Paul Jacobs and his company started as consultants to commercial radio, and worked for a decade doing research and consulting for public radio. I thought I’d share his perspective on the recent events in Washington–at NPR and in Congress, as continued federal funding is under consideration.<\/p>\n
Paul Jacobs chimes in with a timely post about NPR\u2019s travails and what they mean to all of radio.<\/em><\/p>\n When Howard Stern announced his departure to Sirius, Fred noted in a blog that his move was akin to Michael Jordan leaving the NBA, and he was right.\u00a0 It didn’t matter whether you liked Stern’s brand of humor – the bottom line was that radio was losing one of its biggest stars and as a result, there was one less reason for millions of listeners to turn on the device that Marconi gave us.\u00a0 And Howard hasn’t been replaced – nor have many of his listeners who followed him to satellite radio.<\/p>\n <\/a>I had the same thought yesterday morning as I was reading two radio trades.\u00a0 Radio Ink<\/strong><\/em>‘s Eric Rhoads premised that NPR<\/strong>‘s potential demise is a huge opportunity for radio.\u00a0 His thoughts<\/a><\/strong> were summarized with this quote:<\/p>\n \u201cBut the NPR uproar is a huge opportunity for radio, a giant insurance policy for struggling Talk and music stations at a time when non-political spoken word is set to prevail.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Apparently there’s a belief out there that should NPR crumble, commercial broadcasters are ready to swoop in to fill the void left by a broadcaster that attracts over 35 million listeners weekly.\u00a0 You could see the logic.\u00a0 But it’s faulty.<\/p>\n Because I then opened up Radio-Info and saw this headline<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n Clear Channel is Cutting Production\/Creative Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n Sadly, this has become a fairly common event in commercial radio over the past few years, as operating efficiency has been the watchword; in this case, consolidating production directors to save money.<\/p>\n Ah money.<\/p>\n When we first started consulting and conducting research in public radio over a decade ago, one of the first things we noticed was the quality of cars that public radio general managers drove (usually a 1990 Honda Accord).\u00a0 It was definitely a different culture than we were used to.<\/p>\n We got to know public radio stations and the audiences who love them, and then later went on to work for NPR.\u00a0 After countless focus groups and other market research endeavors, we came to realize that public radio’s success was no accident.\u00a0 It was the result of doggedly hard work and dedication by radio professionals committed to craft, a sense of fairness, and a never-ending quest for learning and discovery.\u00a0 And among the hundreds of people we got to know in public radio, I’ve yet to meet one who’s in it for the money.\u00a0 They don’t exist.<\/p>\n During the decade we worked for NPR (sadly, we don’t anymore, victims of budget cuts two years ago<\/a>), <\/strong>we came to appreciate and understand the investment \u2013 not just in dollars \u2013 that is required to produce quality content.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, to do radio on that level, you have to invest in research, people, and analysis.<\/p>\n We once worked for a commercial broadcaster with a Triple A morning show problem.\u00a0 Our research showed that the audience desired a better news product.\u00a0 The company\u2019s group guy suggested we simply steal one of the public radio station\u2019s news people \u2013 one of the hosts who did the local news \u201ccut-ins\u201d for NPR\u2019s Morning Edition<\/em>.<\/p>\n Maybe you can steal a morning show, but you cannot simply go out and buy a credible news image \u2013 for $35K.\u00a0 Public radio\u2019s success is no accident.\u00a0 And rather than look at public radio’s impact as siphoning audience away from the local commercial Talk station or All News operation (if there even is one in your town), why wouldn\u2019t Eric see public radio as \u201cadditive\u201d to terrestrial radio?<\/p>\n Because it is.\u00a0 When listeners switch between 91.7 and 99.5 and then go to 950, they\u2019re exercising their choice on the AM\/FM radio spectrum.\u00a0 When it reaches the point when the Howard Sterns on one hand and the NPRs on the other leave the building, the fans aren\u2019t going to continue to patronize the medium like they traditionally did.<\/p>\n One of Eric\u2019s go-to-guys at his wonderful Convergence conferences, Guy Kawasaki , summed it up rather well in a recent interview with Mark Ramsey<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 While Guy enjoys listening to Greg Kihn on Entercom\u2019s KFOX, he is a big fan of public radio, too.\u00a0 Despite the fact that Guy is someone with a total grasp of all the media options available to him, broadcast radio is a prime source of entertainment and information for him:<\/p>\n \u201cI think NPR pretty much <\/strong>understands<\/strong><\/em> enchantment.\u00a0 I love shows like <\/strong>Fresh Air<\/strong><\/em>, <\/strong>TechNation<\/strong><\/em>, <\/strong>Wait, Wait Don\u2019t Tell Me<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 I think Moira Gunn and Terry Gross and Peter Sagal all understand enchantment.\u00a0 They are what they are.\u00a0 They\u2019re very competent, they\u2019re very knowledgeable, they let it rip on the air; and so I love them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Public radio and commercial radio are RADIO.\u00a0 While \u201cshare\u201d is a zero sum game, \u201cshare of mind\u201d and perceived value are different propositions altogether.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not suggesting that when public radio suffers, all of radio feels the pain.\u00a0 But the fact is, commercial radio cannot and will not fill any gap that is left by collateral damage done to public radio and NPR.\u00a0 The efficiencies and ROI aren\u2019t there.\u00a0 Ask the venture capital guys and the bankers.\u00a0 Public radio’s problems aren’t going to help anybody\u2019s EBITDA.\u00a0 It takes people to do great radio. If public radio were to suddently \u201cgo away\u201d tomorrow, their audience wouldn\u2019t gravitate to Rush Radio.\u00a0 They\u2019d subscribe to Sirius and be gone.<\/p>\n There\u2019s room on the radio dial for Sean Hannity, traffic and weather at the 8\u2019s, and<\/em><\/strong> All Things Considered<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s part of the eroding charm of terrestrial radio.\u00a0 As we have ratcheted our focus to a more 25-54 centric target, axing formats like Smooth Jazz and Classical (yes, there are still plenty of these public radio formats left) because \u201cwe can\u2019t make any money on them,\u201d the AM\/FM choices become narrower and narrower.<\/p>\n NPR\u2019s angst is not \u201cgood for radio.\u201d\u00a0 If they go, their core listeners will go, too.<\/p>\n Eric, you are one of radio\u2019s biggest fans, and we have a great deal of respect for you and Radio Ink<\/em>.\u00a0 But we think you got this one wrong.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Email to a friend<\/a> \u2022 View\u00a0comments<\/a> \u2022 <\/a>\u2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paul Jacobs and his company started as consultants to commercial radio, and worked for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}