My last two blogs focused on the new “LAFWD” public media service launching August 10.  Now I want to shine a light on the pioneers of young and diverse formats on public radio that preceded “LAFWD.”

Anyone who knows me knows that I have been trying to build this bandwagon for years.  As far back as the early 1980s, when I was student general manager of WUOG-FM in Athens (GA), I witnessed firsthand how public radio can attract and build a very young (college-aged) audience.  By playing independent music, local music and some familiar music all together, wrapped in a strong sense of the local music community, I learned at an early age that young audiences will listen no matter where the station is on the dial.  Re-branded as “90.5 FM, Athens’ Rock Alternative” and re-launched in early 1981, WUOG leaped from 3% to 37% of student listening according to local ascertainment surveys (remember those?). (Read More)

In my last blog, I introduced the new public media service called “LAFWD.”  What I didn’t mention were the innovators who are boldly creating a new multi-platform media outlet for young and diverse audiences in LA.

A rewarding aspect of this project has been to work with the incredible team that Hugo Morales at Radio Bilingüe has assembled.  I learned that Hugo has been on this path for over three decades!  Born poor in Mexico to a native tribe, Hugo became Harvard-educated and his life mission has been to create public media for Hispanic audiences.  Hugo, along with programming executive María Eraña and others, have built and grown Spanish-speaking “Radio Bilingüe” that serves the Spanish-speaking un-acculturated agricultural communities of northern California with a network of radio stations and a robust website.  (Read More)

Public media…well known as territory for older, white, high income and highly educated listeners…is about to get a facelift in Los Angeles.  The soon-to-be launched “LA FWD” is a radical change to the norm and provides a glimpse into the future of public media.

Since November of 2009, Paragon has researched and consulted the creation of this new public media service for Los Angeles.  The new service is a project of “Radio Bilingüe,” which started a new entity called Los Angeles Public Media (LAPM).  LAPM is a content production house with many different projects and programming being planned.  The first content product being produced and distributed by the LAPM studios will be “LAFWD” (for LA Forward), which launches as an online-only local media outlet on August 10.
Public media, meet your future.  (Read More)

You’ve heard about zombie banks and some of you have an affinity for movies about zombies, but have you noticed the zombie radio stations right in front of our ears?  In talking with a group owner recently, he estimated that 40 of the top 50 group owners are either in receivership/bankruptcy/default or on the doorstep of officially being declared bankrupt.  That means about half of U.S. radio stations are in some form of financial default. 

(Read More)

There’s a shockwave resonating among Public Radio stations as the Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings roll in.  The dynamics of this shockwave may reverberate to any station that traditionally has relied on a loyal, passionate audience that registers long Time Spent Listening (TSL) to overcome a relatively smaller Cume base.

(Read More)