MY INTERVIEW WITH “RADIO SURVIVOR”

Last Friday 3/18 I had the privilege of being interviewed by Jennifer Waits, Paul Riismandel and Eric Klein of Radio Survivor [link] for their weekly podcast. If you don’t know them, Radio Survivor provides excellent coverage of college radio, community radio and LPFM stations.

The folks at Radio Survivor took me to task on a previous podcast about my analysis of college radio (Special Report: Inside College Radio) posted on February 29, 2016 [link]. They were particularly critical of my core assertion:  

College radio's self-imposed smallness is a threat to its future. The key to long-term success in noncommercial media is independent financial sustainability. If there is no margin it is tough to fulfill the mission.

Jennifer, Paul and Eric are people of goodwill who love college radio as it is today. But, the Radio Survivor folks and I have different perspective son the best path for college radio to move forward.

You can hear the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/radio-survivor.

FACTS OR FEEL-GOODS?

My perspective comes from my years as a station manager and consultant. My emphasis on sustainability comes from my experience paying bills and planning for the future. Clients sometimes ask me to do feasibility studies to see if something new will fly in the marketplace. Calculating anticipated revenue and expenses is vital to this type of analysis.

The Radio Survivor folks tend to focus on the magic of college radio participation. In my opinion, they love the feeling of the college radio experience. There is nothing wrong with that because feelings are an essential part of the brand.

I am not certain that anything was resolved in the interview but I appreciate the opportunity to present my perspective.