We
think it is time to let our readers have their say about news and issues we
have posted recently. We are looking at platforms for Spark News that offer
better reader engagement. Please send us your recommendations to us at publicradio@hotmail.com. Thank you, Ken.
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Photo of an
actual “collapse”
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• Regarding our coverage
of David Folkenflick’s article about “the collapse of ratings for NPR
programs.” White we agreed [link] with most of Folkenflick’s
observations, we said his use of the word “collapse” was unfortunate because it
implied that the “sky was falling” for NPR member stations on the broadcast
platform.
Mark
Vogelzang, President and CEO of Maine Public Broadcasting sent this comment:
“Ken, thanks for the
added perspective. Folkenflick himself may not have used the word ‘collapse’ in
the story. More likely a digital headline writer.”
And,
we received this comment from the manager of a NPR member station on the west
coast who asked us not to use his/her name:
“Perhaps Folkenflick
is not aware of the fact that the ratings he was quoting are for stations that
air NPR programs, not NPR itself. To me, this is further evidence that NPR is bypassing
the needs of stations to fund their digital ventures.”
• Our post about Colorado
Public Radio’s Indie 102.5 going on a station in Colorado Springs [link] an anonymous
reader sent this comment:
“The new Indie 102.3
is more Top 40 now: more repetition, more pandering to pedestrian common
denominators.”
KEN SAYS: Repetition of songs
that people like is a time-tested programming technique that works. What makes
stations like Indie 102.5 different
from commercial Top 40 stations is public radio’s emphasis on curating, contextual
presentation and engagement with listeners and the community. Indie 102.5’s repeater station in The
Springs, debuted in the Spring Nielsen ratings and listeners there seem to like
having a new music option.
• Our report [link]
detailing which noncommercial broadcasters who have received Paycheck
Protection Program (PPP) loans brought this question for an anonymous reader:
“Supposedly Pacifica
received about $1m PPP funds. Is this true?
KEN SAYS: No, Pacifica and/or its
stations have not received PPP funds.
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Image from Alan
Clark’s blog
The Classical Station
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•
Our post about Cumulus Media pulling the plug on the Westwood One news service
[link] brought this comment from R. Alan Clark, a former Classical music
host who worked at WFLN in Philadelphia
and Hawaii Public Radio:
“Immediate news comes
to me on my phone apps now. CBS NEWS, NBC NEWS, and others all with video. No
need to wait for scheduled radio newscasts.”
KEN SAYS: We get news the same
way. But we like news on radio also. If radio in general, and public radio in
particularly, stops investing in news programming, they will eventually become
irrelevant.
BTW
– Check out Clark’s online Classical station here.
Regarding Indie 102.3, what they are attempt to do is go back to the model Lee Abrams and Kent Burkhart did with FM Rock in the 1970's. Mix a element of discipline but keep an element of presenting "art" in rock music environment.
ReplyDeleteKVOQ Indie 102.3 is actually being consulted by Mike Henry and Paragon Media Strategies who has been making inroads into public radio and consulting and creating formats that could work for public radio. Henry has been working on public radio Triple A stations (he launched shaped Greeley-Fort Collins Triple A station KJAC The Colorado Sound before switching to Indie); but has expanded into NPR News/Talk and is working on making the Urban Alternative (or R&B/Hip-Hop Alt) a success.
It should be noted that Frankie Crocker, originally coined the radio format term Urban Contemporary.
Some stations have done well being broad and freeform but those stations are rare, and go over people's heads. People want some kind of comfort food of sorts with radio, and something that their minds can't process will only make them go click...in a bad way.
Bottom line, embrace disciplined programming but push back on corporatism and grow local listener support not just with their ears but their wallets.