SchardtMedia.org

Something I’m listening to

Sue — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:08:53 +0000

I’ve neglected you, dear blog. Here’s a few thoughts I circulated in an email awhile back, and decided to put it up here.

I’ve been noticing over the last year or so what seems to be movement afoot of people who are bringing music to storytelling in new ways. I tend to find it as I’m perusing WMBR’s stacks prepping for my radio show, and maybe you’re on to it, too. I’m loving these new approaches and thought I’d share/attach the latest, Charles Spearin’s “Happiness Project,” which is a collection of some of his Toronto neighbors who frequent his front porch in the summertime. He says, “I wanted to see if I could blur the line between speaking and singing and write music based on these “accidental melodies.”

Others in this vein include Phillip Bimstein (esp his homage to baseball, “Bushy Wushy Rag“) and the Matthew Herbert Big Band whose new CD “There’s Me and There’s You” includes “the sounds contributed by Palestinians of their favorite of their most hated sound…”

good, all, for the ears.

The Haarsager Effect

Sue — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:32:50 +0000

I just had a look at Dale Hobson/NCPR’s “listening post,” one of the few, truly worthwhile e-newsletters. He distills in a wonderful way the real-life implications from a station POV the most recent news coming out of NPR…the acquisition of Public Interactive, and its decision to adopt Application Protocol Interface (API). The latter is revolutionary, not only because of the new gateways to listeners this decision will open up, but also from the standpoint that NPR is one of the first major news organization in the U.S. to make this move. Here’s what Hobson has to say:

Sometimes the clock just sits there, slowly grinding gravel into sand, and sometimes everything seems to happen at once. We’re heading into one of the latter times now. Stuff from the back burner, things we have been chipping away at month by month, all come to a head. A lot of the action is being driven by new projects and initiatives from our network partner, NPR.

The big news of the last few days was NPR’s acquisition of Public Interactive, the platform host of many public radio websites, and a service provider to many more, NCPR among them. The merger may save us some change in the long run, but it will help most in facilitating our use of content from public radio programs that originate with PI’s former parent, Public Radio International, and with other media services PI has under contract. It will beef up NPR’s digital shop and will help PI stations play more effectively on the national stage.

NPR is making a big investment in social networking for the public radio community and is set to roll out a platform on which stations can foster their own communities within NPR.org. Look for lots more on this in late September.

NPR has also jump-started stations into the arcanely-labeled field of mobilecasting, making a mix of station and network features available via cell phones and other mobile devices. NCPR expects to join them by November. For those of you who wish your cell phones had a cord and a dial, there will be a regular phone number you can call from any type of phone to get the latest NCPR and NPR news and features. This will make NCPR available for the first time in remoter parts of the region that don’t have broadband internet, or cell service, or even radio reception.

It seems to me that NPR’s moves, juxtaposed with another recent decision that’s made a lot of waves — cancelling The Bryant Park Project — add up to a picture of greater efficiency by choosing existing tools to extend and build value with it’s established content rather than investing millions to build a gleaming Taj Mahal. I was an occasional listener to Bryant Park, appreciated how the show had evolved, and sympathize with those like the excellent, hard thinking Rob Patterson who are upset at its demise.

*Keep in mind, too, that these decisions were all announced in the span of 17 days.*

From a business standpoint, what I see emerging seems smart: fiscally efficient at a time of downturn in audience and revenue, and putting exciting new tools into the hands of their most important client base, public radio stations. NPR is making tough, bold decisions and I say, right on. My gut says we’re experiencing The Haarsager Effect (for the uninitiated, Dennis is NPR’s Interim CEO).

Put Your Money where Your M…M…Maker Is

Sue — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:32:13 +0000

I was commissioned to write an article by GrantMakers in Film and Video.

What do we need to “forget,” then, in public radio? There are two sacred concepts that make a good starting point: the supremacy of content, and public service.

Let’s start first with public service. Public service is public broadcasting’s holy grail. Service defines our very reason for being. We have in public broadcasting over the years devised specific and clear audience research methods to measure and define “public service.” More measured listeners = more success at serving the public = more compelling reason to be funded, be picked up by a distributor, or to be given air-time on a broadcast outlet. The public service mantra also offers a blend of humility and “make the world a better place” sensibility that’s pleasing to the dominant culture of the industry.

