Post Radio Pulled. Why?
(CBS)
Well, bad news. A highly-publicized attempt at breaking out of that mold is going under.
The grand experiment of Washington Post Radio (WTWP) – dubbed “NPR with caffeine” at its outset – has failed. According to the Post’s Paul Farhi:
Washington Post Radio, which brought the newspaper's journalists to the local airwaves, will go off the air next month after failing to attract enough listeners and losing money during its 17-month existence.Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher weighed in early this morning on the “difficult marriage of two very different news cultures,” offering why he thought the station never fulfilled its potential:
But all this doesn’t mean that the concept of a third way in radio – a hybrid media vehicle of NPR thoughtfulness and talk radio energy – isn’t possible. Washington Post Radio was a wobbly step, but it was a step in the right direction. I’m not alone in that opinion. Former WTWP producer Kate Brown said as much in an e-mail:
The concept of Washington Post Radio in itself was an ingenious endeavor. But while it's inception was a worthy brainchild, it's execution faltered severely. It was launched too quickly without enough thought put into how to effectively navigate a constant and unending turf war between Bonneville and the Washington Post. Constant disagreements ate up precious time and money and detracted severely from producers and hosts' ability to concentrate on quality programming.As I wrote years ago, there is a market for the “midbrow” listener who wants more than headlines but less than a lecture. For evidence, look no further than the increased viewership and/or hits being gained by nontraditional media like online publications, blogs and even international outlets. But it’s going to take skilled talkers to deliver this content, and most reporters feel more at home in front of a keyboard than a microphone. So the key will be in finding friendly and personable talkers who can discuss the news, not sell a political agenda or wander into professor-speak.
Lines should have been drawn in the sand, long before WTWP hit the airwaves, but unfortunately, in their hurried attempt to make radio history, the lines weren't drawn until it was too late. The Post had a product to sell and one surely can't blame them for making that their top priority. But newspaper doesn't always translate well to radio, and the attempt to put print into broadcast form often resulted in tedious, dull programming.
Bonneville looked at The Washington Post as an unyielding source of content. But not all print reporters, brilliant and talented as they may be, are meant to be heard on the radio.
It was a grand experiment that, if ever duplicated, needs to be achieved in a more thoughtful, measured way. With less emphasis on "finding the magic formula," and more on quality content.
In the end, producers and on-air talent (the lifeblood of any good programming staff) should have been listened to more, Post executives should have been listened to less, and more solid direction should have been established from the get-go. Checking a few very over-inflated egos at the door might have proven helpful as well.
If someone builds it, listeners will come.
Reporting that climate scientists reached a consensus on anthropogenic warming is not "crazy left", but you have to pretend it is to appeal to both sides, and pump up a lot of think tank manufactured controversy to reach the "middle" -- halfway between the centrists and looney bin.
For the Post to work, it needs to report stories that are actually true, and never, ever intentionally mislead listeners with manufactured malarky that gets a bunch of dittoheads calling and complaining, but never listening, to you show.
The crazy left disappeared in the 80s. The "left" now wants what pretty much every poll shows 60% of the people want. A news show has to choose between the blind cultists and objectively sentient. You''re either faith-based, or empiracle. Otherwise, content yourself with an audience of political Unitarians.
Jane Fonda''s womens network fails.
Post Radio fails.
What do these have in common?
They are all left-wing radio experiments that failed because they were trying to compete in a market that was ALREADY SATURATED WITH LEFTIST PROPAGANDA.
And because liberals are too busy reading fiction to be bothered by radio. Besides, liberals only hear what they want to hear, and aren''t very good listeners...
Currently, in light of a possible Antitrust Action by Congress, Clear Channel stations actual carry Air-America and Jones Network programming. The divide is still massive between the Right Wing Radio Talk Machine and upstart Liberal Radio but, like I%u2019ve stated before "the last 20 years of Rush Limbaugh%u2019s Conservative Wet Dream for America has in actuality turned out to be a nighmare".