Comments on: If ‘newspapers’ can die, then ‘public broadcasting’ can die, too

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:59:12 +0000

Thanks, John. I had read the Niles piece before and saved it for future reference as we here at ‘HYY try to map out how we’re going to make ourselves relevant for the Greater Philadelphia “community.” Gotta admit I hadn’t come acros Robert Paterson (I just started really thinking about this stuff) so thanks for the tip!

By: John Proffitt

John Proffitt — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:40:32 +0000

Dan — thanks for the comment. I actually think a station that has a low percentage of CPB revenue is in a much better position. Because you can use that 10%, say, to fund traditional broadcasting operations and development. The other 90% is theoretically free to do whatever you want, right? Well, sort of.

The less you’re beholden to the “B” in CPB, the more freedom you have to do public media or new media or social media or whatever you want to call it.

Of course, a lot of this talk is theoretical and forward-looking. The reality is that Broadcasting brings in the most money for now and, for as long as mass media models hold sway, will dominate our operations. But I still see a day when that will fundamentally fall apart.

I have to say, as much as I love public media, I barely listen to radio or watch TV — public or otherwise — anymore. I get my news online (thus breaking my dependence on NPR) and find social media much more rewarding than mass media. I’m not typical, of course, but what if social media adherents — like Robert Paterson — are simply at the leading edge?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:46:26 +0000

And what about stations for whom federal funding, while important, is less than 10% of overall revenue? Can a local philanthropic or member base support these initiatives or is it necessary for some sort of for-profit/non-profit hybrid.

It seems like a real Catch-22, or chicken-egg problem. We want to transform to be more engaging of the community which, in turn, could naturally lead to more community buy-in in the form of membership dollars to sustain the journalism and interaction. BUT we need the community “buy-in” (literally) to provide the funding to get it started.