Pub radio listeners

Been away for awhile, but a new study caught my attention.

What technologies are public radio listeners using, or drifting to?

The upshot is that more than three-quarters of 30,000 listeners surveyed showed they still like and use the old fashioned radio.

But the study commissioned by the Public Radio Program Directors Association shows some other trends:

-- Listening to streaming radio is growng

-- Cell phones are ubiquitous, and the iPhone is owned by half of them

-- Satellite radio has not made much headway, with only 12 percent saying they have one.

-- Only 3% own an HD radio. As for very likely, somewhat likely or not likely to buy one, they were split almost evenly in thirds.

The point about cell phones and iPhones is an important one and should cause more programmers, especially news directors, to push their audio out to these phones.

Associated Press vs You Tube vs Embedders

First, understand that You Tube allows posters of videos to allow anyone to take those videos and embed them on their own websites. That's part of the user agreement.

You (poster/account holder) hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The functionality in the last line is the "embed" code adjacent to each video. If the code is there, another website may use that code (the functionality) to embed the video on their web site.

Ok so far.

Now, Associated Press has gotten miffed at a radio station in Tennessee for embedding codes of Associated Press videos on You Tube on the station's web site.

Here's how PC World covered the story.

And for added emphasis, here's an embedded Associated Press video for you to understand what the content is, where it came from and the functionality (embedded code) of the You Tube posting by AP.



Click twice on the video image to go to the Associated Press pages on You Tube. To the right of the video, you'll see the "embed" code. If it's not there, then they've taken it down. If they've taken it down, you didn't see the video above.

Easy as that to understand.

By contrast, the Reuters You Tube site does not offer an embed code. So there is no way to post their videos directly on another website.

Media as lobbyists?

Interesting take from Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano on the recent session of New Mexico's legislature.

"So who was successful in getting legislation passed this year? The only lobbyist that don't even have to register as lobbyists in New Mexico, The News Media. In news papers, TV, blogs, and live blogging the press pushed for Live web cams in the legislature, open conference committee meetings, double dipping legislation, and ethics reform. Now don't get me wrong, I sure other people cared about these issues as well, but the news media hounded law makers on these issues relentlessly. Even the death penalty legislation was not hurt by the media stories on the issue."

Should the media be registered as lobbyists?

"...when the legislature listens to the media, when they are lobbying on these issues, are they now beholden to the media?"

This is a fascinating opinion that we'll follow up on with the sheriff.

The CS Monitor is dead. Long live the CS Monitor -- online

After 100 years, the Christian Science Monitor has folded. It's daily print edition is no more. But print will continue in a weekend form -- we suspect for the time being, at least.

The daily Monitor does survive, however, online.

The paper's editor reasons that, "two million individuals now engage with us online each month, about 40 times the number that have been subscribing to the print daily. We are linked deeply and extensively across the Internet. People who never picked up our newspaper read Christian Science Monitor articles online..."

Is there a lesson here for broadcast? Yes, and I hope we pick up on it faster than we're doing now.

With the small amount of time and resources at KSFR's disposal, we're trying to be "more than just radio.

We have done podcasting of audio for years. They're at KSFR.org,

We've found a way past the limitations of our web service provider to do more than put one piece of audio on a news page. (Check out KSFR's You Tube offerings that we post on many of our news pages. Here's a recent one:

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Recently, we began a breaking-story service on Twitter.

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Unlike the percentage growth of the Monitor's, KSFR's online audience is still puny.

We'll be watching to see if we can grow that audience and succeed at being more than "just radio." If not, what happens when the radio tower lights dim?

"We can't talk to the media"

Here we go again.

Not long ago, I reported that the FCC was in Santa Fe to brief the public on the coming transition to digital TV. But no one showed up -- except KSFR's reporter. Interview about what the representative was to tell the audience (if an audience had appeared)? Nope. "We can't talk to the media."

Then there was New Mexico's new commuter rail line. Would a trainsman speak with our reporter on tape? No. "We can't talk to the media."

Now comes the U.S. Census Bureau to Santa Fe to recuit people to pound the pavement in 2010 for the census count. It could have been a good news story since, a few weeks before, a similar recuiting episode elsewhere in New Mexico turned out thousands of job seekers. KSFR's reporter showed up to find that, "We can't talk to the media." Seventy five people are taking a test with more to come later in the day and the representative can't talk to the media. After they made several phone calls to regional headquarters, the local agent did speak with us. But it took some doing.

Listen to our full report here. (Sorry, it's You Tube but we have only audio). After the interview, I spoke with our reporter about the incident.

Blogs are now officially "in"

Check out the new White House web site. Clean, welcoming.

And the White House blog.

Times are changing.

If only on 9/11

This story raises the eyebrows again, seven years-plus later.

Man suspected of fraud flies away.

FAA loses track.

In minutes, two fighters are looking into his empty cockpit.

Minutes! Two fighters! Small plane, not several commercial jets!

Is anyone else trying to connect the dots?

More here.