PRPD Programming Conference Dates Set

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PRPD is pleased to announce its 22st annual Public Radio Programming Conference, to be held Tuesday September 15 through Friday September 18, 2009 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in Cleveland, OH.

We’ve rearranged the schedule to help save on room nights. This year we’ll begin with Format Groups on Tuesday at Noon and end on Friday Noon so you can be home for the weekend. Opening receptions will begin at 7:00pm on Tuesday.

As usual, we are offering a discounted Early Bird Registration Rate, so be sure to register before the deadline. More information on the conference and hotel rooms is now available at the PRPD website. The online registration forms will be activated next week. Watch your email for notification and links.

This year we’ll continue our focus on audience trends, best practices for radio programming, matching content to multiple platforms, on-air fundraising and management skills.

Prior to the conference, we offer several intensive Workshops for programmers:

• The PD Workshop covers the essentials of programming. The PDW begins on Saturday, September 12th at 2:00pm.
• A new Talk Show Workshop (joint PRPD project with NPR's Local News Initiative)
• Using Arbitron Portable People Meter data - (presented by RRC)

Also available on the PRPD site is information about conference sponsorships and exhibiting. As we develop the agenda, we’ll post more details at PRPD online, including announcements about conference sessions, our keynote speakers and more.

If you attended last year’s conference in Hollywood, our highest-rated ever, you know just how valuable and enjoyable PRPD’s annual gathering is for programmers at every stage of their careers. If you missed it, don’t make the same mistake twice; plan to meet us in Cleveland.

Plan now to attend. If you have any questions, feel free to contact PRPD at info@prpd.org or 315-824-8226.

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Udoji Takes Leave of Takeaway

Adaora Udoji is leaving The Takeaway to spend more time with her family. She and her husband recently adopted a child.

WNYC President and CEO Laura Walker and PRI President and CEO Alisa Miller said that while a search is underway for a replacement, John Hockenberry will be joined on-air by a selection of temporary co-hosts, including Farai Chideya.

Udoji and Hockenberry were the original hosts of The Takeaway, which originates at WNYC.
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JMEGS Date Correction and Link

Registration is now open for the first Morning Edition Grad School for Journalism. JMEGS will be held adjacent to the PRNDI conference in Portland, OR on Thursday, June 11, 2009 (not June 10 as previously announced).
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Who's Afraid of Digital Media?

The Future Changes blog, authored by wiki guru Stewart Mader, suggests that NPR is thriving while other legacy media sags because it has embraced new media. He writes:

What’s most important is that NPR sees digital media not as a threat - something to be ignored, fought, and derided - but as an asset, key to reaching its audience, and a centerpiece of future growth. That’s the approach necessary for good decision making that should lead to continued success.
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Grow The Audience Draft Report Published

After an extensive, year-long process, the Station Resource Group has posted a draft version of the CPB funded Grow The Audience report for "discussion and comment." Entitled Public Radio in the New Network Age: Wider Use, Deeper Value, Compelling Change, the report is the result of broad range of consultations, discussions and input from both within and outside the public radio system.

This draft is intended to stimulate further input as outlined in the introduction:

PUBLIC RADIO IN THE NEW NETWORK AGE is published as a draft for discussion and comment by individuals throughout public radio and by supporters from outside the field. A final project report will be published in late May.

Please send comments and suggestions by email to GTA@srg.org.

We look forward to receiving your comments by May 18th.
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WHYY Makes Cuts

WHYY in Philadelphia late last week laid off 17 employees, 16 full-time and one part-time. The move is said by the station to save about $1.2 million in salaries and benefits.

A spokesperson for WHYY told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the cuts did not include anyone "in news or content production."

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has called for the state to stop supporting public broadcasting.

Time to Update Your Outlook Contacts

KBPS is now KQAC.

The Portland, OR public broadcaster also changed its name to All Classical Public Media, Inc. replacing KBPS Public Radio Foundation, Inc.

Additionally, its call letters in Gleneden Beach are KQOC. The call letters for Hood River (KQHR) and The Dalles (KQDL) will remain the same.

The address, phone numbers and email remain unchanged.
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KQED, WAMU Near Top of Markets

Arbitron has released their March PPM figures and two public radio stations are in their markets' Top 5 in Share %. KQED was #2 (12+, Mon-Sun 6am-Mid.) in San Francisco and WAMU was 4th in the DC metro.

PPM became the currency in Boston yesterday and WBUR was in the Top-10 at #8.

There are now 15 PPM markets , with five more scheduled to convert in June (Miami, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis and San Diego).
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Another Round of NPReductions

That thud you just heard was the other shoe dropping at 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW today.

