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.
On Monday YouTube announced the launch of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, which will tap classical musicians the world over to participate in two projects. First, they’ll have a chance to contribute to a mashup of a new work by Tan Dun. They’ll also be able to audition for a concert at Carnegie Hall, with their entries judged by musicians from major orchestras. Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct the Carnegie Hall concert, scheduled for April.
Marty wrote a series of thought-provoking posts a while back about diversity and classical radio. I was neck-deep in other business at the time and didn’t get a chance to chime in, but now I have some time to think things over and, I hope, advance the discussion. I’d like to start with a wide lens before zooming in.
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.