http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/01/26/07
Here is a story from National Public Radio's On the Media. The story is an exploration of the declining role that music is playing on public radio stations across the country. For many public stations, especially NPR affiliates, the audience demand is growing, not for jazz or classical music but for the news and information programs.
Now, public radio has, as part of its mission to "serve the underserved." There aren't many commercial jazz or classical stations, and that has been much of what public radio has presented to its listeners, along with Morning Edition, All Things Considered, etc, so that they would musically be, "serving the underserved."
The story interviews many of the people in the jazz community in Chicago upset at the disappearance of jazz programming from the WBEZ schedule, and, despite their outcry;
I don't listen to the radio much. Why would you even bother if you had an enormous CD collection or record collection, like I'm sure you do and most of us do?
-Lauren Deutsch, executive director of the Jazz Institute.
No, I don't listen to jazz on WBEZ. I mean, sometimes I will in the car, actually. Primarily listen to talk radio or CDs. I have a CD player and I have a six-CD changer, and I bring stuff to and from the office.
-Downbeat editor Jason Koransky.
Now, I gave up on BEZ before we moved, four years ago, to the South. And the reason I gave up is because I thought their programming was horrible.
-Former Jazz Institute president, Penny Tyler.
So, like many of us, even Jazz enthusiasts who are upset about the absence of Jazz on the radio, don’t actually listen to it when it’s there.
The reporter even interviewed his kid and some friends who said much the same thing.
I find this exciting because I love radio and want it to live up to its potential. I want more for it and more from it than just music. With an ipod full of music, one wouldn’t ever need to tune in to the radio for music, but instead for programming only available from the radio.
There is a vast underserved audience in America for intelligent, high-quality, civil, civically responsible news and information programming. I guess every station has to ask itself what constitutes a more valued and valuable public service, providing a listener something he or she cannot get anywhere else or something he or she can get somewhere else?
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4 comments:
The future of public radio sounds conflicted. DC is re-embracing it's classical format and Chicago is is ditching the jazz and presenting more informative programming. Each geographic location has its own dynamics and what is working in one place may not be what works best some place else. It sounds as if the professional jazz community in Chicago had extremely high standards for a jazz radio show where as the average jazz listener would find the programming enjoyable. NPR should be aware of the changes in society and adapt their programming to meet the needs of the listeners and if we want unbiased, informative information today in place of music, since we have so many other musical options, they should do their best to respond to the listeners.
Many stations are adding additional programming streams. If you log on to WNYC, you will find that they have internet based music stations, all news and information stations, etc.
I think that, much like with the satilite radio, they are building programs for the different segments of the population and just finding innovative ways of putting it out there.
I think that people are just being too picky. The demand for variety is getting higher and it sounds like the public radio industry is just trying to keep up with it all. I don't listen to jazz music, but I do run by it sometimes. I don't think that the jazz station should go dissapear at all. Just like television, I can't wait to see what different types of news and information programs they come up with.
I think Giovannoni said it best "The threat of diminished federal funding has, in the past, motivated public radio stations to become more financially self-sufficient. It means that they're going to take a hard look at their program schedules and they're going to determine whether a program is really serving the public..."
It's true with this generation that technology (e.g. iPods, Internet) have made it much more convenient to hear the music (and vast genres)we want, without having to listen to one format all day, or switching between channels. Younger people are just as busy as older Americans nowadays with school, work, and families, and the idea of being able to have the music literally at your finger tips is nice.
Not to mention, I think people are just overly stimulated as it is, thus, turn off the radio, tv, etc. Stations have to be sensitive to public mood, trends, wants, and needs if they want to continue to have a viable station that is profitable.
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