More cuts have been made at NPR according to a posting on the website of the NABET-CWA, the union representing many of the employees. In summary, NPR and the union agreed to:

• A temporary suspension of employee pension fund payments by NPR, and a reduction of payments in the future;
• A reduction of six paid holidays;
• A five-day, unpaid furlough for staffers between now and Oct. 1;
  

Some 72 percent of union members voted in favor of the "economic crisis concessions".

There are also reports that 11 staff members were laid off.

Update: The Washington Post Friday reports there will be 13 staffers laid off.
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Social Network Use Continues to Grow

A new report by the Neilsen organization finds that the use of social networking sites like Facebook has surpassed Web-based email, and time spent on such sites is growing.

The Global Online Media Landscape: Identifying Opportunities in a Challenging Market found:

* There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
* In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
* In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.

Change is not limited to social networking; growth is explosive in video on the web:

* The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
* Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
* In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.

On the topic of social networking, PRPD's next members-only webinar is on Twitter. Watch for details.
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WNYC Opens Performance Space

WNYC is moving forward to the good old days as it opens its new Jerome L Green Performance Space. The studio is at street level with large windows so pedestrians on Hudson Square can watch performances and programs live.

The New York Times explains:

“It’s not just about going back to performance; it’s also about adding a 21st-century multiplatform aspect,” said Laura Walker, the president and chief executive of WNYC (93.9 FM and 820 AM)."

WNYC opens the Greene Space with an 11-day festival of special programs and performances.

The station's flagship shows -- Brian Lehrer, Leonard Lopate, Evening Music and Soundcheck -- will produce broadcasts in the Greene Space once a month.
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New Ways to Find Music Proliferate

Looking for new music? Fire up Midomi.com or thesixtyone.com or songza, or ...

The Internet has made possible many things, and discovering new music is just one of its wonders. The Newark Star-Ledger lists many of the websites that make finding new music a snap. Columnist Allan Hoffman writes:

Though Baby Boomers sometimes lament the good old days, when you could tune into FM radio and hear an eclectic mix of tunes, that golden age of radio seems like the dark ages in comparison to what's possible with today's music-related startups and Internet radio stations. In fact, today's web-based options for uncovering new tunes are so diverse and varied, you might wonder if you'll ever have time to listen to the music you're discovering.
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Book Explores Radio's Earliest Days

Anthony Rudel is the guest on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show today at noon Eastern. The topic is Rudel's latest book,Hello, Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio.

Rudel formerly was an on-air host at new York City's WQXR-FM. He is the author of books on opera and classical music and is a consultant for public and commercial stations.

New Media is Now Just "Media", and ...

KUOW, Seattle, today discussed Your Brain on New Media on its Weekday show this morning. Host Steve Scher discussed the changing media landscape with Howard Finberg, Hanson Hosein and Alva Noe.

"Media is no longer a one-way message to a passive audience," said Finberg on Weekday.

The conversation explained how media (newspapers, radio, TV, et al) is now "legacy media" and that "new media" is now just "media".
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PPM Shows Radio Listening Steady All Day

As Arbitron's PPM measurement system rolls out in more markets, we continue to learn more about the dynamics of actual listening (rather than recalled listening in diaries). A new study by Research Director Inc. demonstrates that "radio’s hour‐by‐hour listening levels are consistently strong throughout the day, not only in the morning, but also in middays, afternoons, and on the weekend."

The study looked at Arbitron PPM data from the 10 major markets where PPM is already the currency from September 2008 through January 2009. In a press release yesterday they reported:

Marc Greenspan, a managing partner of Research Director, Inc., cited the fact that the top four hours of listening occurred in three different dayparts. “Clearly the belief that radio is only a morning drive medium is simply not true.”
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Revived College Station Goes Classical

In a relatively pragmatic move, students reviving a dormant student station in southern Utah decided to take it from Top 40 to classical.

KXSD, after being silent for about 10 years, is back on the air at Dixie State College in George,UT.

The Desert News says, "... students are relaunching the station with a classical twist, 'because they know that a classical station will go a lot further on their resumes and cover letters,' (faculty adviser Paul) Bulkley said."

Read the college's news release.

Troubles Grow for Print

These nuggets from the land of ink-stained wretches:

• Plans are in the works by three media mega-stars to create a process which will allow print media to charge for online access. More
• Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. says it is building a new unit to swap content across its media empire. Among Murdoch's holdings is media as varied as The Wall Street Journal and MySpace. More
• With newspapers set to report first quarter financials soon, the news is expected to be bad. In the worst slump since the Great Depression, ad revenues are down as much as 30 percent. More Magazine ad spending is only slightly better. More
• Newsroom cuts continue at most major newspapers. The Chicago Tribune is cutting 20 percent of its newsroom staff. More

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MEGS For Journalists Planned

Registration will be opening soon for the first Morning Edition Grad School for Journalism. JMEGS will be held adjacent to the PRNDI conference in Portland on June 10, 2009.

