Prepared for the

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Where have we come from?Where are we going?

• Prepared for the
• Western Public Radio ConferenceNovember 16,
  2004

Mark Fuerst, Exec Director, IMA
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Aims of this Presentation

• Review the evolution of online service within
  public radio
• Make some observations about Where we are
• Provide some general recommendations for moving
  forward

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Flashback 1 A Sense of Potential
Public radio approached the Internet era with
great expectations.

• Our educated, highly-professional audience was or
  would be wired.
• Our appeal seemed well matched to the times
  people in the technology industry listened to
  public radio.
• We gained confidence from our collective reaction
  to the Gingrich threat.
• Many industry leaders were early adopters.
• Many stations were connected to educational
  institutions that provided infrastructure
  support.

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Flashback 2 The Age of Hubris
Major Players try to Sieze the Day

• PRI organizes twenty stations that invest
  50,000 each to create Public Interactive
• NPR and MPR announce the formation of eXplore
  Radio
• The NPR Board proposes formation of a new
  corporate structure that could attract private
  capital.
• NPR and PBS create the Internet Summit
• MPR, WBUR, WGBH, KQED and a few others make
  multi-million dollar web investments/commitments.

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Flashback 3 The Inevitable Fall
Expectations sink under the weight of reality

• The burst of the Internet bubble
• Confusion about upside potential
• Experience with web production Only a few
  stationscan produce significant amounts of
  original content
• Divisions among the networks PI cannot deliver
  NPR news
• Uncertainty about sustaining revenues
• Internal organizational stresses
• Stations need to focus on broadcasting issues
• Divisions compete for resources

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Where does that leave us today?
Five years later, we find ourselves in a
compromised position

• We have no system-wide online strategy.
• We are spending relatively large amounts of money
  for online, but the impact is muted by our
  structure.
• The system is divided into several pieces/groups
  
• NPR.org is gaining momentum.
• A small number of larger-market stations are
  approaching the web aggressively, but remain far
  from break-even.
• A much larger number of medium/small market
  stations have modest web service and no plans to
  change.
• We have hundreds of station and program-specific
  sites scattered across the web.

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• We need to recognize that we are still in the
  early stages of a transition
• From traditional media forms to new media,
• From real time delivery to delivery on demand

Many students of technology-driven change have
observed People generally over-estimate the
speed of technology change, and under-estimate
its long term impact.
8
June 2003 Andres Mendes Chief Tech Officer, PBS
for NETA
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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• Aggregation of resources and content is
  essential for meeting this challenge.
• Only a handful of stations have the capital or
  human resources needed to develop the needed
  content and technology.
• Even our networks, alone, do not have the level
  of funding and staffing required to be strongly
  competitive.

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• Shared technology could strengthen our service,
  extend benefits to smaller stations and set
  the foundation for expanded revenue.
• Some level of outsourcing will be required even
  at the largest stations. How can we gain
  economies of scale?
• Stations need to concentrate their efforts on
  local service opportunities and local content
  development.
• We can ignore these optionswe can continue with
  a highly decentralized systembut continuation of
  the status quo will continue to have significant
  down-sides.

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• We have identified 4 revenue sources that
  can be developed for long-term support

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• We have identified 4 revenue sources that
  can be developed for long-term support

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• We have identified 4 revenue sources that
  can be developed for long-term support

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• Large-scale industry forces are supporting both
  UW and Paid Content
• On every level of the advertising and marketing
  industry, there is increasing interest in and
  budgeting for online.
• There is a continuing transition in the
  entertainment industry from ad-supported
  distribution to subscription distribution.
• Many of the top online sites have been developing
  various forms of paid content.

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Key Elements of a Forward Strategy

• The amount of money required to develop a strong
  system is already in our hands.
• CBC.ca has a budget of 10 million and a staff of
  approx. 120. It is now the number one online
  news destination in Canada.
• BBC World Service online in 28 languages has a
  budget of under 30 million.

Our problem with new media is not How do we get
the money we need? Its How are we spending
the money we have?
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What Has to Change?
Begin a transition to a world of user choice

• Station Centered

User Centered
What I want, when I want it, how I want it.
What we offerwhen we offer it.
From the presentation at the Leadership Forum
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Who could we serve?

• Broadband users at work News online is now a
  habit for millions of professional office
  workers who use the Internet during the workday.
• People seeking depth and balanceNPR.org/Statio
  n.org where news is explained and interpreted.
• People seeking quality, non-commercial music
  Preserve our franchise and own these formats
  online Classical, Jazz, Blues, AAA, Folk,
  Celtic
• A slightly younger audience. A subset of our
  current audience, rather than a new audience.

From the presentation at the Leadership Forum
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What Content and Service?

• Local, National and International News
• Delivered in a way that complements on-air
  programming
• More text and pictures
• Prepared on a common publishing and storage
  platform
• Substantially Improved Search
• Organized by standard meta-data
• Searches all local and national
• Program and Schedule Information
• Local Connections and Events
• Audio on Demand and Expanded Audio Options
• Current Audio On-Demand and Archives
• Expanded News, Talk and Music Streaming Options

From the presentation at the Leadership Forum
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Organizing Principles

• Create a common publishing platform designed
  for the end-user. e.g., Stations, NPR, MPR, PRI
  and indie content PI technology.
• Aggregate content Listeners need convenient
  access to all programming-related content in one
  place, online.
• Build a foundation for sustaining revenues.
• Maximize economies of scale. Shared
  infrastructure, software, streaming capacity.
• Develop web metrics to guide activity and
  investment.
• Use the Satellite Service as a corporate model.
• Common ownership, elected management
• All stations share the costs. All contribute. All
  benefit.

From the presentation at the Leadership Forum
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Thank You

• To the people running our sites and
  working to improve our public service online.
• We hope these strategies and principles
  can help you achieve your goals.

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Follow-up
These slides and all presentations and
reportscan be found at the iMa
website www.integratedmedia.org
IMA Public Broadcasting Internet ConferenceSan
Francisco, January 26-28 Contact Mark Fuerst
[phone] markfuerst_at_earthlink.net