A Show about Nothing

The following is a Blog Promo. Or as we refer to it here at CPRB -- a bromo. Public Insight Network is moving to 90.1-FM! How will this affect you? Sign up for Public Insight Network to let Colorado Public Radio know! Tune in to Colorado Matters on KCFR at 10 am and 7 pm to find out what you think about the PIN changing to 90.1-FM. As a bonus, read what Colorado Public Radio's Vice President of Programming, Sean Nethery, says about PIN to Michael Roberts of Denver Westword.

Seriously, when you see the list of Colorado stories garnered by the Public Insight Network, you have to wonder, does is really take a public radio station to pay for a database service to assemble 2700 or 2800 people (according to Vice President Nethery) for stories about the Democratic National Convention, bark beetles, going green, education, fuel prices, the Iraq War, and (my favorite) stories of hope and gratitude?

It seems to me that the primary motivation for the Public Insight Network is to give some CPR bureaucrat something to manage, Colorado Matters Producer and Host Dan Meyers, and to cull smartypants listeners and issue boosters into subscribing to the station. Let's hope that the PIN price tag for CPR is worth it, because it doesn't take a journalist to know that all of these topics could be conceived of and solicited without using the Public Insight Network -- from the sounds of CPR's constant on-air and website promotions -- A SHOW ABOUT NOTHING!

New Song; New Logo: Is a Merger in the Works?

Colorado Public Radio's news and information service, branded--quite haphazardly--as KCFR and KCFR News--broadcasts a 5-times-per-week, 30-minutes-per-day* program called Colorado Matters (from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., with regular repeats during that week and on weekends, and with repurposing during Morning Edition). Last week, Colorado Matters introduced a new theme song, which sounds about as exciting as the the them song from the movie Broadcast News. Do you remember the scene? Big finish!

This week, CPR, KCFR, KCFR News (you choose) rolled out a new Colorado Matters logo, which doesn't at all match their current and confused website. I am using the word logo quite loosely here. Isn't their picture mostly just fonts?

Surprisingly, the new Colorado Matters logo looks just like KUNC's website color scheme. This made me wonder, is there a public radio merger in the works? If so, that may explain why CPR wants 88.1-FM in Denver for $8.2 million. If not, then maybe the "C" in CPR simply stands for confused. Does anyone know a good brand manager? CPR needs guidance.

Here's the way I understand it. KCFR is the news and information service. KVOD is the classical music service (at least for now). And CPR is the promotions service for both KCFR-AM and KVOD-FM. So when you donate to Colorado Public Radio, do you suppose that you can decide which service gets your money?

CPR spends a lot of air time and web space on self-promotion. Have you checked out their website? It's like the Public Insight Network (provided to CPR by Minnesota Public Radio) is it's own show! Have you listened to their on-air appeals? Pumping the PIN and pimping Colorado Matters produces as much on air content as the show Colorado Matters! I guess that is what the organization gets when it elevates a marketing genius to head the news broadcast division of a statewide network which does little more than repeat NPR.

*The show length is shorter if you consider that CPR broadcasts NPR news at the top of the hour.

Radio is Next to Get Disrupted.

This commentary in Current.Org, by Jim Paluzzi of Colorado Public Radio, is well done. Of course it also begs the question, "Why hasn't Colorado Public Radio developed any new or compelling news programming since the beginning of the Colorado Public Radio News Initiative?" Also {temporally speaking}, how long can a 'News Initiative' really last before it becomes a 'News Process?' Just wondering . . .

Has KCFR "[d]evelop a strategy for innovative programming that recognizes that 'local radio' means something new in the Internet-connected world?" If KCFR has developed a strategy for "local programming," what is the actual product? Is more "inserting of local headlines and weather and traffic reports or covering a segment of Morning Edition [or any other NPR show for that matter] with a locally produced package" really all that KCFR News can do, while simultaneously promoting the "filler" with more frequency?

Has KCFR News actually "[thought] about making radio that will compel new audiences to listen?" If KCFR has thought about it, what about their actual broadcasts are "new or compelling?" The Public Insight Network (PIN)? Is this "Network" really going to provide, discover, or reveal innovative content for new listeners? For younger listeners? If so, how so?

From the actual sound of Colorado Public Radio's news broadcasts, it seems like the Vice President of New Media & Technology (Jim Paluzzi) should leave a copy of his very coherent article under the door of the Vice President of Programming (Sean Nethery). Maybe then he'd learn something about what the programming department needs to do on the content side. Or perhaps, Colorado Public Radio should just realize some further "back-office efficiencies" by getting rid of the bureaucratic fat. Which Vice President would you cut? It seems obvious to me. Oink!