The Eagle in the Coal Mine

 

Public broadcasting is the strongest form of broadcasting that’s still left. One reason is that it’s the only form of broadcasting for which its consumers are also its customers. Yes, not all those customers pay, but the market is there. If you donate to public radio or television stations, or to podcasts supported by subscriptions, you are paying for goods and services. You are customers in an open marketplace.

But broadcasting itself is an anachronism. For radio, listening is moving from radios to phones* pads, and smart speakers. For television, viewing is moving from antennas and cable to Internet streams. Even the PBS app on your streaming box requires that you first pay your public TV station. (Because PBS wholesales its programs to stations, which in turn retail their programming  to you.)

It’s a matter of time before AM and even FM radio are gone from cars, because every station has a worldwide coverage footprint over the cellular data system, making stations’ over-the-air coverage obsolete. Never mind that there are rural areas not reached by cell. If you want radio in those places, the satellite kind (SiriusXM in the US and Canada) will work, even though there is no local programming.

Also, most stations are now just ways to route programs. Few midmarket and smaller market stations are still programmed locally, or still employ local talent other than in clerical and ad sales positions. Local and regional public radio stations still tend to be staffed, but are still in the business of programming more than distribution. The primary listening devices now are apps on phones, not radios (except in cars, where the AM/FM/satellite radio tuners are increasingly buried behind other functions on dashboards).

There are going to be some big victims. Rural public radio in Alaska (for many locales, the only kind of radio), for example, just got clobbered by the end of CPB funding, which was its major source of income. But listeners can still pay to keep the stations going. That’s why I wrote If you like public broadcasting, be customers, not just consumers. Read it again, if you haven’t already.

And then, if you really care, help develop EmaniPay, which will make it much easier for consumers to become customers.

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*Even in cars, through CarPlay and Android Auto. In Teslas, the equivalent happens without a phone.