Digital Killed the Radio Star
Are public radio networks heading for a similar fate as the Iguanodon?
If you're a hardcore NPR devotee, I've got good news and bad news. First the good news: NPR's listenership is at an all-time high, its newsroom is thriving and its financial state is as stable as it's ever been.
Now the bad news: our beloved medium of radio may be going the way of the Iguanodon and the Puerto Rican long-nosed bat. The radio audience in general has been declining for 20 years, and is likely to decline for the next 20. I'm speaking of terrestrial radio, of course -- the audience for satellite radio, like XM and Sirius (which features some NPR programs), is growing like a weed.
Then, of course, there are podcasts and Internet radio, and even your cell phone (which you may think of as a gossip-enabling device, but which is actually the next frontier in personal radio broadcasting).
So what's a poor little public radio network to do?
You might think that NPR as a source of news and information should just de-couple itself from the thing that's in decline: the old-fashioned technology of radio. But one of NPR's biggest assets is its extended network of local stations. Think about it. It is soooo easy these days to find out what's going on in Baghdad or Berlin. But what about your own backyard? Plus, some of our most important national stories spring from local station reporters.
At the very least, NPR will have to branch out a bit, like we're already doing with podcasts. But the scary thing is that every news organization from The New York Times to 60 Minutes to the IndyMedia center is jumping into the podcast pool.
We've never had more competition.
Radio: Podcast Penetration
I think it might be a tad early to be describing the imminent death of the oldest electronic mass medium.
I just read that podcast penetration is really pretty light, and I'm personally not that sanguine about the long term future of satellite radio, although I certainly could be wrong.
I'll just quickly give you my perspective: I was an early Sirius adopter, and I did it just for the NPR/PRI/BBC feeds. After I started listening, I discovered some of the music streams that I liked.
But I'm atypical, and it seemed that no sooner did I settle on a music stream that I found appealing, Sirius would "improve" it to the point where it was no longer worth listening.
Roughly the same time, our local Public station put up a second signal on AM, which provided about 85% of the material I could get from the satellite. This year, the FM affiliate started its HD programming, and with the addition of HD2 programming, there's literally more programming available than I have time to hear.
My Sirius subscriptions? I had four going at once, but now I have none, and I'm completely happy with what I can get from Public Radio.
Radio Trouble: Car Systems
It sounds like you could turn the local stations to your advantage in the podcasting arena. NPR central packages world and national news, local stations add local information and continue to feed news stories back to central just like they do now. Then all youd need is an easy way for someone to find the RSS feed for their local station, and some way to pay the bills.
Now, if a car's "entertainment center" could download a podcast automatically and have it ready for the morning commute, you'd be in serious business! Ditto for a cell phone that can grab the latest podcast when you're on the go.
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