A rádio pública, os podcasts e novos hábitos de escuta

«certain things are clear to me:

1. Listeners will increasingly prefer to pay for programs, not stations. Just as music buyers want individual songs, not entire albums. It doesn't make sense for me to subsidize a station for a podcast I can hear without that station. Nor does it make sense to pay for a station that mixes in lots of stuff you don't like with exactly what you love.

2. The definition of a "public radio listener" will have to be reconsidered when such a listener may - in some cases - listen to public radio podcasts but never to a radio station that airs them. If I never listen to a station but do hear numerous public radio podcasts, how can I support my favorite shows without supporting a station I ignore?

3. Public radio will have to significantly enhance their ability to solicit and encourage donations from podcast listeners for podcasts. A passive "please pledge" will not do the trick. At the very least there should be a "walled garden" that listeners elect to pay for, behind which are all kinds of goodies for premium podcast subscribers only. This is no different from the premium items stations use in their solicitation efforts now - except it's program based and online. It's not about blocking free distribution, rather it's about offering premium access to a deeper experience of the program. But we're a long way from that now: If you go to the page for NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, it's not even possible to support the program directly from this web page!

4. Stations will have to recognize that their value is related to the manner in which they mix public radio programs and add original local content that is a magnet in and of itself. To expect support for the station simply because it airs Car Talk will no longer be reason enough to expect support.

5. Revenue models will have to change. Revenue can and should shift to web-based models for program sponsorship, with the station affiliates sharing in those proceeds. In the long run, the stations will be supported by the programs, not vice versa.

6. More funding for public radio programs will have to come from corporate or other non-listener sponsorship.