Much of the news content you hear on public radio is created by independent producers. NPR has always been a primary source of paid work for independents, so the recent layoffs and show cancellations at NPR have seriously impacted a lot of producers who rely on piecework to survive.
NPR
Classical Music Radio Should Be Listed As An Endangered Species
Two recent news items ought to make your head whirl. The first is from current.org which is the online arm of Current, the pubcasting journal.
The latest analysis from public radio’s Grow the Audience project identifies a “short list” of market factors that drive performance of individual NPR News stations–namely education levels, competition within each market for NPR News listeners and the presence of key psychographic segments.
Behind the Scenes: Fundraising at a Classical Station
This is not going to be a compendium of fundraising ideas for classical stations, so if you’re looking for the foolproof idea that will make your fundraising SING during a recession, sorry. I wanted to give non-radio types a look at what goes on behind the scenes.
It’s almost impossible for public classical stations to generate “earned income.” Radio has always been free — like the internet — so you can’t really sell the product, unless you’re satellite radio and force people to buy a special receiver and pay a subscription fee.