold by the Community College there. Recent cuts and fundraisers will not be able to offset the station's deficit according to an article posted by MercuryNews.com and originally published in the San Mateo County Times by Neil Gonzales. Among the cuts was the station's membership with PBS which meant it could no longer air staples like NOVA, Frontline and Masterpiece Theater/Mystery. KCSM was hoping to raise $1 million in donations, but have only raised $30,000 so far. They were also hoping to raise funds by leasing digital spectrum and airtime. That plan has also fallen short.

The San Mateo County Community College District board gave Marilyn Lawrence until February 24th to come up with a plan to eliminate a $1million, deficit.

You can read more at MercuryNews.com.

http://www.mercurynews.com/tv/ci_14289619?nclick_check=1

Another Station Changes Format

WETS-FM is changing formats to news and information. The reasons given by Station Manager Wayne Winkler include:

• Fulfill the mission of the university and of WETS-FM
• The best interest of the station, its listeners, and its financial future
• Fewer people are tuning to radio for music
• Offering the community a dependable news source

More information about the change is included in an article published today by TriCities.com

You can read the article here.


There are two big reasons. They are improved community service and financial stability.
And...This does present the opportunity for somebody else to adopt the Classical and Americana formats.