If you build it, they will come…

I’m not an optimist by nature, but I do believe in holding onto core principles and values, particularly in difficult times. Over the past couple of decades, there have been predictions that radio, and specifically public radio, was doomed, that radio is an obsolete medium and public radio’s audience was on the way to the graveyard. The implication was that the American public wants infotainment, not news–and aggressively partisan voices, not depth, balance and perspective, that whether we brought you public media content on air or online, our time was past.

In fact, the audience for public radio has grown in recent years to 35 million/weekly, as commercial radio audience numbers declined.

Why?

I would argue adherence to core principles, including a good faith effort to provide fair and thorough news, to eschew brow-beating listeners into accepting a partisan point of view, and a commitment to creating a public space where civil conversation can thrive.

I write these words as an observation and a pep talk to myself. There is no such thing as “victory”–which implies we can sit back on our heels and let past work prove our worth. No, the latest analysis of the media landscape provides inspiration to do more:  to do things well,  to continually improve,  to expand and deepen our work.

Being inspired is my brand of optimism.