WFHB FireHouse Broadcasting

My second workshop today, looking ahead to what's in store for community radio in the not-too-distant future. We were reminded at this workshop that the most recent FCC filing window cleared the way for nearly two hundred new community radio stations, and we talked a lot about how stations need to focus on content rather than delivery platform - "radio is what you do, not what you are" – viewing ourselves primarily as a content creator and service provider. Raw notes:

Norm Stockwell, WORT
Technology has enabled collaboration - ex: FSRN
Cross-platform distribution – ex: DN!
Sony HD tuner with iPod dock

Mark Fuerst, radio consultant
Expect some level of decline in radio in general, although public radio seems to be holding its own but consensus is that traditional terrestrial radio will
Major players are locked into difficult positions – all money from Washington comes from legislation formulated forty years ago, stakeholders don’t have direct input
Need to develop a new service – CBC designates at least 3% of annual budget to “new media”
Podcasts are exploding – particularly through iTunes because of iPhone

Rebecca Martin, Youth Media International - minors producing multimedia for adult consumers
Organizational goals:
The “buzz potential” of YouTube – short-form video is exploding
The community participation of Wikipedia
The credibility of the New York Times
Specialization, customizable content branded by focus on youth

Skip Pizzi, media technology consultant
HD Radio transition continues but slowly; meanwhile Internet Radio is rapidly evolving/growing
MP3 player sales skyrocketing while sales of regular radio tuners plummeting
Wireless broadband could be your next transmitter
Dual roles for effective community radio stations: content generator and service provider
Radio Metadata – “tags” are important to the next generation of media users
FM actually does have RDS ability – mostly limited to station ID and “Now Playing”info
HD Radio has PAD/PSD, takes tags from MP3 ID3 info
Coming soon: EPG electronic program guide like TV has
Changing revenue streams at commercial stations – local revenue down 10%, national ad revenue down 12%, off-air income up 7%
Platform less important than content – radio is what you do, not what you are – look at yourself as a content creator and service provider
In five years, what we call radio today will be as important or more important and in demand as it is today – platform may change but the need for localism for will never go away

Discussion
Will HD Radio ever be the standard? Without a mandate the process will remain slow. Hampered by exclusivity in product development (iBiquity lock) Need portable HD Radio tuners, possibly integrated into MP3 players
Some communities don’t have Internet, let alone wireless broadband, so ownership of traditional towers still important, land-based media not going away
Recent FCC filing window will result in at least 200 new community radio stations, native stations doubling to 66