This is the first workshop that applies MEGS principles to journalism. The JMEGS workshop will provide stations with strategies for selecting stories, interviewing, writing, polishing newscasts, and promoting your work. Each station will complete an action plan in the workshop and receive follow-up consulting from the JMEGS team.

JMEGS is made possible by the NPR Local News Initiative, with additional support and cooperation from PRNDI.
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WFMU Creates Free Music Archive

WFMU (Jersey City, NJ) last week launched the new Free Music Archives, a database that includes tracks users can download for free and listen to on portable devices, or as music for audio or video productions and podcasts.

Free Music Archives collaborates with KEXP (Seattle) and KBOO (Portland, OR) and several online stations and services to build and add music to the database. Offerings, said to at about 5,000 so far, are categorized by curator and by genre.

The Free Music Archives site explains itself:

Inspired by Creative Commons and the open source software movement, the FMA provides a legal and technological framework for curators, artists, and listeners to harness the potential of music sharing. Every artist page will have a bio and links to the artists’ home page for users to learn more about the music they discover via the Free Music Archive. We also seek to compensate artists directly. Artist, album and song profiles will contain links to buy the full album from the artist and/or label’s preferred vendor(s). Users can also “tip” an artist if they like what they hear, sending a donation directly to the artists’ PayPal account. Artist profiles include tour dates, encouraging users to step away from the glowing computer screen and see some real live music.
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Whole Lotta Shakin' NOT Goin' On for MPR

Several months ago we posted a piece about how the new light rail service in St. Paul could leave Minnesota Public Radio literally shaking in its boots. But, things have changed: compromises have been reached to mitigate vibrations and noise along the rail path near MPR headquarters and several churches located nearby.

Startibune.com reports:

The Metropolitan Council, which will build and operate the $914 million line that will pass in front of MPR's headquarters in St. Paul, will put a portion of the tracks on a "floating slab" -- concrete with giant steel coils underneath -- to reduce vibrations. The council also will relocate a crossover switch on the tracks, pay for modifications to three studios, and restrict the use of train horns in a "quiet zone" around MPR and two historic churches nearby on Cedar Street.

The rail line is expected to start service in 2014.

Diving IntoThe Giant Pool of Money

The Giant Pool of Money, the NPR/This American Life explanation of the housing crisis, continues to receive critical praise for helping make sense out of the near-incomprehensible.

Adam Davidson, NPR's international business and economics correspondent, recently explained some of the background on the project in a discussion at Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab. His conversation on "explaining the explainer" was videoed and appears along with some transcripts of the original program on the Nieman website.

Not only does Davidson explain some of what went into producing The Giant Pool of Money, but he also talks about the state of business journalism.

WAMU Reporter Has Equipment Confiscated

David Schultz, a WAMU reporter working on a story about mistreatment of a Veteran's Administration hospital, had the digital memory card containing an interview with a patient confiscated by hospital officials and four armed security guards.

WAMU's website today reports:

(Interview subject Tommie) Canady tried to tell his story to me during a town meeting, but hospital officials interrupted the interview and confiscated WAMU’s equipment until the recording was surrendered to them. They claimed Canady was required but failed to sign a VA release form. No one at the hospital would comment for this story and the Department of Veterans Affairs central office did not respond to requests for an interview.

Listen to Schultz's story.
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What's the Status of Online Reporting?

A recent survey by the Online News Association and The Pew Research Center Program for Excellence in Journalism finds a good deal of optimism and even some profitability in reporting the news online. Several key findings included:

• When asked what online journalism is “doing especially well these days,” many named aspects of technology such as using advancements to create rich, engaging media (31%) and reaching out quickly to audiences, as well as giving readers a voice (30%). Lower on the list were new forms of storytelling (16%) or exploiting the potential for greater depth or analysis (12%).
• The vast majority of the respondents (77%) work in for-profit models. And, a majority,(61%)say their sites are currently turning a profit. Notable here is the fact that two-thirds of those in for-profit models (67%) say their sites are subsidized by their legacy media outlets. Less than a third (29%) are either an online-only entity or separate from the legacy outlet.
• Six in 10 (63%) respondents ranked original reporting as the most important type of information they produce. This was more than four times as much as the second choice, aggregated material from wires and other legacy outlets (13%).
• Three-quarters of the surveyed ONA members said their sites' home pages are “essential to getting their content to users.” This is nearly three times the number that named e-mail alerts (26%) and RSS (26%). Just 9% considered posting to social media sites essential and postings on YouTube were named essential by 4%.

