There's even talk the NPR styled format may work as a commercial format.
There are a multitude of reasons why this wouldn't work.
Firstly, let's look at (mostly) conservative issues oriented commercial talk radio. Do they dare criticize who sponsors them? That format literally got taken over by where the money was (MAGA) and sidelined others who disagreed. Same with Fox News. Why would the dynamic be any different with an advertiser supported version of NPR styled talk?
KIRO in Seattle tried to "smarten" their tone about a decade and some change ago. They changed the presentation of the morning news, updated the bumper music to sound more like the selections you'd hear on KEXP, and allowed left-leaning hosts, developed a show called TBTL, had local shows on music, cooking, gardening and even pets.
Now TBTL is a successful podcast, the anchor of that morning news show is a KUOW contributor, and the talk lineup tries to "moderate" by not "offending" the audience the majority of their market isn't a part of, from sheer voting numbers. Because what makes great talk radio is, of course, being very concerned about not "offending" people who disagree with the hosts.
Commercial radio (and I do love and listen to
all forms of radio) is not set up for an NPR styled product. The majority of the commercial radio sector is not in the frame of mind to create it, it would take too much time to grow to fit an iHeart's budget, the potential sponsors would water it down or affect what was covered, and above all, they can't afford it and wouldn't staff it properly.
I had hopes for BIN, an iHeart project. I've listened. It's not a stellar product, to be candid. It's not moving the needle in most markets. I have no reason to think Audacity or iHeart would culturally understand or be willing to sustain some form of "commercial" "NPR" and you'd also be working from a point of audience skepticism.
Sure, dismiss NPR listeners as a bunch of "liberals" all one likes but at the core, it isn't just politics. It's presentation. It's cultural. And it's also why someone like my elderly father, who at times found Rush Limbaugh too "liberal" on certain things, listened to All Things Considered on his commutes through his career, and still trusts the PBS News Hour. It was because of the presentation. It was because there was actual journalism and a tone that, even if you thought you detected a "leaning" you could still take seriously and have some trust in the facts of the reporting.
Commercial media for the most part, apart from the local news departments that some stations like KFI, KIRO, and WWL still retain, gave up on that. And even the ones that retain it are very constrained by the clock. Like AAA, classical, and jazz, commercial radio is rarely suited to handle those formats anymore because of two things - culture and cost.
Public radio has managed to build something that keeps people engaged with radio on air and on line. Their audience (despite the culture war cartoon depictions of them) are educated, engaged adults who actually care about their communities, current events and culture. Many of these listeners are incredibly passionate about their stations, regardless of income.
Radio is not in a situation where we can afford to, or should be okay with, losing those people. And we won't preserve that type of radio or retain that audience by attempting to drag it back into another model of broadcasting that's economically challenged (and arguably in decline) and not a cultural fit for what public radio needs to be doing to fulfill its mission.
