SIGN-OFF BY “THE PUB” SHOWS THE DIFFICULTY REPORTING NEWS ABOUT PUBLIC MEDIA • PROOF THERE IS GREAT RADIO IN MILWAUKEE

Annie Russell

You may have heard that Current pulled the plug on their three-year old podcast The Pub. The reason was simple: It was losing money and there was no hope it would ever become sustainable.

Host Annie Russell laid it on the line in the first minute of the last episode of The Pub:

This is the last episode of The Pub – the podcast for people in public media. We know so many of you tune into the pub regularly and you rely on us.  So, we want to level with you. The podcast didn’t draw enough underwriting support to cover the production costs. In fact, in the few years that Current has produced and distributed the pub has only been able to draw about a quarter of the cost. Unfortunately, the podcast is not sustainable.

Current can’t afford a project that drains money from its core operations. In July 2017 we reported [link] about Current’s need to become self-supporting. To help pay the bills, the publication established a paywall. For most of its 30+ years covering public media, Current’s budget has been subsidized. Though funding from the Wyncote Foundation is continuing, it is not forever.

When The Pub began in early 2015, we were excited about it. In February 2015 [link] we praised the show, calling it a magazine program that is timely and provides a valuable mirror of public media. The Pub provides smart criticism of a business that sometimes takes itself too seriously.

Adam Ragusea

Much of our praise in 2015 focused on host Adam Ragusea, who deserves credit for making The Pub a reality. Ragusea is a smart reporter who likes to go to the source of a story. When The Pub broke news (which it sometimes did), Ragusea interviewed the main players in the story. His style was upbeat and often irreverent.

We tuned into The Pub fairly often back then.  We particularly liked his knowledge about how public radio and TV operated internally. Though we have never met Ragusea in person, whenever we heard his voice on The Pub, he seemed like trusted friend.

After Ragusea left for other opportunities, The Pub seemed to be rudderless and increasingly irrelevant.  You can hear that in the final edition of the show. The Pub was no longer a valuable mirror of public media. Instead, it became a gabfest that sorely needed an edit.

The final episode of The Pub was promoted as “lessons learned.” We anticipated it would include interviews with Julie Drizin, the Executive Director who green-lighted the show, and Mike Janssen, Current’s digital editor who supervised The Pub on a day-to-day basis. That would have been interesting.

Host Annie Russell devoted the entire final show to an interview with a friend whose podcast also failed. The Pub started with lofty goals and by the end, devolved into chit chat.

But don’t blame Russell for the demise for The Pub. If Ragusea had stayed, the fate of The Pub would have been the same. The Pub failed because it wasn’t financially sustainable.

KEN SAYS: The economics of reporting about public broadcasting aren’t encouraging. The number of people working in public broadcasting falls below the critical mass needed to justify advertising buyers. The need for coverage is there but the lack of resources to do the coverage is apparent.

When The Pub began, we thought seriously about also starting a podcast. Then we ran the numbers and saw doing a podcast was a big risk.

Spark News continues because it is a service to the public media community.  We realize it will never become a source of major revenue. Our goal for Spark News is to influence policy. We believe if public radio is to survive and grow, people in the industry must insist on high standards for content and engagement.

NIELSEN AUDIO JUNE PPM RATINGS & TWO-YEAR TRENDS

Sometimes we smile when we see the latest ratings.  This is true of Nielsen Audio June 2018 PPM results.   

Three fine stations, NPR News/Talk WUWM, Wisconsin Public Radio’s talker WHAD and spunky Triple A WYMS all had outstanding performances.

But wait, there is more. WYMS’s second station, the Milwaukee Music channel made a strong appearance even though it is only available on a HD channel and online streaming. It proves if you have essential content, people will find you.

Controversial KNAI will soon vanish from the noncommercial ratings. 

KNAI's licensee, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, just bought a commercial frequency in Phoenix and KNAI will become a commercial station...which it already was, anyway.

The folks at KANU in Lawrence need to consider ending the dual format.   

Nice to see The Bridge moving up.