But in this time of forgetting, of re-imagining everything, I wonder what it would mean to let go of public service and consider a new raison d’être?

Read the full article

Out with the old, in with the new

Sue — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:43:22 +0000

The year ahead will have its ups and downs, just like 2007. Ella, sweet harbinger, is my gift to you, with wishes for a prosperous, healthy New Year. Praise the good.

Please install Quicktime to view this video file.

AIR

Sue — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:43:19 +0000

I’ve got a new assignment. On Sept 1, I’ll add AIR, Association of Independents in Radio, to my roster….I’ve been named Executive Director. AIR is the largest professional membership organization in pubradio — 600 strong — representing a broad cross-section of the “makers,” from station-based reporters to the networks — NPR, PRI, and APM/MPR — to independent production shops to the freelancer-independents who gave birth to the organization nearly 20 years ago in NYC. A recent survey shows that AIR members are a multiplicitas group — teachers, writers, reporter-journalists, curators, poets, archivists — working almost equally in the commercial and non-commercial sectors. AIR members produce or contribute to more than 400 radio programs and podcasts, receiving financial support from 183 corporations or foundations. It is, indeed, a formidable group distinguished by its passion for and mastery of the media and craft of sound. I’m honored to take this position, and excited at what lies ahead.

International Youth Forum

Sue — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:46:12 +0000

I’m presenting on Wednesday at the reunion of the The International Youth Forum, invited by a former client-colleague, Ginger DaSilva from Radio Netherlands. This group, founded in 1947, was a ground-breaking initiative of the New York Herald Tribune… Ginger is an esteemed alum. Fueled by post-WWII idealism, the newspaper and the Forum’s first director, journalist & war correspondent Helen Waller, took a UN-style approach to organizing young people from across the world. The idea was that, if seeds of understanding were planted in the youth, it would cultivate in them their “common humanity” and lead to a more peaceful and tolerant world. Participating countries selected chose one of their best and brightest to serve as their delegate who traveled to an annual gatherings (transportation free-of-charge, courtesy of Pan Am). In it’s heyday, round about 1959, it was quite prominent, with delegates participating in live, nationally televised debabes on world issues called “The World We Want.” By the ‘70s, after churning out 900 young delegates, the organization died a ‘natural death.’ Since the ‘90’s the alumni get together from time to time, and this year, delegates from 30 countries will hunker down in Boston to exchange ideas and have some fun. The cast of characters at last night’s meet-greet-cocktail party was fascinating… a former UK Permanent Representative to NATO, the former head of Chinese culture for Iran (she was appointed by the Shah, and survived the transition), and a tea grower from India.

Arriving is Leaving, again.

Sue — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:41:42 +0000

I love live radio best, and I’ve spent 19 years in a “secret corner” producing a live show on WMBR, MIT’s all volunteer, free-form station. In the Margin of the Other is an exploration of my wide-ranging musical tastes merging with sound/art and writing. I aircheck every show and listen to most of them but sometimes things slip by… like this show from last August, 2006. I was on a long, leisurely drive last week with my friend Adi and pulled this one up randomly on my iPod. I was surprised by what happened in one of the breaks. Surprised because I didn’t remember it (a consequence, I think, of being on air and in-the-moment), and surprised because it is little recapitulation of Arriving is Leaving from Between Here and Gone. A margin inside the margin.

Commercial radio rebirth?

Sue — Fri, 11 May 2007 21:13:49 +0000

I went to the One Hundred Club dinner this week hosted by one of my mentors, Norman Knight, honoring Peter Smythe. Smythe is Prez & CEO of Greater Media operating 20 radio stations around the country; one of the rare small to mid-size radio groups that didn’t get gobbled by Clear Channel. Knight was a colleague/contemporary of my radioman father, Don Schardt. My father and Norman are from the “innovation” era of commercial radio…when it was run by people who knew the power of the medium, made interesting programs, and who also carried a deep sense of public service. Smythe reflected on these values from the past and how they affect his present work. While I wouldn’t go so far as to characterize his speech as a rallying cry, I did get a little tingle up the spine while he was at the podium and in conversation with him afterward. I was pleasantly surprised, too, when Phil Redo stood up to give a dedication. Redo was, until coming to Great Media less than a year ago, Vice President of Station Operations and Strategy for New York Public Radio. He and Smythe have a long history and, as it turns out, is also a mentee of Norman Knight. He told me thought he’d finished with commercial radio for good awhile ago, but has been reinspired by Smythe and the work of Greater Boston Media. He’s tossed his hat back into the ring, and it’s got me thinking more about the possibility of a commercial radio rennaissance. What would it take to snatch back all that airspace from the money-mongers; turn it back to those who really understand the power of the medium?

