System/Policy
WGA authorizes strike if freelance contract expires with GBH, WNET and PBS SoCal
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The Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a strike if the current contract expires Thursday.
FY24 fundraising analysis highlights diversity of sources as key to success
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Even in the face of declining audiences and high inflation, a CDP analysis finds that many public media organizations experienced new donor growth in FY24.
Quick Takes
Obama to nominate Scripps s.v.p. to CPB Board
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President Obama on Sept. 12 announced his intent to nominate David Arroyo to the CPB Board. Arroyo is s.v.p. for legal affairs at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he has worked since 2004. Previously he was an associate at the global law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is also a former chair of the Board of Latino Justice (formerly the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) and in 2012 was recognized by the Imagen Foundation as one of the most influential Latinos in entertainment. Arroyo’s nomination, Obama’s sixth for the CPB governing body, requires Senate confirmation.
Programs/Content
WNYC, Takeaway encourage stations to take it apart
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Public radio’s The Takeaway has more than doubled its carriage since cancellation of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and the show’s producers are working to add even more outlets by building news collaborations with station-based reporters and programmers.
Programs/Content
Localism emphasis poses risk
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Of all the complex and potentially fateful decisions faced by public radio program directors as they navigate the emergence of multiplatform distribution, one of the most significant is the drive to “go local” and produce more local programs, especially news and information. This push signals a strategic shift for public radio, with potentially enormous consequences for growth or decline. Audience 2010, one of a series of landmark research reports on programming trends published in the previous decade, reported that much of the credit for the growth of public radio listenership could be traced to a shift “away from local production toward network production, away from music-based content toward news, information and entertainment.” That shift was extraordinarily successful, representing two decades of impressive audience expansion and financial growth at a time when other parts of the radio industry struggled. Now, it appears that program decision-makers are changing course. But why would dozens of stations move off the path that worked so well and choose another approach that, viewed through the lens of audience research, would seem to be both more costly and less powerful in attracting listenership?
Programs/Content
Public radio is stronger, and better, when stations invest in national shows
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Public radio has reached a moment with the feel of the bank scene from It’s a Wonderful Life, as station managers worry that listeners will direct their financial support to national producers instead of them.
Quick Takes
Pacifica relieves WPFW manager of duties, urges staff to keep quiet
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Pacifica has placed John Hughes, g.m. of WPFW in Washington, D.C., on paid administrative leave and appointed an outside consultant as interim g.m., according to a member of the Local Station Board.
System/Policy
Redefining public media for the future
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Public media is made up of hundreds of storefronts in communities large and small, each of which has a unique window into America, its people and their stories. These storefronts — local public TV and radio stations — have built public media’s greatest asset: our unique relationships with listeners and viewers, local businesses and governments, and anchor institutions in the arts, philanthropy, education and social welfare. Yet at Public Radio Capital we increasingly hear from public media executives facing competitive and financial challenges that threaten their stations’ economic foundations and thus their effectiveness. Let’s face it: The public media business model isn’t changing. It has already changed in dramatic ways.
People
PBS programs win three at 2013 Creative Arts Emmys
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American Masters and Downton Abbey led the opening round of the annual Primetime Emmys Sept. 15 by claiming three Creative Arts Emmys for PBS. American Masters, a production of New York’s WNET, topped the category for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. Credit for the Emmy went to Susan Lacy, executive producer; Julie Sacks, supervising producer; Prudence Glass, series producer; and Jessica Levin, producer. The Emmy for direction in nonfiction programming was awarded to Robert Trachtenberg for his direction of the American Masters biography “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.”
Programs/Content
The Key raises WXPN’s profile as valued music curator
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With The Key, we’re able to better reflect the diversity of the Philadelphia music scene, give local bands a platform to showcase their music in multimedia formats and position XPN even more centrally in the market conversation around local music.
Programs/Content
Flatow moves Science Friday to PRI distribution
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Science Friday, the weekly NPR series hosted by Ira Flatow, is pairing with Public Radio International in a new distribution deal to take effect in January 2014. The agreement calls for Science Friday, a signature element of NPR’s science coverage since its 1991 launch, to continue as a weekly radio broadcast under PRI distribution. In addition, Flatow and his producers will collaborate with PRI series The World, The Takeaway and Studio 360 to develop multi-platform content around science topics. “We’re excited to work with PRI to expand their science and technology coverage,” Flatow said in a PRI news release. “PRI shares our vision of serving the public by telling compelling stories about timely issues.
Quick Takes
Alec Baldwin ending WNYC’s Here’s The Thing
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Alec Baldwin, the actor and diehard public radio fan, will be ending his own popular podcast and pubradio program after two seasons due to a lack of funding, according to the Hollywood Reporter.