Israel Smith’s Post

View profile for Israel Smith, graphic

Leading and growing public media for new and existing audiences.

It would appear that the “new realities” public radio has been discussing for years have arrived, and they have our full attention. Audiences are down in most places, deficits are mounting and staff are being cut, and the editorial heart of our news coverage is in question. As Programming leaders, the question of the moment is, “what now?” We can “admire the problem,” or we can act. On April 24 at 2p CT, Paragon and Listen Again Tomorrow want to start a conversation - ideas for "what now". What meaningful steps can the programming community take individually and together to respond to this new reality? RSVP at listenagaintomorrow at gmail We imagine April 24th as the first of three sessions - earning back the core, new things for new audiences, and scalable/sustainable digital. If you’d like to join this first conversation, send an email to listenagaintomorrow at gmail with the subject line “what’s next,” and a topline response (2-3 sentences) to the question below. We’ll pick 2-3 responses to highlight and discuss on Zoom. Space is limited (because Izzi has a cheap Zoom plan), so RSVP soon. Question for April 24 - How might we (as stations, NPR and other content providers, and as leaders shaping the culture of our organizations) earn back 50% of the audience most stations have lost in the past few years? What this is NOT - a sales thing for Paragon and Listen Again. We’re interested in ideas about action, not pitching work. We will also not be directly discussing the Berliner essay. We look forward to thinking and evolving together. Izzi Smith, Listen Again Tomorrow (listenagaintomorrow at gmail) Mike Henry, Paragon

Will Dahlberg (he/him)

Executive Director and General Manager (WBHM)

3mo

Izzy, if you would like to host this on a Zoom platform that can handle a larger crowd, I could be happy to help assist and partner with you to use our platform. I believe it is part of our mission and my job to help bring conversations like this together among our cohorts. Sometimes that means sharing resources and tools for us to all use together. Just let me know!

Tim Roesler, MA

LEADER | STRATEGIST | BUSINESS DEVELOPER ---- C-Suite experience including President. Interim leadership expert in media and non-profit. Interim and fractional roles welcome. Tim.Roesler@protonmail.com

3mo

I like this concept Izzy. Hope it’s a great start to a more solution- based approach. Guessing your disclaimer about not discussing Berliner doesn’t mean excluding discussion about public media’s political lean, and what if anything to address there.

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David Brower

Executive Director at PineCone, The Piedmont Council of Traditional Music

3mo

The longer I’ve been away from Public Radio the more convinced I’ve become that part of the solution may be more analog than digital. The observe and report model is just not working anymore. I would love to see public radio stations partner with others in their community who bring people together in physical spaces for shared cultural and intellectual experiences. It’s not enough to just be a good listener, y’all need to make friends with and support more conveners.

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