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Aren't local affiliates an artifact of an outmoded content delivery system (terrestrial radio)? I understand that it's sad to have the local affiliate hurt, but

Aren't local affiliates an artifact of an outmoded content delivery system (terrestrial radio)? I understand that it's sad to have the local affiliate hurt, but I think the age of affiliate broadcasting is drawing to an end. It's something that will become a larger issue in the mid-term future, IMO.

parfe 11y ago
Local affiliates are independent stations with their own production departments. Some shows get picked up for national syndication (e.g. Car Talk from WBUR, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me WHYY, On The Media WNYC, Prarie Home Companion by Minnesota Public Radio ) while other shows might target the local market which won't make sense as a national broadcast. Local affiliates can cross license content directly between each other, or from NPR, PRI, BBC, American Public Radio, and Public Radio Exchange, etc. Local affiliates are not simple repeater stations, as you seem to believe.
- eli 11y ago
  I was under the impression that most local affiliates do not produce any content licensed by anyone else and just license content from other sources.
  - Aloha 11y ago
    No, local affiliates often produce between 20% and 80% of their programming.
  - CapitalistCartr 11y ago
    Often true in commercial radio land, but not on NPR. Things are much more loosey-goosey there. Probably because of shoe-string budgets.
  - palidanx 11y ago
    In the Southern California market, we have two big NPR stations (KPCC and KCRW). Both stations actually produce a lot of their own radio shows, and supplement some nationally syndicated content. When I visited Oregon, I noticed most of the shows were nationally syndicated, and I suspect that might have to do with how much money they can get from their local regions.
- addled 11y ago
  I am always delighted when a story from our small town's affiliate gets picked up by one of the nationally distributed news programs like All Things Considered.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  I understand that local affiliates produce their own content, especially local content that's not interesting to bigger outlets. I was calling the delivery system outmoded, the need for local broadcast affiliates to facilitate distribution. It's a cost that doesn't need to exist in the age of saturated 4G, and I think that in the medium-term, this issue will become larger, especially as more and more cars get cellular modems. Unfortunately, just saying "We produce Car Talk/Fresh Air/whatever" is going to be enough to salvage the affiliate as presently composed; if they have a show of value, they'll have to make it available independently and will just be the Fresh Air company, not WHYY in Philadelphia.
cmsmith 11y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by outmoded here. Most listeners to public radio programming are listening over the radio, not by podcast. And I would argue that radio is a superior delivery system for most of the programs (everything but the weekly or bi-weekly in-depth shows).
dredmorbius 11y ago
Radio is extremely cost-effective in reaching a large audience, and the equipment's pretty bulletproof. NPR's current CEO, Jahrl Mohn has made this point in interviews. A 100W trasnmitter can cover a small town, 1 kW - 50 kW is (very roughly) the range of many larger FM stations, and can reach an area 100-200 miles in diameter, though usually less given geography and competing stations. Doc Searls (an old radio head himself) fairly frequently posts stats about various stations, and their reception areas. The best thing about broadcast is that more listeners don't cost you, and there's no last-mile problem. It's particularly well-suited to mobile uses (especialy cars). The downside: what's on is what's on. This increasingly is my frustration, and the more I'm used to on-demand services, the less viable I find this. There are alternatives, such as a DVR type service which records over-the-air broadcasts for later playback, and there are some concepts along these lines, though most prove pretty fickle and annoying, with little uptake. I suspect there'll be a place for radio, though that may shift a bit with time.
- AnthonyMouse 11y ago
  If cost effectiveness is a concern, why are they not using BitTorrent? You can imagine why Hollywood doesn't like it as a matter of politics, but you would think the likes of NPR and the BBC could see past that. The stream is already free-as-in-beer, what is somebody going to do to it?
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    I know bandwidth quotas are becoming a thing in North America, but they're getting worse in Australia - both upload and download usage is counted on fibre and ADSL connections, and mobile (cell) metering has always worked that way. I want to be a good seed, but not if it costs me hundreds of dollars a month.
    - AnthonyMouse 11y ago
      If you live in a country with excessive quotas (and you can't lobby your government to put a stop to it), you can always stop seeding after your ratio is 1:1 (or 2:1 if you're feeling generous), which should hardly have a huge effect on your bill. That's all the network needs to be healthy if everybody does it, and if you live in a country with a terrible quota you can leave making up for the jerks who don't seed at all to people who don't have that problem.