See a video of the survey presented at a recent conference at Merrill College.
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Brooklyn Artist Sketches Morning Edition

Mornings With NPR is not a new show. Instead it is an illustrated blog by Alesandra Olanow.

Each day as she listens to Morning to Morning Edition, the Brooklyn freelance artist and illustrator creates "... a little sketch of one of the stories."

It's certainly worth a look.
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Schiller Talks Local, Multiplatform & Station Relations

Since assuming her duties as CEO & President of NPR, Vivian Schiller has been somewhat of a media darling being interviewed often and accepting numerous speaking engagements. Her latest interview is with mediabistro.com's fixture feature "So What Do You Do ..." and covers a lot of ground.

Here is a precis of this expansive discussion. Schiller said:

We need to align with the stations. NPR needs to do a better job of working with the stations and come up with a common vision so we can make this local experience better and better on every platform.

And ...

To me, local is the big play, because local commercial radio has abandoned the local market. Local newspapers are withering or sometimes dying. The big national media companies, including excellent ones like The New York Times, cannot afford to be covering every single community. So that leaves a big, gaping hole to serve Americans' local coverage. What we offer in the combination of NPR and the local stations is one-stop shopping for -- and it's not perfect -- local, regional, national, international news. That is our big play.

And ...

I launched an internal blog on our intranet for staff ... The next step is, I'm going to launch a blog for the NPR stations system.

And ...

How do we translate those qualities people love about NPR to other mediums? I don't know the answer to that, but I know we need to do it. Not so much with video but online, mobile, whatever people want, podcasts -- you name it -- so that you have that same sense of the NPR experience wherever you are.
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Colorado Public Broadcaster Adds Spanish Language Signal

Summit Public Radio in Breckenridge, CO has switched one of its signals from NPR programming to broadcasting the signal of an all-Spanish language station. The broadcaster said it made the switch to address the needs of the fastest growing segment of the population in its market.

Baldy Mountain is (at right) home to Summit Public Radio.

KQSE-FM, a Spanish language station will be carried on Summit's 107.1 frequency. It will continue to carry the NPR signal of KUNC on 88.3.

Summit's website carries a release detailing the change.
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WSJ Details Money Issues Between NPR, Stations

Every relationship, from time to time, is strained by money issues. Such is the case these days in the relationship between NPR and its member stations, and it continues to spill over into the media.

The Wall Street Journal today carries a headline that says, "Cutbacks Cause Conflict Between NPR, Member Stations." The story under it details the cutbacks at NPR and the recent suggestion by Susan Stamberg and Melissa Block that the mother ship hold a pledge drive of its own.

What the Journal's story does that other ones haven't is include an email from KCRW's GM Ruth Seymour (at right) to Stamberg. Seymour reminds the NPR special correspondent that her employer is not the only one with money worries. She writes:

Local stations are struggling to make ends meet. While NPR has suffered major underwriting losses and reduced foundation grants, that's just as true for member stations. We have our own programs to consider, our staffs to protect and local communities to answer to.
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AP to Block Use of Its Content by Web Aggregators

The Associated Press has Google and like-minded news aggregators in its sights.

During its annual meeting, the news service issue a release that says:

The Associated Press Board of Directors today announced it would launch an industry initiative to protect news content from misappropriation online.

AP Chairman Dean Singleton said the news cooperative would work with portals and other partners who properly license content – and would pursue legal and legislative actions against those who don‘t.

“We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories,“ Singleton said at the AP annual meeting, in San Diego.
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KC Community Station Faces $ Crunch

A triple conjunction of financial problems leaves a Kansas City community radio station in trouble.

The Springfield (MO) News Leader reports on the fiscal issues facing KKFI. It says:

"KKFI fell more than $30,000 short of its goal for its fall fundraiser. Then, the station had to replace aging equipment after being forced to move from its longtime headquarters on Westport Road to new offices at 39th and Main. In February, the Federal Communications Commission fined the station $3,000 for failing to file its license renewal on time. KKFI is appealing the judgment."
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What's on the Royal Playlist?

Just picture Queen Elizabeth II with earbuds in her royal ears.

The world may get a chance to see just that image very soon because President Obama gifted Her Royal Highness with an iPod when the two met today. The president, in London for the G20 gathering, gave the queen an iPod filled with photos and video of her 2007 visit to the U.S. as well as music and other goodies.

The queen was also given a Richard Rodgers songbook.

No word if any public radio podcasts were included on the now royal iPod.