Bryant Park Project cancelled
NPR is pulling the plug on its alternative to its respected-but-ultra-stodgy Morning Edition, the Bryant Park Project:
National Public Radio officials are expected on Monday to tell the staff members of “Bryant Park Project� that their experimental weekday morning program, designed to draw a younger audience to public radio and capture listeners who had moved online, is being canceled.
The last broadcast of this New York-based program, which many listeners tuned into at npr.org rather than over the air, is expected to be on July 25. It’s an expensive failure — the first-year budget was more than $2 million — and comes at a time when NPR is facing the same financial constraints as other news media thanks to higher costs and a downturn in underwriting.
Like other news organizations, NPR has been grappling with how best to capture the online audience, and “Bryant Park Project,� which had its debut on Oct. 1, was one of its boldest attempts. The live two-hour program ranged through news and cultural topics in an informal, conversational manner and differed from more traditional NPR broadcasts, which rely heavily on prepackaged reports.
“Bryant Park Project� includes cheeky features like “Make Me Care,� which points up news reports’ real-life relevance. It also has a robust Web presence that is updated with blog posts throughout the day and also includes video.
They confirmed it on-air this morning.
I’ve been listening to the BPP for months now, and find it’s a great hybrid of the smarts of Morning Edition with the more irreverent and current vibe of a commercial morning program, without spending stupid amounts of time on meaningless crap. It’s just about the perfect news show.
According to the NYT article quoted above, they’ve gotten a much bigger audience than anticipated, which raises a pretty basic question: Where was the pledge drive? NPR holds the damned things on their stations more or less constantly, and some of the more popular podcasted shows do it as well. (On the Media and The Sound of Young America both spring immediately to mind here.) If everyone who listened the BPP tossed in $2, they would have covered their costs. What’s the deal, NPR? Without the BPP, the network is still focusing on an older demographic at a time when younger people are turning away from radio entirely, as I have, in favor of the iPod and podcasts.
I guess after next Friday’s sign-off, I’ll switch over to the WNYC/PRI take on the same concept, The Takeaway. Hopefully they’ll actually try a pledge drive before pulling the plug due to lack of funds.
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I think I’m going to miss the Emergency Krulwich the most.
Also, there’s a bit of a hurling-pebbles-at-Goliath effort going on here
Comment by Kerry Crawford — July 14, 2008 @ 20:12
NPR doesn’t DO pledge drives. They get show ‘fees’ from their member stations, prorated based off their levels of memberships. (For example, KCRW pays more for Morning Edition than KVCR) Podcasts and any ‘extras’ are corporately underwritten. And if you think regular media is having hard time selling ‘sponsorships’… NPR is having an even tougher time… not to mention the added cost of covering such a LONG primary season…
–Dommy!
Comment by Dommy — July 15, 2008 @ 17:20
Is that a policy or just corporate culture? On the Media has definitely solicited funds before and after the podcast of their show. I have to think that BPP would have raised at least some funds if they had done the same — or been allowed to, if it’s a policy thing.
Comment by Beau — July 15, 2008 @ 20:23
On the Media is produced by WNYC, which is an NPR affilate. Although they might be distributed through NPR Network, all funding is provided by the station, which could NEVER get the type of corporate support that the Network does, hence has to ask for its podcasters/ members for support. This American Life does the same thing (Again, produced by WBZ in Chicago). It’s just the way the system was designed… Stations get supported by members and local deals, network gets supported by stations and national deals. It’s no different than any other broadcast model.
–Dommy!
Comment by Dommy — July 16, 2008 @ 9:48
Then what was the plan for the show? Pour lots of resources into a highly Web-centric show that competes with Morning Edition and then wait for the money elves to show up and stuff it in the collection plate? That’s a model that would inevitably lead to failure.
Having WNYC or someone else produce the show seems like the only way BPP could work, unless NPR had someone there with the good sense to say “hey, our standard economic model isn’t going to work on a show that is primarily listened to via podcast.”
Comment by Beau — July 16, 2008 @ 10:39
The HOPE was that stations would pick it up to put on their HD channels, but only 13 DID! UGH!!! Sadly this wasn’t the first time they tried an ‘alternate’ to ME and it fell flat. I’ve talked to P. about our discussion here and he says despite this and other ‘rumblings’, they plan to continue to produce new shows though… as to what, we’d have to wait until the election season for decisions to be made… 😛
Comment by Dommy — July 16, 2008 @ 15:53
They need to come up with a better funding model, or all their experiments will end the same way.
They also need to cut the crap and prohibit stations in cities with multiple NPR stations from ALL running Morning Edition, Day to Day and All Things Considered. That’s fracturing the audience and stifling alternative programming, like the BPP.
It’s ridiculous that KPCC and KCRW, for instance, both do Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation. KCRW would have been a natural home for the BPP, whereas KPCC’s talk-heavy format would be a better fit for Morning Edition. (And since KPCC is the #2 station, it’d be a nice bone to throw to them.)
NPR’s not going to succeed in the new world — Pandora.com in cars, thanks to the new iPhone software store, for instance — using the old model.
Comment by Beau — July 16, 2008 @ 16:18
Without getting into conversations about the management of KCRW or KPCC… both had ample opportunity to pick up BPP and was pitched it MANY times… Their ‘membership’ also didn’t demand it at least on their HD channels… 😛
NPR has been moving forward not only with new shows, but new technology, they have completely embraced podcasting (their podcasts are the most downloaded) they have nice deal with the satelite companies, they have gained some new corporate underwriters on-air and on-line and then there was the delivery of 5 new hd video camers recently… 😉 But still… this economy doesn’t help… for the first time in YEARS KPCC did not meet their spring fundraising goal and they weren’t the only ones… 😛
Which brings me to the only question P. had about this all… What is your member station? 😉
–Dommy!
Comment by Dommy — July 16, 2008 @ 17:07
No NPR stations reach me out here. Once I am all iPhoned up, I’ll be re-upping my membership with KCRW. (I’ve already downloaded the iPhone apps that will give me all the Internet radio I want up here, in the office or in the car.)
And yeah, I know that NPR has been great about podcasts, but they can’t just be great on the technology end. If they don’t change the economic model, they might as well not bother with the program experimentation. Older listeners currently listening on the radio are the ones least likely to be demanding new Web-centric shows. In contrast, the BPP attracted exactly the audience NPR wanted them to reach, but since they were tethered to an outdated economic model, yeah, of course it failed. (Obviously, this goes for all forms of media, but it’s only radio that canceled the BPP.)
Comment by Beau — July 16, 2008 @ 18:25