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If you’re interested in radio, and believe in the inherent power of "the
ear" as an agent of transformation, you’ve come to the right place.
Research
SchardtMEDIA Format Insights
Mapping Public Radio’s Independent Landscape
Research: Mapping Public Radio’s Independent Landscape – Key Findings, Critical Questions
Foreword
By Bill Siemering, Contributing Editor
We look at maps to see relationships: distances that separate and options
for getting to our
destination. One assumption of this study is that understanding the relationship
between
Independent Producers and Acquirers will enrich public radio. As in any
exploration, we make
discoveries. This takes us to a core question: how do we define public
radio in 2004? How we answer
that determines whether or not we have the same destination.
The Key Findings in Mapping Public Radio’s Landscape are an important
first step to answering this
question. I’m reminded of a map I bought before traveling to Mongolia,
where there are few paved
roads and you often travel the countryside following tracks. The map
had this disclaimer:
“Road/track information is unreliable. Does Hasagt really exist
without some sort of track to it? If so
where? Do the roads/tracks shown on this map really end where our available
research indicate? ...
Please regard this map as a provisional map.”
Likewise, while this study is an excellent way of understanding the landscape,
it is only a first step
and to some degree provisional.
Because of world events and the decline of commercial broadcast journalism
(1), public radio has
evolved into “a competitive news source for influential listeners.” The
Acquirers who respond to this
survey, who are mostly station program directors, but include a healthy
contingent of network staffers,are most interested in acquiring commentaries
and news pieces, and the Realists producers aresuccessful in supplying
this need.
At the same time, both the Independent Producers and Acquirers agree
that the producers make a
valuable contribution to public radio. However, according to the content
analysis, only two-percent of
the programming is from individual Independent Producers. And much of
this is in the form of
commentaries and essays, not evocative, sound-rich pieces.
The PRPD Core Values characteristics include “curiosity, idealism,
and a uniquely human voice;
conversational, authentic and intimate; attention to detail, music, sound
elements, language.” They
are the result of extensive audience research and describe the ideals
that listeners value most in
public radio programming, whether from Independent Producers, local stations
or the networks.
Research is what has also driven the evolution of public radio into a
primary news source. When
considering PRPD’s descriptions of the craft in the context of
what we’ve learned in this study about
the effect public radio’s news success has had on limiting demand
and air space for more
adventuresome uses of the medium, I wonder if we’ve arrived at
different destinations.
The differences between Acquirers and Producers uncovered in this study
regarding the use of
Arbitron and focus groups are understandable. While producers can benefit
from some research,
some of it is irrelevant to how they work or their objectives and assumptions.
New Yorker editor
David Remnick said, “I have never been to a focus group. I'm not
interested. It's not because I don't
care about readers but because I do. The New Yorker reader does not want
to be anticipated or
pandered to. Our reader wants to be surprised or thrilled. Thrilled never
comes out of a focus group."
In other words, research can be valuable, but it is very difficult to
calculate to what degree research
does, or should, influence the creative process.
Over the years, both when I was Executive Producer at Soundprint and as
a listener, I’ve regarded the pieces from independent producers as:
- Reflecting
the diversity of place, viewpoint and ethnicity that is America.
- Taking
listeners to neighborhoods they may only glimpse from the expressway,
or to a town they recognize only as a name on an exit sign on the Interstate.
- As
a source of innovative audio techniques.
- A way of bringing new talent
to the system.
- Enhancing the news magazines with features that breathe, and that engage the listeners’ imagination.
In this research,
the Acquirers seem to see the value of Producers’ in a more limited
light.
With the ascendancy of satellite radio and the increasing use
of the Internet for information and music, it’s important for us
to define the unique role for public radio now while continuing to serve
our core audience. So we ask, what is important? Is it still important
to reflect diversity? To celebrate the human experience? To capitalize
on the strengths of radio as a sound medium? To be a creator and curator
of culture? To inspire young people to the medium through innovative
examples? As the research in this study shows, there are at least three
different mindsets (Addendum
B [PDF]) at work here whose visions vary.
To me,
the most disturbing finding is the little use of the work of Independent
Producers, given the value they have added to public radio in the past.
In addition to projects such as “Hearing
Voices” and “Worlds of Difference” that are working
to use independently produced programming in new ways, the Public Radio
Exchange (PRX) is working to connect with station program directors who
are interested in creating a distinctive sound by drawing upon Independent
Producers. PRX facilitates the relationship between producers and acquirers
by finding available productions reviewed and rated. In turn, the process
encourages a higher level of craft. And transom.org on the Web is another
place for producers to present their work and encourage each other.
I don’t like to see anyone impose limits on what radio can do. This is my bias
after working in other places where the medium of radio is often the
most important. In developing countries, for example, I’ve seen
radio create a Commons by giving voice to people and helping them to
solve their problems. I’ve seen how soap operas create a model
for Tutsis and Hutus to live together in peace in Burundi and at the
same time be the most popular program. In South Africa I’ve seen
violent disputes settled on-air, and life saving information offered
by health workers, where public officials are held accountable.
Radio
can literally save lives by providing accurate information and by teaching
conflict resolution and peace making. At the same time it still inspires
listeners to sing and dance to the music. So I see radio with a new sense
of purpose.
Most importantly, public radio needs to define itself in
relation to the challenges to our older democracy, which has one of the
widest gaps between what the people want and what the government does.
People are hungry for community connections that transcend those things
that divide us.
Retuning to this “mapping”,
and the differences within our small community of public radio, informed
about our differences, let’s focus on our common goals. This paper,
this study, is but a first step. Using this information, the stakeholders
need to come together to define ourselves and see how each contributes
to the whole.
Let’s continue drawing the map so we can travel together
once we agree on our destination.
footnote:
1) Based upon “The
State of the New Media 2004 Annual Report on American Journalism” by
the Project for Excellence in Journalism (journalism.org). Some key findings:
61% of national television and radio journalists say that the state of
journalism is moving in the wrong direction. 51% are concerned about
the quality of journalism. 78% say too little attention is given to complex
issues. In the last seven year, newsroom staffing dropped by 57%-44%
fulltime and 71% part-time. Decline of journalism is also documented
in “The
News about the News” American Journalism in Peril” by Leonard
Downie and Robert Kaiser, both editors at the Washington Post.
> Next section: Executive Summary [PDF]
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us your ideas or comments.
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