“I conduct faster, and the face disappears”

Sue — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:54:35 +0000

I loved the bit from the NY Times obit for the great, recently-late, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, of his close relationship to Dmitri Shostakovich, “Sometimes when I’m conducting, I see his face coming to me. Sometimes it’s not really a happy face — I conduct maybe a bit too slow. So I conduct faster, and the face disappears.”

New England Conservatory has posted a rare, February 1987 recording of Rostropovich conducting the NEC Symphony Orchestra. The story has it that Rotropovich was taking a break from rehearsals with the BSO, with whom he was performing, to step across the street, pick up his baton, and lead NEC students as they sightread Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Click here to listen to the rehearsal. (note: the audio buffers slowly. you may want to wait until the whole thing loads before playing it to avoid annoying hiccups.)

We’re not dead

Sue — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:44:31 +0000

Coming back from a 2 day NPR “summit” in DC to today’s new report on digitial media published by Bridge Ratings. Here’s what jumped out:

Internet listening tops the growth projected for 2007 for terrestrial, satellite, HD radio, and other platforms.

On-line listening to terrestrial simulcasts will increase.

Satellite radio growth is slowing.

HD radio projections are bleaker than satellite, “disappointing” industry expectations.

In a reversal, 12-21 year olds were less likely in these 2006 studies to abandon terrestrial radio as they were in the 2004 studies.

So what does it all mean?

1. Internet listening tops the growth projected for 2007 for terrestrial, satellite, HD radio, and other platforms. Monthly Internet radio listening, reaching 24% of the US population in 2006, will move to 31% at the end of 2007 and a further increase to 38% by the end of 2008.
2. On-line listening to terrestrial simulcasts will increase. 25% of Internet listeners report listening to at least one on-line simulcast of on-air station in the 30-days prior to the survey. Projected to move to 31% by the beginning of next year and 38% by 2010 (contingent on outcome of the current copyright debate).3. Satellite radio growth is slowing. Previous 2007 audience growth projection of 3.9 million new listeners are tempered to 2.4 million. Sirius projected to take 60% of the new subscribers which would boost its listenership to 8.1 million versus 8.96 million for XM.4. HD radio projections are bleaker than satellite, “disappointing” industry expectations. Consumer awareness grows, but interest in owning or listening to HD slows. While 70% have heard of HD radio, just 9% say they are “Very Interested in owning HD radio.” Reasons give are “little or no interest “was “Don’t see a need” followed by “Not aware of its benefits”.

5. In a reversal, 12-21 year olds were less likely in these 2006 studies to abandon terrestrial radio as they were in the 2004 studies. Hinged on two factors: 1) renewed interest in terrestrial radio and/or its Internet simulcast and 2) “iPod fatigue” among a significant number of 12-21 year olds. From 2004 to 2006 the Bridge “panel” had reduced their weekly use of their MP3 players returning to terrestrial radio listening patterns similar to those this group used in 2004.

My view, gazing through this latest prism, is that:

1. We’re not dead. Whew. So before you move into your retirement planning, consider that there’s plenty of opportunity for traditional radio to grow, including among the young demographics who are often perceived to be abandoning us. Key, however, is that we’re going to find them via our on-line streams… not via receivers. Get busy thinking about what you’re going to do different with your stream.

2. Satellite is not the threat to pubradio audience once perceived, and the opportunities for pubradio to grow audience via satellite channels is limited.

3. HD opportunity is also quite limited. This could change, if there is a significant shift in public perception and habits re: the technology. Hard to make the case, tho, that it is within pubradio’s capacity to drive the shift that’s necessary. That’s not really our job.

Full report, plus more info on cell phones & podcasting at http://www.bridgeratings.com/