Resurfacing

I suppose I could return and act as though August was the “month off” that many bloggers used to take, back when blogging was a hobby and not a vital tool for one’s Career Aspirations. But that wasn’t the case. I was just too damn busy, with lots of mindshare devoted to relocating, a new job, the continuing DDC effort – and very little devoted to the Big Thoughts.

In fact, the past month, I’ve found myself thinking much more about strategies and actions based on those Big Thoughts – some of which have spun around in my head, and more of which I’ve read from the likes of Dennis Haarsager, John Sutton and Jake Shapiro, or heard from John Barth and others over many months.

Here’s one idea from the hopper: I’m giving some thought to blogging about the development of Iowa Public Radio. I might do it here, but I’m thinking of suggesting to the rest of the senior team that I (and perhaps others) do it on the official website. Of course, one of the best models for this is the blog at Minnesota Public Radio’s “The Current.” MPR told its audience early on what its plans were for 89.3, and on the blog, it walked them through the process of creating the format. Along the way, everyone got to comment and interact – and the reactions ranged from positive to intensely negative, all of which MPR allowed to remain visible to everyone.

That scares a lot of people in public broadcasting, but I think it’s the way for Iowa Public Radio to go. After all, at the core of our new network is this concept of audience engagement.

We’re beginning a Listening Project this month that is likely to be ongoing – a series of conversations with listeners and civic leaders statewide, about life in Iowa, their desires for their communities, the issues they think are important. These conversations will help create the blueprint for how IPR covers news and the arts, and how it prioritizes its service. We can think about this on the programmatic level – how we’ll structure our streams – News/Talk, Arts/Culture, Triple A – but more broadly, this is about signaling (and then proving) that Iowa Public Radio is a trusted advocate for Iowans. Part of that contract is a certain level of transparency with our audience, and Cindy Browne is committed to keeping Iowans informed about how these 11 radio stations will evolve and grow and improve over the next several months.

And may I say it’s going to be a lot of work! I’m grateful for the team of program directors I have working with me – Dave Becker, Wayne Jarvis, Joan Kjaer, and Dennis Reese. If we do this even half right, it will be nothing short of transforming for public media in this neck of the woods.