Public radio leaders talk knowledge sharing – The Short Stack

Friends, 

…  the spirit of cooperation and collaboration … exists in public radio. Imagine 24 or so commercial stations (owned by different companies) pooling their research in an effort to make a greater contribution to their medium, not worried about any issues that might arise from sharing proprietary data with others … it could only happen in public radio. (Fred Jacobs)

While the above is from 2023, when things were a bit different, the point is just as relevant today. The reality that there is much we can’t control makes leveraging the things we can control even more important – and many in public media are on it. As one example, per the above quote, the space is capitalizing on its unique position to be able to share insights that will help everyone.

The knowledge that gets shared can come in many flavors, from listener patterns and engagement, to guidance on the easiest ways to disseminate your audio content across other channels and attract as many listeners as possible.

Steve Williams, President and CEO of the legendary WBGO, offers some examples in a new interview series on our blog. “If we’re finding digital expansion (podcasting, social, etc.) fruitful, the onus is on us to show other stations how. The same concept applies to audience. Public radio listeners all travel together…sometimes to the tune of 15-20% duplication across stations…. So the strategy emerges to get the data and then work together so each station can capitalize on that overall audience.”

Todd Callahan of KUT/KUTX, who along with KCRW’s Nathalie Hill will feature in future posts in the series, offers another spin that demonstrates benefits beyond public media alone. “In a similar way, our newsroom partners with other local and niche news organizations to share content with our audiences. These types of collaborations can prevent duplicative work and actually provide the community with more news, not just the same story written differently.”

We’re proud to work with so many great organizations that understand how working together transparently raises the ship for everyone. 

Check out part 1 of the series here. And here’s to the spirit of collaboration!

Best,