Classical radio in a post-iPhone world

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Is the death of conventional radio imminent, and if so, which broadcasters will survive the jump to new platforms? Several bloggers and radio watchers took up these questions last week, prompted by the introduction July 11 of Apple’s newest iPhone. More than a million of the mega-hyped gadgets sold over their debut weekend, and according to the Radio and Internet Newsletter, Internet-radio applications were among the most popular downloads as buyers tricked out their new toys. Options include Last.fm, Pandora, allRadio and AOL Radio, which also features streams of dozens of CBS-owned stations around the country.

Some observers of the media world and the radio trade argue that, for radio, this marks the beginning of the end. Sure, the iPhone is far from universal adoption, and radios are still ubiquitous (even if members of the younger generations rarely turn them on). But as RAIN’s Kurt Hanson noted, “Keep in mind that what an iPhone can do today, most phones will be able to do in the not-too-distant future.” He adds:

Radio broadcasters could be leaders in this space, but except for the AOL/CBS partnership, none currently are. The problem is, radio broadcasters will have to develop new products and services appropriate for consumer needs and tastes in this new environment, and that means more than straight AM/FM simulcasts.

It means offering a broad spectrum of genres of music, offering playlist options that can be, at the consumer’s demand, very tight or very wide, offering other personalization options that are brand-specific, and, to compete effectively with the AOLs and Pandoras of the world, not trying to deliver 12 minutes of commercials per hour.

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Martin Perlich, KCSN, Ben Rosen on the Met, and Sean MacLean

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Some notes about happenings in the classical radio world on a midsummer Friday. Dailynews.com reports than longtime radio personality Martin Perlich resigned on Tuesday from his job as Program Director at KCSN in Northridge, CA. Perlich is very well respected for his award-winning interviews with musicians. He’s retiring at age 70 with his legendary energy unabated. His retirement leaves a big hole in the radio landscape and raises even more questions about the fate of KCSN, where there have been rumblings of changes, but no hard news yet. To quote the article … Continue Reading

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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