Inspired by recent discussions on EMF, who shrewdly used the NCE rules to their advantage to become a powerful operator. Smart on their part.
Why do you think that secular organizations didn't use this strategy? Why didn't you see deep classic rock, jazz, Americana or Triple A pubcasters pursue this model?
Sure, there's some regional service. The Current in Minnesota, XPN in parts of PA and with XPonential Music for HD channels. But the only example of a contemporary music pubcaster that's aggressively entertained expansion outside of their home market (and aggressive is an overstatement, compared to EMF) is KEXP. They tried a simulcast in Tacoma, a programming services agreement with WNYE in New York City, and now, successful expansion to the Bay Area.
My thinking is that a great deal of public radio culture values the idea of localism or regionalism, and a lot of these non-classical, rock and pop services lean into support of a local music scene. Nashville, Austin, Seattle. Some KEXP donors were nervous about losing the Seattle roots of the station with the KEXC project. But there's also an argument to be made that a curated service, in this case with live DJs, is equally valuable as a national or even global brand. The culture of the station has less to do on a day to day basis with being in Seattle and more the global community they've built. They send DJs to live broadcasts, as far as Iceland, even. There's so much potential there for community building.
So, is it just the "provincial" nature of the public radio world, or is there some other reason? (Money, now, would be an obvious one but I'm going further back, to when EMF started their growth.) What stood in the way of public media non profits doing the same thing EMF did and scaling their operation? KCRW's "Eclectic 24" sounds great. There's no reason a hosted version couldn't be a radio network. It's already on FM full time in San Luis Obispo. I'd like to see some pubcasters find some inspiration in EMF's model.
Why do you think that secular organizations didn't use this strategy? Why didn't you see deep classic rock, jazz, Americana or Triple A pubcasters pursue this model?
Sure, there's some regional service. The Current in Minnesota, XPN in parts of PA and with XPonential Music for HD channels. But the only example of a contemporary music pubcaster that's aggressively entertained expansion outside of their home market (and aggressive is an overstatement, compared to EMF) is KEXP. They tried a simulcast in Tacoma, a programming services agreement with WNYE in New York City, and now, successful expansion to the Bay Area.
My thinking is that a great deal of public radio culture values the idea of localism or regionalism, and a lot of these non-classical, rock and pop services lean into support of a local music scene. Nashville, Austin, Seattle. Some KEXP donors were nervous about losing the Seattle roots of the station with the KEXC project. But there's also an argument to be made that a curated service, in this case with live DJs, is equally valuable as a national or even global brand. The culture of the station has less to do on a day to day basis with being in Seattle and more the global community they've built. They send DJs to live broadcasts, as far as Iceland, even. There's so much potential there for community building.
So, is it just the "provincial" nature of the public radio world, or is there some other reason? (Money, now, would be an obvious one but I'm going further back, to when EMF started their growth.) What stood in the way of public media non profits doing the same thing EMF did and scaling their operation? KCRW's "Eclectic 24" sounds great. There's no reason a hosted version couldn't be a radio network. It's already on FM full time in San Luis Obispo. I'd like to see some pubcasters find some inspiration in EMF's model.
