For any non-Elvis Costello fans, that's a lyric from his hit "Radio Radio." I have been thinking about radio a bit lately — especially about both NPR canceling The Bryant Park Project (New York Times story here, reg. required) and PRI canceling Fair Game with Faith Salie. These two programs were both attempts by public radio to attract a younger audience. Interestingly young people are tuning back in to FM commercial radio for music, or at least the decline began to reverse itself somewhat this year. But the problem for radio (and most traditional media) is that it's still one way media, i.e. broadcasting out, in a two-way digital/online world.

For public radio, you can't just reach younger listeners with news and information by packaging it with younger hosts and stories you think will appeal to this demographic — the same could be said for CNN and Anderson Cooper 360. We've read study after study about young people consuming their news from multiple sources based on headlines that seem relevant to them, and that their preference is to get this news online. We also know that part of the appeal of consuming content online is the ability to interact with the stories, i.e. participate, through ranking (Digg), commenting (text, audio and video) and connecting with others about news. Even when broadcasters share "comments from the blog" or reader feedback, it just doesn't scratch the surface of real participation in a vibrant online community.

We must make news and information available to young people (really all people) on their medium(s) of choice. The only way traditional media will stop buckling under this massive shift, is if the metrics change — whether its "listeners" to traditional radio vs. podcasts, readers of physical newspapers vs. online or on a Kindle, physical CD sales vs. digital, or iTunes streams and DVR recordings vs. tuning in to live TV.

Regarding Bryant Park, I found this interesting…from the New York Times article:

The program's host, Alison Stewart, who is on maternity leave, said in a telephone interview that she had been informed of the cancellation, which comes after the NPR board's approval last week of a budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. "From what I understand, we are obviously in extra-tough economic times, and it is a financial and strategic decision," she said. "I was told it had absolutely nothing to do with the quality or content of the show."

Although the program is heard over the air on just five radio stations and available on 19 high-definition digital channels, NPR officials said publicly in recent months that "Bryant Park Project" was attracting the kind of Web audience they had hoped for. One NPR employee, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the program had one million individual, or "unique" listeners in both April and May.

Like Gossip Girl, they had an alternative hit on their hands, they just haven't figured out how to sell it to the old guard…On a positive note, NPR is looking to "developers to help make it easier to share its content on Web sites and blogs, including those owned by the 860 NPR member stations."

Categorized under: Movies & Music

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.