The Sky Did Not Fall!

[MattParker]

The Washington Post reports this morning:

For NPR stations, a sigh of relief

A funny thing happened to NPR stations after the worst publicity fiasco in NPR's history: almost nothing at all...

...Yet after an initial flurry of mostly angry e-mails and calls in the wake of the Oct. 20 firing of (Juan) Williams, the controversy waned quickly and has all but disappeared, station managers say. More important, perhaps, is that few contributors revoked financial pledges made to the stations during fundraising drives held the week of Williams's firing. ...
READ MORE http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/15/AR2010121507161.html?wprss=rss_print/style

Sounds like all the people screaming when Juan Williams was fired aren't the ones who listen or - more importantly - contribute. The Post article adds, the Republicans could still push to cut federal funding for NPR. The article says NPR gets 1.7 per cent of its budget from the federal government.

 

[DG]

We noticed early on that the complainers were mostly non-contributors, but we still did have a few regulars pull their support.

While the "sky did not fall", I think the real issue in this matter is how NPR left the local stations to defend the network's actions. While many stations were perhaps unaffected by this, ours was not, and we are still having to deal with it.

Regardless of what the future political landscape holds for public broadcasting and its funding, internally this was a HUGE disaster between the network and its affiliates. Many (myself included), would suggest this latest action demonstrates just how out of touch NPR leadership is with regards to its member stations, the industry, and the current political situation. How and why Viv is still employed as CEO after this fiasco is baffling to me.

Externally, the political threat to defund CPB, and by extension NPR, is very real, and Viv's decision just days before the November Election has effectively made such a political mandate among the Conservatives. Right or wrong, her decision certainly has not helped local stations nor the network, and the real damage from it, like radioactive fallout, may not be immediately clear but could have lasting consequences.

 

[MattParker]

DG, you raise some important points.

The sky did not fall but there are some clouds on the horizon. In the long term, even more important than whatever contribution the feds make to public radio, is the future relationship between NPR and the respective member stations. There is a built-in conflict between the stations and the network. Even before Vivian, NPR wanted to move toward new media platforms and stations have resisted any moves they saw as undermining stations' traditional place. My observation is NPR would prefer to be independent of station dominance (through a board controlled by station representatives). Stations want to maintain and maybe even have greater control. NPR seems to think it serves the end-user/listener. Stations think NPR serves them. In this fray, we have the growing influence of the two largest alternative public radio program suppliers (both operated by some of the larger and most active member stations). It also seems to rankle stations somewhat when listeners identify with NPR, not their local station.

So, I'm not surprised Vivian did not take local stations into account when she decided to fire Juan Williams. Even though she said all the right things about localism and partnership when she was being hired, now she's got the job and she's going to push for autonomy and control of her operation. The station reps on the board can keep firing NPR CEOs, of course. But that won't resolve the basic issue: At some point public radio will need to operate outside the 70 and 90 year old technology of FM and AM broadcasting. If stations keep public radio, and NPR in particular, locked into past methods of operation, they are going to kill the goose.

 

[uncamark]

DG, you raise some important points.

The sky did not fall but there are some clouds on the horizon. In the long term, even more important than whatever contribution the feds make to public radio, is the future relationship between NPR and the respective member stations. There is a built-in conflict between the stations and the network. Even before Vivian, NPR wanted to move toward new media platforms and stations have resisted any moves they saw as undermining stations' traditional place. My observation is NPR would prefer to be independent of station dominance (through a board controlled by station representatives). Stations want to maintain and maybe even have greater control. NPR seems to think it serves the end-user/listener. Stations think NPR serves them. In this fray, we have the growing influence of the two largest alternative public radio program suppliers (both operated by some of the larger and most active member stations). It also seems to rankle stations somewhat when listeners identify with NPR, not their local station.

Which leads me to this question: If PRI or APM can put together a traditionally-bent, two-hour drive time news show and sell it cheaper than NPR's drive time shows, could they make inroads on NPR? Could PRI expand "The World" to two hours and make it less internationally-oriented? Could APM convince the CBC to expand "As It Happens" to two hours and make it more conventional (and anger the Canadian and longtime U.S. listeners)?

Notice that I don't include "The Takeaway," since it's meant to be an alternative to "ME," but it has its problems (the hardcore NPR audience hates it and it only seems to be making inroads on stations with predominately African-American audiences). The NFCB seems to be touting the show to its member community stations as a public radio version of Olbermann or Maddow that could be compatible with "DN!", but few seem to be taking the bait (and at the few that have, KBCS and KFAI have had some Pacifica-style internecine battles, complete with the "Save" web sites, over that show and associated programming changes).

 

[amfmxm]

If PRI or APM can put together a traditionally-bent, two-hour drive time news show and sell it cheaper than NPR's drive time shows, could they make inroads on NPR?

Yup. Especially, I think, if they take more of a hard news approach and/or (at the risk of blasphemy) include more immediate (like, uh, "today" or "tonight") info on sports, entertainment and the like--less weighty-but-still-of-real-interest content. Fewer stories about the vast nothingness of Central Nebraska...

It wouldn't be that hard to do.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

>> Fewer stories about the vast nothingness of Central Nebraska...
Fewer with respect to Morning Edition, or one of the existing alternative programs?

 

[aaronread]

Which leads me to this question: If PRI or APM can put together a traditionally-bent, two-hour drive time news show and sell it cheaper than NPR's drive time shows, could they make inroads on NPR? Could PRI expand "The World" to two hours and make it less internationally-oriented?

Theoretically, yes. Realistically? Unlikely. Program Directors are notoriously risk-averse and with good reason: change of any kind invariably angers listeners, and angry listeners don't donate. It would take a fantastically compelling case for any station to DROP "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" in favor of a competing show. Now if a station currently isn't airing any news programs at those times, then it's easier to see a lower-cost / equal-quality program from PRI or APM getting in there. But otherwise it's a tough sell...that was a major reason why "Bryant Park Project" folded; it was getting great play on the podcast front but it didn't have squat for affiliate stations.

Could APM convince the CBC to expand "As It Happens" to two hours and make it more conventional (and anger the Canadian and longtime U.S. listeners)?

Ehh...I'm just guessing but probably not. The agencies that control Canadian radio take a far more proactive stand on regulating content than the FCC does. I suppose it would depend a lot on what the changes requested are, but "As It Happens" is a Canadian show tailored to Canadian audiences; it just happens that some American stations carry it, too. I doubt the producers care all that much about the American affiliates - they care about the Canadian ones.