NPR shows us all how to do it
Written Sep. 29, 2007 by Larry Rosin in Content with 1 Comment
I was invited to speak at the Public Radio Program Directors' meeting in Minneapolis on Friday, and as I flew there from the NAB Radio show in Charlotte, it was fascinating to see the kind of parallel 'convention' worlds that Sean posted about here and Tom posted about here.
For me, the most incredible thing I saw was the public debut of "The Bryant Park Project", NPR's new morning show designed for younger audiences than their stalwart Morning Edition. The New York Times profiled this show here, (registration required) and you can go to the show's own Web site here.
Why was it incredible? Because they referenced that they have been piloting the show for months. They researched it. They practiced; threw things out that weren't working, and tried again.
Oh, and they gave the show a first year budget of $2 million.
Compare this to what is usually done in commercial radio, where we almost always just throw a couple of people into a studio and hope they can make it work.
Public Radio has grown 31% in the last eight years, and it's now going after younger listeners. Watch out Commercial Radio -- NPR is doing it right.
Reader Comments
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Ever wonder why NPR has grown so much? Good information of all kinds, no pandering to the lowest common denominator and best of all no hype!
Bob Christy
BTW Terry Gross does the best interviews with musicians I've ever heard, anywhere!