So, You Want to Be a Public Radio Star?

I had a great conversation with Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson this weekend at MinneBar, we started talking about the early days of podcasting and how Tim and I both saw podcasting as a farm league for broadcast radio in general – and public radio in particular.

The problem is by the time those institutions start asking, the podcasters have moved on. Realizing they don’t need the broadcast distribution model to be successful and podcasting is no longer the radio farm league, but a completely different game. Then, when the big league starts asking, you know something’s up.

“PRX has launched the first-ever Public Radio Talent Quest, a nationwide search for the next generation of hosts for public radio. Contestants can submit a 2-minute audio demo for their shot at $10,000 and the opportunity to produce a pilot show for public radio.”

3 thoughts on “So, You Want to Be a Public Radio Star?

  1. This is really weird in the timing, Garrick. Maybe we were just ahead of the curve in 2004 and remain so today? For others, maybe podcasting will be a farm league for public radio… or I just could be wrong.

  2. Great thoughts from both of you guys. Keep this in mind. Baseball’s farm system operates in a world where the field, equipment, and rules are the same as the bigs . When you’re called up to “the show” you’re in very familiar surroundings. Broadcast and podcast operate in different worlds, in different ways, for different reasons. I strongly believe podcasters can make the jump to broadcasting but they’ll need to learn new rules placed on them by the very nature of broadcast’s, well…broad…nature. Radio really needs communicators. Podcasters are communicators and can be broadcasters…they just may prefer the farm team…not “the show.”

  3. With each passing day, the farm team analogy becomes less and less appropriate.

    Podcasting is it’s own game.

    Broadcast lost their opportunity…along with their relevance.

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