Converge

It looks like Chris Anderson (of Long Tail fame) is listening to public radio more than ever, but to public radio stations less - particularly during pledge drives. His iPhone gives him access to a wealth of public radio podcasts, effortlessly updates during syncing, which he uses to avoid everything from shows he doesn’t like to fundraising.

This piece is interesting. Anderson isn’t simplistic; he understands the current public radio model - national shows don’t get made without local stations providing the bulk of the money - but for him, liking a set of public radio shows translates to loyalty to the shows, and not to the station on which he (now rarely) hears them.

I don’t really support my local affiliate. I love some of the shows it broadcasts and hate others (have you heard the California Report? Dreadful). My attachments are to individual shows, not to a broadcast station.

So what’s under fire? Our cherished models. In a world of scarcity, a listener’s appreciation of a program easily translates to an appreciation of the station that exclusively presents it to her. Introduce ubiquity - public radio on iPods, cellphones, satellite radio, etc., and the connecting tissue between Favorite Show X and Station Y begins to fray.

I’m not breaking new ground here - this is one of the underpinnings of the theory that stations need to be producing new, original, unique content. The theory goes - create more interesting stuff that will tie listeners to you.

But three other under-fire models make this a more difficult charge to programmers.

First, radio is and has been a mass medium and even public radio largely operates in niches that aim for millions of listeners nationally - news, talk, classical music, triple A, etc.; the niches are now dividing and subdividing.

Second, our production model is lavish - sound-rich pieces, developed over long periods of time, meticulously edited, etc.; our audience is telling us that this matters, but that compelling content not quite at that high standard can also be great.

Third, there’s our legacy distribution infrastructure, which is still invaluable to millions of listeners, but how soon might this change? It’s already started to. I listen to more radio programs and music than ever, but I listen to radio stations on an actual radio roughly 2-3 times a month.

Public television is in a world of hurt right now because, despite the efforts of a lot of really smart people, the mass media model, the production model, and the bloated, decentralized distribution model (among other things) are under attack. We public radio people shouldn’t be too smug: we’re on a similar path.

UPDATE: Rob Paterson reads Chris Anderson’s post and asks how can local radio survive the trends? He recommends doing things locally that will attach people to you, and making national content into a local social object. Great post!