PRX
and Google announced last week they will conduct an intensive training program
with Google Podcasts to lower barriers to podcasting and increase the diversity
of podcast producers. PRX will manage a competition between production teams to
determine which team will receive seed money and participate in a 20-week
intensive training program.
PRX
is now accepting applications until 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 18, 2018
for the first of two groups to receive the training [link]. A second round of
training will happen in April 2019.
According
to the project rules, six teams will be chosen. Teams are to be composed of two
or three members. Six teams in each round will be chosen to receive funding and
training. An advisory panel will determine the winners. PRX will announce the
selected teams on Tuesday, December 11th.
The
project team is looking for creative and engaged producers from all areas of
the nation and a wide variety of backgrounds. Applicants can self-identify as “marginalized”
producers due to race, ethnicity, gender, religion, economic background, sexual
orientation, age and/or physical abilities.
Overall,
the advisory panel is looking for teams that have fresh and compelling podcast
ideas. They are looking for producers that want to reach a sustainable number
of listeners and create growing revenue.
KEN SAYS: The emphasis appears to
be on “Purposeful Podcasts” – shows with producers that know who they want to
reach, why they want to reach them and how to sustainably make it happen.
PRX
also says in the instructions what they DON’T want:
• NO Unstructured conversations
• NO Live storytelling
•
NO Short-run or single episode shows
• NO Branded content of any kind
“PURPOSEFUL PODCASTS”
HAVE THE BEST CHANCE AT SUCCESS
In
the story above, we talked about "Purposeful Podcasts" – ones that are designed
to super-serve specific groups of listeners and engage them on topics that are
important to them.
Rather
than trying to create the next big podcast hit such as Serial, there is a growing market for podcasters who they want to
reach, why they want to reach them and how to sustainably make it happen.
We
recommend a recent post by Steve Goldstein from Aplifi Media on his “blogstein”
[link].
Goldstein’s views about the reality of podcasting our very similar to
ours. We both like the podcast movement a lot but we feel some people’s expectations
for quick success are not likely to happen.
We’ve
said that questions about podcast viability have evolved from the hoopla to the
“can I make a living doing this.” Or, as Goldstein put it in the title of his
post: It’s Not a Bubble, It’s a Business.
Goldstein
offers useful reality-checks that people about to embark on podcasting should
keep in mind:
•
Creating good content is hard - Anyone can start a podcast. Creating a podcast
that is unique and sustainable is far more challenging.
• Only about 25% of the 550,000 podcast titles are still in production. Some finished their runs, but most were abandoned.
•
Finding a willing audience is hard. Goldstein’s research shows that as many as
70% of downloaded podcasts were never listened to.
•
Goldstein’s research shows even the heaviest podcast listeners only listens to
about seven per week.
•
For many would-be listeners, finding podcasts is a chore.
•
Monetization of podcasts is hard.
•
There is a lot of crap out there, which devalues the reputation of podcasts.
But
Goldstein says there are also positives:
•
Audio listening is on the rise.
•
People like selecting the time and device of their choosing to listen to
content.
•
You might have a great idea that will defy gravity.
We
will add this one: Produce Purposeful Podcasts.
JONATHAN AHL IS LEAVING
EMBATTLED TRI-STATES PUBLIC RADIO
 |
| Jonathan Ahl |
The
future of Tri-States Public Radio (TSPR), located at Western Illinois
University (WIU) in Macomb, Illinois became eve murkier when General Manager
Jonathan Ahl resigned to take a reporting job at KWMU, St. Louis.
Ahl had been
a champion of the three-station network that is on the ropes since WIU
announced it plans to cut off university funding for TSPR as of March 1, 2019.
WIU
is experiencing a budget shortage caused, in part, by declining enrollment and
the impact of a two-year state government budget impasse. To deal with the
shortage, WIU President Jack Thomas decided in August to discontinue all
university cash support for TSPR. WIU provided approximately half of TSPR’s
annual revenue.
Since
Thomas announced his decision, Ahl has mobilized station staff and volunteers
to hold community meetings in key communities to inform the public about the
immanent threats to TSPR. WIU is proceeding with the cuts under the illusion
that TSPR can find the funding elsewhere.
WIU
has further complicated the situation by axing the funds in the middle of FY
2019 or providing a plan for TSPR to survive. The cuts mean that TSPR will
likely drop below Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) minimum staffing
requirements. WIU may have reimburse some of the money it has received from
CPB.
Ahl
will start his new gig at KWMU a/k/a St. Louis Public Radio on November 1st.
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