Tapping into the growing podcast audience

Authormike72x72_3 Does the classical radio station you work at or listen to offer podcasts? I ask after reading a short item in the Radio and Internet Newsletter that highlighted a recent Edison Media Research study on podcasting. Edison found that the number of Americans listening to podcasts has increased from 13 percent to 18 percent over the past year. This might not sound huge, but it is a bigger jump than from 2006 to 2007, when that figure rose only 2 percent.

Based on this, an Edison veep said “radio stations would be smart to create as much podcast-able content as they can.” The newsletter continues: “Webster and other media insiders feel that the reported growing interest, combined with coming developments that will bring podcasts to mobile devices, will make the programming ‘extremely attractive’ to advertisers.”

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More From Jack Allen and KBPS in Portland

Yesterday I promised you more about Jack Allen who is moving from KMFA in Austin to KBPS in Portland, OR. I asked him a bunch of questions about his plans for KBPS, and I’ll just quote his answers verbatim.

What is your overall vision for KBPS?

Vitality, service, reach, value, preeminence, prosperity, flexibility, and whimsy.

Do you think the station should be all local, or should it have a mix of the best from the rest of the country and local?

Local is important, critical in fact, but a mix is desirable. If folks come to rely on KBPS as their link and gateway to all things classical, the mix must include carefully selected programs and insights into events and ideas from around the region, US and globe.

How do you feel about airing live local concerts?

I believe in order to truly be local and relevant, we must seek out strategic partnerships and find those special events that put our regional and global audience in the front row of live & local performances. KBPS will be a unique ticket to all things, great things, local and regional, and sometimes global. The gal tuning in online from Berlin doesn’t want to hear musical selections (necessarily) from the Berlin Philharmonic. What’s the point? She may stay tuned if Robert McBride says, “…sit back and relax, sink your ears into this…performed here in the shadow of Mt. Hood, steps away from the Willamette River, at the juncture of the Oregon Trail…a new recording of the Portland Symphony Orchestra bringing to life the very American, the very adventurous and noble Symphony No. 9 by Antonin Dvorak, known as the ‘New World’ …enjoy.”

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New Management in Oregon

Station KBPS in Portland, Oregon announced last week that they have hired a new CEO, reports The Oregonian. Jack Allen comes from the programming side of classical music radio, but with a lot of management experience. He was director of news and music for seven years at Minnesota Public Radio, including being an on-air host at Classical 24. For the past five years Allen has been in Austin, TX managing the much smaller, listener-supported classical station KMFA. This article in the Austin Chronicle makes it pretty clear that Austin is going to … Continue Reading

A Real Concert in a Virtual World: Second Life

If I’m the blogger, you must be the bloggee. This morning I got to be both blogger and bloggee, by visiting Second Life, a 3-D virtual world/social networking site. A whole bunch of real people represented by their avatars went into the virtual Fraser performance studio at WGBH to listen to pianist Jeremy Denk play live.

The concert went out over the radio and the on-air feed was streaming on the web, as usual. But in addition, WGBH set up a computer simulation of their new performance studio. I signed up for Second Life a couple days in advance (it’s free) so I could practice. They walk you through it step by step.

Practicing was a hoot. I was in stitches most of the time. I got my avatar to walk up to the Steinway, but when I tried to get her to sit down on the piano bench, she would sit on the ground next to it or behind it; she even sat on the keyboard, but I couldn’t get her to sit on the bench!

When virtual Marty got in a car and started driving, some cute guy came along and hopped in the car with her. That never happens in real life.

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