The Infinite Dial

With the decline of newspapers and the paucity of local content on broadcast radio stations, "local news" offline has become something of a scarce commodity. That's why I'm watching the Chicago News Cooperative very closely, and have high hopes that this sort of "low-profit" community journalism effort could bear fruit for local radio as well. I wrote about something very similar several months ago in "A Local Content Model For The Future," and these sorts of community cooperatives could be a compelling model to keep local journalism alive and well, and provide local radio stations with a low cost way to offer quality local news to listeners.

There is a conventional wisdom in music radio that news breaks are an "interruption," and few, if any, music stations offer news updates outside of morning drive. When local newspapers disappear as a source for offline community news, however, who's to say that local news wouldn't be welcome--and even expected-as radio redefines its role in the community in the coming years?