Perhaps
it was coincidence but you have to wonder if iHeartRadio’s upcoming Podcast
Awards [link] inspired the writers of Saturday
Night Live to do a parody of a podcast awards ceremony called The Poddy's.
The
SNL segment (link on yesterday's post) was eerily true to reality, or stereotypes of reality, of the actual podcasting
world. The hosts for The Poddy’s were imitations of A-list podcast heroes: Michael
Barbaro (played by Liev Schreiber) and Sarah Koenig (played by Cecily Strong). The
award categories on SNL -- Most
Unnecessary Podcast and Best Nervous
White Girl In A Place She Doesn’t Belong – skewered the “too hip” vibe of actual
podcasters
While
virtually everyone found humor in The
Poddy's, some industry observers felt the SNL sketch brought attention to
aspects of podcasting that may need improving.
Steve
Goldstein, a consultant an blogger who has written extensively about the
podcast industry, wrote on his AmplifiMedia blog [link]:
 |
| Steve Goldstein |
Did SNL just set podcasting
back? This past weekend Saturday Night Live parodied the podcast business in a
clever send up of a podcast awards show, The Poddy’s,
live from the “Me Undies Theater.”
And while it was fun to
watch, it was also disconcerting and may help explain the slow growth of
podcasting. In many ways, the SNL bit reinforces what lots of people already
think about podcasts.
In many ways, the SNL bit
reinforces what lots of people already think about podcasts — an elite niche
with self-important story tellers telling oddly obscure
stories.
Edison Research’s Tom Webster
pointed out this past summer at Podcast Movement, 83% of Americans are not yet
listening to podcasts. 64% know about them, and yet only 17% are
listening.
That means three quarters
of the people who know about podcasts are not listening. Not impressive. Not a
good conversion.
Blogger
and media consultant Fred Jacobs wrote on the Jacobs Media Strategy blog
[link]:
 |
| Fred Jacobs |
Podcasters have been
fighting for their share of respectability in the audio marketplace for more
than a decade – with mixed results. While many media pundits (myself
included) believe audio on-demand programming could be “the next big thing,”
growth has been slow.
We discussed the large share of “podcast nevers” –
those who never listen to podcasts – earlier this month in a blog
post. Many people simply have not connected with podcasts for
myriad reasons.
[The SNL skit] depicted a
podcasting system that is self-indulgent, tedious, cliché, and unprofessional
in a skit that was reminiscent of the “Schweddy Balls” send-up of public
radio/NPR way back in 1998.
[The SNL skit is] a
spot-on parody of many in the podcasting community that might serve as an early
warning to iHeartRadio's first annual live “Podcast Award Show” in L.A. this
January about what not to do.
MEANWHILE IN LOS ANGELES,
THE SHOW WILL GO ON
In
an ironic twist, iHeartRadio chose NPR to receive the first-ever iHeartRadio Podcast Pioneer Award.
It
will be presented at the inaugural iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, Jan. 18, 2019,
at the iHeartTheater in Los Angeles.
According
to a press release from iHeart, NPR is being recognized for being a “driving,
innovative force in the creation of the podcasting industry.” iHeart cited NPR’s
unparalleled impact on how millions of listeners consume audio content.
Nominees
for iHeartRadio Podcast Awards span 22 categories, including 17 where listeners
are deciding the winners by voting online and on Twitter and Instagram, through
Jan. 6, 2019. You can see more here.
GREAT REPORTING: CLOSED-DOOR
MEETING AT WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY VIOLATES OPEN MEETING RULES
 |
| Tri States Public Radio coverage area |
Over
the past few months we haves written extensively about Western Illinois
University’s (WIU) decision to cut almost all university funding for Tri States
Public Radio (TSPR) as of March 1, 2019.
As
we reported on August 21st [link], WIU’s action created a nightmare
situation by blindsiding
listeners and staff of the three-station network covering parts of Illinois,
Iowa and Missouri.
The
defunding will cost TSPR around $600,000 from their $1 million budget because
there is no way to replace the money. The cut will come in the middle of the
current fiscal year and may cause the station to lose its funding from CPB.
Worse yet, WIU has never said who made the decision or the basis on which it
was made.
Since
the surprise cut was announced, folks at TSPR have been doing the best they can
to continue operations of TSPR. But several staff members have left for other employment
and there still are no answers about who will be working at TSPR after February
2019.
 |
| Rich Eggers, Public Media Hero |
TSPR’s
News Department has done amazing reporting about the situation in the midst of
the uncertainty. News Director Rich Eggers filed a Freedom of Information
request to try to learn more about WIU’s decision. WIU responded with some, but
not all, of the information.
Now
an audio recording has been obtained of a closed-door meeting of WIU officials on
June 28, 2018. This was the meeting when the defunding of TSPR was finalized. It
turns out that the “secret” meeting violates Illinois’ Illinois Open Meetings
Act. Not only should the meeting have been public, during the meeting WIU bigwigs
“practice” an announcement of the cuts.
The
recording is part of a news story titled Dark Days
for Transparency & Shared Governance at WIU [link] includes portions
of the meeting. Scroll down to the mid-point of the story to hear the audio of
WIU officially and knowingly defying the law.
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