Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Public radio has long been a trusted source of information,​
culture,​
and connection—an institution that provides not just news, but​
also music, storytelling, and community dialogue. For decades, it​
has been sustained by a unique mix of government funding,​
listener​
donations, and corporate underwriting. But as federal and state​
support diminishes, public radio faces a critical turning point:​
how​
will it sustain its mission in a new media landscape without the​
safety net of government dollars?

The loss of public funding forces us to confront questions about​
the​
very identity of public radio. Will stations shift toward a more​
commercial model, relying heavily on corporate sponsorships? Can​
they adapt to new digital platforms while retaining their​
commitment​
to accessibility and diversity? Or will public radio lean more​
deeply into community-driven models, where audiences not only​
consume content but actively support and shape it?

This moment is not just a challenge—it’s also an opportunity.​
The end of government funding could spark innovation, pushing​
public​
radio to reimagine itself for a future where community trust,​
grassroots support, and digital reach are more important than​
ever.​
The discussion ahead will explore how public radio can evolve,​
survive, and perhaps even thrive in this new environment.
  

    
We have assembled an illustrious panel of subject matter experts​
with substantial experience in Public Radio to discuss the looming​
challenges facing public radio stations, content producer networks,​
and distribution platforms as public funding is being disrupted.​
They include:

James Kass, Executive Director of KALW Public Media, Bay Area-based​
NPR member station.

Anni Caporuscio, General Manager of KKCR, Kauaʻi Community Radio.

Sandy Stone, Chief Engineer and board member at KSQD community radio​
in Santa Cruz, California.

Ben Shapiro, New York-based independent radio producer for NPR​
programs.

Jay Allison, public radio producer and broadcast journalist,​
executive director of Atlantic Public Media (APM), and creator of​
educational website Transom.org.

Leading our discussion will be John Coate, former general manager of​
public radio station KZYX in Mendocino County, first general manager​
of SFGate, and long-time Well executive and community leader since​
its inception 40 years ago.
  

    
WELCOME, colleagues! Thank you for being part of this.
  

    
I am a radio producer whose show airs on a network of public and commercial
stations.

I haven't lost an affiliate to these drastic cuts... yet?
  

    
Welcome everyone.  I was the GM/Exec Dir at KZYX-KZYZ at Mendocino​
County Public Broadcasting from 2008 to 2015.  It was a pretty long​
7 year run, and a lot happened during that time, both good and not​
so good.  But my experience in radio is still not a lot compared to​
most on this panel.  My thanks to you all for joining this​
discussion.

We all know what tough times these are for radio.  This beheading of​
the CPB was just one more big knockout blow.

But was it?  They say radio is the medium you can't kill.  History​
has proven that.  But even if the Democrats get back into power and​
restore the CPB, it is all going to be like putting stuff back​
together after a tornado.  

Add to that carmakers relegating FM to the back burner if they offer​
it at all. I know they want to discontinue radio in favor of monthly​
data subscriptions.  Satellite internet turns a cost center (a radio​
as standard equipment) into a profit center (get a piece of every​
data stream every month).

The questions Axon asks up there cover the issues well.  I would​
start with money.  Like, what are you doing about the CPB massacre?
  

    
Aloha, everyone! Thank you for including me on this illustrious​
panel and discussion. I feel like a peewee among giants and Iʻm​
eager to learn from you all as your experience is well known.

I am the GM at Kauaʻi Community Radio, a small rural remote​
indigenous-focused radio station in Hawaii that lost over 20% of our​
operating budget from the "beheading" of the CPB. Iʻve been​
involved with the station in many different forms since 2006 but am​
now the two-year-old GM with my dream job that the government is​
actively trying to rip from me.

I like to crowd-source opinions and see what people think. One​
opinion I picked up is that the massacre of the CPB is an​
opportunity for small stations to finally get off the government​
teat and become truly independent and thus truly beholden to the​
entity we are sworn to: the listener. It requires us to be creative​
and find the funding and the content we need without federal help.​
Sure, we readjust our strategies and our offerings and some will​
fail, but the listeners will end up with a better product in the​
end.

As stated above in #0, I have also wondered how many of us are going​
to approach the problem: Will we embrace the commercial model or​
will we lean into the grass-roots? 
  

    
We interrupt the conversation briefly for this public service
announcement:

This Future of Public Radio conversation is publicly accessible,
meaning anyone can read it, whether or not they are a member of the
WELL, which is the online community platform hosting this two-week
discussion.

For non-members, here's a short link for easy access:
<https://tinyurl.com/2yax66ws>.

The full link is: 
<https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/559/The-Future-of-Public-Radio
-page01.html>.