parfe 11y ago

Local affiliates are independent stations with their own production departments. Some shows get picked up for national syndication (e.g. Car Talk from WBUR, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me WHYY, On The Media WNYC, Prarie Home Companion by Minnesota Public Radio ) while other shows might target the local market which won't make sense as a national broadcast. Local affiliates can cross license content directly between each other, or from NPR, PRI, BBC, American Public Radio, and Public Radio Exchange, etc. Local affiliates are not simple repeater stations, as you seem to believe.

eli 11y ago
I was under the impression that most local affiliates do not produce any content licensed by anyone else and just license content from other sources.
- Aloha 11y ago
  No, local affiliates often produce between 20% and 80% of their programming.
- CapitalistCartr 11y ago
  Often true in commercial radio land, but not on NPR. Things are much more loosey-goosey there. Probably because of shoe-string budgets.
- palidanx 11y ago
  In the Southern California market, we have two big NPR stations (KPCC and KCRW). Both stations actually produce a lot of their own radio shows, and supplement some nationally syndicated content. When I visited Oregon, I noticed most of the shows were nationally syndicated, and I suspect that might have to do with how much money they can get from their local regions.
addled 11y ago
I am always delighted when a story from our small town's affiliate gets picked up by one of the nationally distributed news programs like All Things Considered.
cookiecaper 11y ago
I understand that local affiliates produce their own content, especially local content that's not interesting to bigger outlets. I was calling the delivery system outmoded, the need for local broadcast affiliates to facilitate distribution. It's a cost that doesn't need to exist in the age of saturated 4G, and I think that in the medium-term, this issue will become larger, especially as more and more cars get cellular modems. Unfortunately, just saying "We produce Car Talk/Fresh Air/whatever" is going to be enough to salvage the affiliate as presently composed; if they have a show of value, they'll have to make it available independently and will just be the Fresh Air company, not WHYY in Philadelphia.

cmsmith 11y ago

I'm not sure what you mean by outmoded here. Most listeners to public radio programming are listening over the radio, not by podcast. And I would argue that radio is a superior delivery system for most of the programs (everything but the weekly or bi-weekly in-depth shows).

dredmorbius 11y ago

Radio is extremely cost-effective in reaching a large audience, and the equipment's pretty bulletproof. NPR's current CEO, Jahrl Mohn has made this point in interviews. A 100W trasnmitter can cover a small town, 1 kW - 50 kW is (very roughly) the range of many larger FM stations, and can reach an area 100-200 miles in diameter, though usually less given geography and competing stations. Doc Searls (an old radio head himself) fairly frequently posts stats about various stations, and their reception areas. The best thing about broadcast is that more listeners don't cost you, and there's no last-mile problem. It's particularly well-suited to mobile uses (especialy cars). The downside: what's on is what's on. This increasingly is my frustration, and the more I'm used to on-demand services, the less viable I find this. There are alternatives, such as a DVR type service which records over-the-air broadcasts for later playback, and there are some concepts along these lines, though most prove pretty fickle and annoying, with little uptake. I suspect there'll be a place for radio, though that may shift a bit with time.

AnthonyMouse 11y ago
If cost effectiveness is a concern, why are they not using BitTorrent? You can imagine why Hollywood doesn't like it as a matter of politics, but you would think the likes of NPR and the BBC could see past that. The stream is already free-as-in-beer, what is somebody going to do to it?
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  I know bandwidth quotas are becoming a thing in North America, but they're getting worse in Australia - both upload and download usage is counted on fibre and ADSL connections, and mobile (cell) metering has always worked that way. I want to be a good seed, but not if it costs me hundreds of dollars a month.
  - AnthonyMouse 11y ago
    If you live in a country with excessive quotas (and you can't lobby your government to put a stop to it), you can always stop seeding after your ratio is 1:1 (or 2:1 if you're feeling generous), which should hardly have a huge effect on your bill. That's all the network needs to be healthy if everybody does it, and if you live in a country with a terrible quota you can leave making up for the jerks who don't seed at all to people who don't have that problem.