After four days at the PRPD I’m trying to process the many voices competing in my head. The big, overarching question we radio types ask ourselves every year is How do we increase our audience?
People
Day 2 at the PRPD
There are lots of sessions going on at the Public Radio Program Director’s meeting, but of course on this blog I’m just reporting on the classical music ones. This morning was a session on fundraising, and I’m pretty sure the stations don’t want me to give away the secrets of how they’re planning to persuade you to donate. Let’s just say they sincerely want classical radio to be a partnership with their listeners, and the advice they gave us is to focus on how valuable classical music is to our lives, and that radio stations are the ones providing that value — basically for free. I think we sometimes forget that fundamental truth and we get caught up in the minutiae.
Downsizing at American Public Media
In the last couple of weeks American Public Media has tightened its belt and laid off people from several departments and shows, including three from the classical music unit. Senior Producer/on-air host Melissa Ousley, Producer Karl Gehrke, and Managing Producer Silvester Vicic have all been let go from their classical music jobs.
Baltimore station seeks a leader
WBJC-FM, the all-classical public radio station in Baltimore, is looking for a new general manager. “[T]he General Man[a]ger is responsible for providing leadership, vision, planning and direction to Maryland’s oldest and largest public radio station, with approximately 200,000 listeners in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan markets,” says the station’s website. WBJC is licensed to the Baltimore City Community College. We weren’t aware that the station’s previous g.m. had left, but we’ll see if we can find out where he’s gone, what he’s up to and if he’d like to chat it with us a … Continue Reading