Either link will open the first page of the public conversation. If
you are not a WELL member, we encourage you to visit regularly as
the discussion will expand across multiple pages. Use the pager
(dropdown menus at the top and bottom of the page) to navigate
through the conversation as it evolves.

Feel free to share either link via social media, email, etc.

If you're not a member of the WELL, you can't post a response
directly. However we welcome your comments and questions - you can
email them to inkwell (at) well.com, and we'll post them here on
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If you'd like to participate in more discussions like this, consider
joining the WELL: <https://www.well.com/join/>. The WELL is an
online community with vibrant, thoughtful conversations on a wide
range of topics---an excellent alternative to the fast-paced,
drive-by posting on social media.

This conversation will continue for two weeks, through October 20.
  

    
The problem with going commercial is the probability of mission​
creep away from the public interest work that doesn't make money​
such as local candidate forums.

I do think these cuts are going to hit hardest on rural stations​
that tend to be more generalist in their programming (news, public​
affairs, a variety of music genres, etc).  I paid for some​
consulting once from a national public radio advisor who pointed out​
that the generalist format is the worst performing format in radio. ​
And most public stations are not the first choice of many of their​
best financial supporters.

Meanwhile the Sinclair Group will be eagerly awaiting the chance to​
buy out many of these increasingly impoverished stations.

My station, KZYX, did have a special fund drive to earn from​
listeners the $176K they won't be getting from the CPB, and they​
came close to making it all back. But I doubt they can do that every​
year.
  

    
True. The mission is what makes us special and a pleasing​
alternative to begin with.

Interesting about the generalist format as the worst performing​
format in radio. We sell it as "something for everyone". Iʻve never​
heard that before but will now research.
  

    
We rose from the ashes of KUSP, a listener-supported station that​
was founded in the 1970s by Larry Yurdin and Lorenzo Milam, two of​
the pioneers of public radio.

TL;DR:  After KUSP's board of directors drove it straight into the​
ground in 2016, we -- just about everyone else at the station --​
examined the accident site minutely. Then we drew up a plan that,​
hopefully, could prevent anything like that disaster from happening​
again.  So our founding document was created in tension with what a​
precursor had done wrong.  Some of what we learned:

Community means community, local means local.  Decide on your​
demographic and don't grow beyond it.

Don't take federal money.

Don't get involved with NPR.

Leverage the advantages of smallness.  We're not a single,​
high-powered station; we're three relatively low-powered stations. ​
When KUSP -- a single, high-powered station -- cratered, the board​
auctioned the license.  We couldn't even raise enough money to buy​
it back. Instead we bought a small, modestly-powered local station​
that was redundant to the large corporation that bought KUSP. It was​
a mess. Our directional pattern was aimed out into the bay, so I​
imagined our early audience consisted mainly of marine life.

Then we worked our asses off and raised enough money to buy a second​
relatively low-powered station 35 miles away (I say "relatively"​
because they're not LPFM but not far above that), and a tiny​
translator.  It was a little like scouring used car lots for​
something that isn't a lemon.

So instead of one large station, we're a collection of three very​
small stations that, taken together, cover our entire Monterey Bay​
listening area.  This method, it turns out, has a lot of advantages.

We found our marketing niche and exploited it.  You could best​
describe that as "a bunch of weirdos making music for other​
weirdos."  We also produce at least two syndicated shows and some​
hyperlocal programming.

We're financially solvent.  I attribute this to two factors:  One,​
we operate by the Law of the Fishes: the big ones eat the little​
ones, and the little ones have to be smart.  Two, I'm an extremely​
tight-fisted chief engineer who's seen too many projects nickel and​
dime themselves to death, so we fix 90% of our gear in-house and​
write 100% of our own code.  We're a bunch of tech fanatics.  I​
realize not everyone can do this, but it sure pays off to reach out​
to your geek community, which I've found is always out there​
wherever I go.

When Lorenzo and Larry made their original Johnny Appleseed trek​
around the US, they stayed in one place long enough to make as sure​
as they could that the people who were running a station knew enough​
about what they were doing that the station wouldn't immediately​
crash once they let go. With time and the aging out of the original​
crew, some stations lost their way.  KUSP was one of those -- my​
god, their last gasp was to switch to AAA format -- but in​
retrospect, I have to say that you can learn a hell of a lot from a​
disaster.

Okay, that's my opening salvo.  Looking forward to the conversation.

Sandy Stone
KSQD Santa Cruz
89.5, 89.7, 90.7 FM
and streaming at https://ksqd.org

Opinions stated here are my own and do not represent the opinions of​
KSQD, its volunteers, board members, or underwriters.
  

    
Fascinating. Good to hear from y'all Tex, Anni, Sandy.
  

    
How much public radio traffic (and related donations) can a station​
get via a web streaming presence? Is that a small or big difference?
  

