I don’t have to tell you there’s a sort of Podcast Renaissance taking place (again). But here’s what you might not know — there’s a Renaissance happening in Public Radio too. I’m not talking about new companies making new kinds of stories for a new(ish) medium, although this success should be applauded. I’m talking about in old public media, at the radio station. One that, if successful, can position local and regional stations to recapture the informed and engaged, while fostering a culture of curiosity and empathy within their communities. Yet with this transformation comes immense risk for stations unable or unwilling to embrace their new role.

Where we stand

Once upon a time terrestrial radio was king, and the local station held a monopoly on NPR news, and other public media material. For many markets it’s still the leader, but this will change. This is changing already. But it’s not just a technology problem, the radio format itself is the problem. On demand is growing, while traditional radio formats — both FM vs streaming — are flat or in decline.

And when it happens, what does the local station have left to offer? If your answer is ‘local news’ or ‘local content’ I’ve got some bad news for you. Becoming a wire service for NPR ONE isn’t a bright future.

It’s no secret local newspapers have had a rough decade. To remain profitable, many have had to remake their online offerings into something more resembling the local television station than papers of record. Here I could write a swan song for the statehouse reporter, or the 7 year veteran of the city council meetings, but this isn’t the place. Many of these companies, owned by larger national companies, shifted to homepages splattered with accused child molesters, blow-by-blow coverage of rape cases, or gossip columns on local sports and businesspeople, because they grew traffic. Revenue.

Thank god this isn’t an option for public radio, but it’s time to pull our heads out of the sand.

So where’s the danger?

The media landscape is changing faster than most realize, and often not in the way we think. The last three years have been filled with failed technical solutions to fundamentally content problems, with very few successes. For small stations this can pose an immense challenge. Identifying a successful platform at the offset is nearly impossible — looking at you Periscope and Vine. For many stations that struggle to get web-friendly versions of their stories online moving beyond Facebook and Twitter is simply not feasible. And that’s okay — but it’s not a free pass for business as usual. Eventually the local audience will switch to internet distribution, as the FM demographic ages higher and higher. For stations that haven’t laid the community groundwork for a post-FM, on-demand audience, this change could be disastrous.

It’s not impossible to imagine a 7–10 year timeline where we lose 1/4th to 1/3rd of NPR member stations. The dials may not go dark, but what used to be a 7 person station would be replaced with a repeater for the nearest large market, with one or two short reports a week. With forced, unplanned consolidation comes a narrowing of the mission. In some parts of the country we’re beginning to see it already, especially among the smaller university-owned stations. To avoid this future, smaller stations must begin thinking now about what it means to be local in an on-demand distribution age.

A way forwards

With the rare exception — informative local reporting alone will not pay the bills. We need analysis, yes, but more than ever before we need the context in which to ask questions. The daily talk shows, a steadfast staple of local public radio, are being cut across markets. So where does this leave us? The key, I believe, is to apply the spirit of public media reporting and analysis to new spaces, and new people, in new ways.

In short, we must pivot from creating a current, shared experience to sharing enduring experiences, and creating space for community growth. That is, content that demands no schedule from the listener, remains relevant for some time, and serves as a catalyst for community discussions. Explainer podcasts, live events, and expanded digital content offerings are are all good starts. The goals: create works that spark questions for the community, but crucially also provide a forum for that discussion. If it’s a story about an underserved community, do the events at the parish church, not the community college. This means moving away from the now, or at least packaging it in a wrapper of history and context. It also means fostering a nontraditional relationship with audience, especially supporters.

Courtesy of http://wearehearken.com/

One pathway is Hearken, a company built out of Curious City (funded by an AIR grant) has helped stations build a different sort of relationship with their audience. They allow readers to ask questions of journalists, and after some moderation vote on what they’d like answered. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is trying another route through Regional Journalism Center grants (RJCs). These look to fund regional collaborations between public media entities to tell more complete, regional stories.

Yet for the three-person newsroom at the ten person station technical platforms may be beyond reach, and this is where a focus on sharing enduring experiences, and creating space for community growth comes in. By embracing their role as storytellers and reporters local stations can explain local politics, contextualize community discussions, and serve as a forum on air, and in person.

In many of the larger markets this transition is already occurring in some form or another. Let me just say this— the giants will be fine, as will the majority of large stations/networks (Colorado Public Radio, St. Louis Public Radio…) yet often these changes occur laterally, as a growth off of the organization, not from within it. A lot of these larger stations still have the budget, and competition, to experiment. But trying something new is a lot harder when it means stopping something that previously worked.

Without a doubt there are small stations, and other nonprofit media, already doing it right. Texas Tribune makes 17% of its revenue off community engagement events. Tiny public radio stations cover national news stories in a way only public media can, and win a national Murrow awards for it. Many stations have a Mike Pesca or a Starlee Kine or an Alex Kapelman waiting for a green light. But it’s still about local. My old news director’s hyper-local explainer podcast was consistently our best-received content by an order of magnitude.

It might not fit in the traditional radio format.

That might not be a bad thing.