What WGBH learned from its Second Life experiment

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In May my co-author Marty and I told you about the virtual online world of Second Life and an intriguing experiment conducted by Boston-based public broadcaster WGBH. Classical pianist Jeremy Denk visited WGBH’s studios to perform live on-air and, at the same time, in a virtual performance space within Second Life. Afterward, he answered questions submitted by the Second Life audience.

Public media’s experience in Second Life extends to just a few isolated efforts, and WGBH had never staged such an event before. So Gary Mott, the radio producer at WGBH who oversaw the event, didn’t really know what to expect. Would anyone show up? Would they enjoy it? And would WGBH’s considerable efforts to stage a virtual performance be worth it?

WGBH's Second Life performance space
WGBH's Second Life performance space

I talked to Mott the other day to find out, and the answer on all counts was “yes”: “It surpassed what we expected,” he said. About 70 Second Lifers showed up to see Denk and ask questions, and Mott says they were polite, attentive and keenly curious about Denk and his music. They also chatted with each other via instant messaging throughout the concert — you can see their comments and applause in the image accompanying this post.

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WCPE – An Amazing Business Model

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I was surfing the net the other day and saw a press release from WCPE in Wake Forest, NC about their new affiliation with KXMS in Joplin, MO. Jeff Skibbe, the Joplin station’s General Manager is always intensely interested in classical radio’s place on the internet, so my ears perked up. I picked up the old fashioned telephone and called Curtis Brothers, WCPE’s outreach manager.

We’re providing programming free to small stations that can’t afford their own. We pay a lot of attention to the human aspect; we’re always 24-hour live-hosted. For radio stations we provide tones for local i.d.s; a lot of stations use us overnight.

Free to any station that wants it? Wait a minute. How is that possible? The recent demise of CPRN’s voice-tracked satellite service which we reported on March 21st makes this seem impossible from a business standpoint. CPRN was charging stations for their service, as are the two other programming services, Beethoven Satellite Network from WFMT in Chicago, and Classical 24 from American Public Media in St. Paul, MN. How does WCPE do it for free?

Because they really want to. Curtis Brothers says they are managed extremely efficiently.

We’re 100% listener-supported. We do our own fundraisers twice a year. Volunteers answer the phones and send out mailings. We use volunteer hosts for 25% of our airtime. Stations get the local Wake Forest concert announcements and underwriting because it’s just straight streaming, but it’s only a couple of minutes per hour.

Seems like a small price to pay. WCPE has about 150,000 listeners in Raleigh-Durham, plus 11 translators and 14 radio station affiliates. You can pick up their signal on many cable TV stations, and if you have your own dish you can pick it up at home from the AMC-1 satellite.

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Jack Allen on the future of classical public radio: part 2

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This is the second part of an essay by Jack Allen, who just became president of KBPS-FM in Portland, Ore., in which he considers the future of classical public radio. Part one ran on Wednesday. Let us know what you think, and enjoy.

The Future of Classical Public Radio

Copyright 2008 — Jack Allen

Challenges

Will Rogers said it a long time ago: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

We have a sense that just because Mozart’s music is coming out of speakers every day, like it has for 40 years, we must be doing it right.

The business organization consultant Michael Hummer once remarked, “One thing that tells me a company is in trouble is when they tell me how good they were in the past. When memories exceed dreams, the end is near. The hallmark of a truly successful organization is the willingness to abandon what made it successful and start fresh.”

Our history in public radio pretty much included a guarantee of financial support from our government and license holders (as opposed to listener-sensitive revenue such as underwriting and donations), which in turn created a sense of entitlement and bred a kind of complacency. Our history also includes legacy ideas about programming. There’s usually a legacy sound as well. This is quite a bit to overcome. If we sound stuck, we probably are. Over the past 40 years, if a classical music station did rely primarily on listener support, without true regard for the listener, life at these stations was usually a half-step up from bare subsistence.

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Jack Allen on the future of classical public radio

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Today’s post is the first part of a guest commentary by Jack Allen, who started work this week as president of KBPS-FM in Portland, Ore. Allen previously served as general manager of KMFA-FM in Austin, Texas, for five years, and before that was director of news and music at Minnesota Public Radio. We hope his commentary prompts some reflection about classical radio’s future. The second part is here. Enjoy!

KBPS's Jack Allen
KBPS's Jack Allen

The Future of Classical Public Radio

Copyright 2008 – Jack Allen

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.

It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.

When the sun comes up, you better start running.

—African proverb

This illuminates a pretty basic principle not only of the African savannah but of the business world. It is a perfectly salient point for public radio as well. For we find ourselves not in some kind of benign parallel universe of business and media, one which is safe, protected and warm, but rather one that is competitive, evolving and unforgiving.

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