    
Jon, we have streaming listeners all over the world, but they don't​
contribute much financially.  Partly this is reasonable: we're not​
shy about serving specifically Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay area,​
so there's not much incentive for someone in, say, Canberra to send​
us money.

However, we *do* have an app, in the Apple and Google stores.  From​
the app you can stream us directly, get merch, and...mash the big​
red DONATE button.  A lot of people do.

Sandy Stone
KSQD Santa Cruz
89.5, 89.7, 90.7 FM
and streaming at https://ksqd.org

Opinions stated here are my own and do not represent those of​
KSQD, its staff, volunteers, or underwriters.
  

    
There is a public station in New Jersey that makes more from their​
stream listeners than their terrestrial radio. This is because they​
nailed down a high quality jazz niche very early on and they have​
excellent DJs.  So they compete well out in the wide world because​
of their expertise in jazz.
  

    
We created an app for KZYX. And we worked with Pacifica in​
customizing a program that records the stream, parses it into shows​
and makes it all available online for 2 weeks. We call it the KZYX​
Jukebox.  It helped grow the streaming audience because with the​
super variety of that time-shifted on-demand format, it meant that​
the pretty substantial audience for the Celtic program on KZYX,​
which has an audience beyond Mendocino County, could much more​
easily get to their program destination.  And it helps the other​
higher quality programs. 

One of the big challenges in public stations is programming with​
mostly if not all volunteer programmers.  On KZYX for example,​
weekday morning play classical music.  This works for the​
programmers, most of whom are longtime DJs and frankly elderly and​
not real flexible, but ensures that a whole lot of people who want​
some backbeat to their mornings will never tune it.  But with the​
jukebox they can just pick the other stuff they like better.
  

    
The station I listen to most often is Bluegrass Country, which is on​
the air here in Washington on 88.5 WAMU Digital Channel 2.  It​
started out as a few hours here and there on WAMU, grew to more, got​
cut back, and then split off into a nonprofit foundation that leases​
the digital channel.  But a big part of it is its online presence,​
through iPhone and Android apps for Bluegrass Country.  

All but a handful of their programmers are volunteers, many of whom​
are also local performers.  And they carry some syndicated programs​
and shows hosted for them by out-of-town programmers (e.g.,​
Bluegrass Signal from KALW).  And it's not all Bluegrass or country​
— lots of Americana, Zydeco, oldtime, etc.

The website and the app both allow you to access programming from​
the past week or two.
  

    
> public station in New Jersey 

Tex, is that WBGO?
  

    
Yes.  At one of the annual National Federation of Community​
Broadcasters (NFCB) conventions, their GM gave a presentation of​
their station and how they use streaming to their benefit.
  

    
I'm sure tex is referring to WFMU.
  

    

No, 'FMU is not a jazz station, and 'BGO very much is.
  

    
There are others with a strong streaming presence.  But, as noted​
above, not sure how that helps the bottom line in most cases..
  

    
KCSM in Sn Mateo just wrapped their pledge drive, and I heard​
numerous appeals for streaming listeners, and numerous thank yous to​
listeners outside their RF footprint. It's probably not a​
coincidence that CSM recently changed their tagline from "the Bay​
Area's jazz station" to "the Bay Area's jazz station to the world".​
I think it must be a significant revenue stream.

I listen to a lot of community supported jazz stations (and adding​
WGBO to my tabs), and it seems to be the new classical as default​
musical programming. A lot of stations that are pretty much all jazz​
all the time are NPR affiliates solely for the jazz programming​
supplied by the network. It's been a real boost for the genre. 

I'd like to see Americana make more inroads in community​
broadcasting natioanwide, but with five listener supported licenses​
leaning into it in my market, I can't complain.
  

    
*WBGO
  

    
We are pretty fortunate here in the Boston area. There are two​
significant NPR stations: WGBH and WBUR, as well as a folk-focused​
station, WUMB. 'BUR and 'UMB are nominally college stations, but I​
suspect few college student work at either these days (perhaps more​
at 'UMB where, even so, some DJ's have been around for decades).

Both 'BUR and 'GBH are tied strongly to NPR - they aren't like the​
stations we have been describing so far - and both are in financial​
trouble, even before the Trump recissions.
  

    
@jon, re #11: We receive ~51% of our funding from off-island​
donations from listeners that have a connection to Kauaʻi and​
listen from afar. Nearly all of our content is Kauaʻi based, we​
donʻt even entertain off-island stuff. And yet. So an online stream​
is extremely lucrative for us.
  

    
I am interested in any new funding strategies that folks in the​
industry are adding to their current lineup of fundraising. Any​
ideas? Some of the trick to fundraising with a small staff is to not​
add more work to what your people are already up to. Like, how to​
raise money with what youʻre already doing....