Radio in the Amphitheatre

Not long ago many public radio stations in the United States had what amounted to a monopoly in their markets. In many markets there was only one public radio station on the FM dial, and the audience had little or no choice if they wanted to hear Morning Edition.

Hybrid Digital radio has eroded that monopoly a little. But since very few of the audience have HD radios it's had very little impact.

But the Internet is a different story. On the Internet a public radio station in any market is just a tiny whisper in a huge cacophony of noise.

Searching for an analogy to describe this to a group of j-school students the other day, it struck me that the old days were like standing in an ancient amphitheatre. In the days of FM radio, it was as if the listener was standing on the stage and her public radio station was like a person standing half way up the auditorium, in very middle of row L, shouting down to the listener on the stage. Since the public radio station was the only person in the auditorium the listener, though a little way off, had no trouble locating the station, or listening to it.

But on the Web the public radio station is not alone. Every seat in the audiorium is filled with stations, newspapers and blogs trying to get the listener's attention. And in all that noise it's almost impossible for her to hear the public radio station.

In this situation, there's no point telling the same story as everyone else. Then it just becomes unidentifyable in the noise the listener, still standing on the stage, now hears.

The only way to stand out is to be different. To be distinct. To be original. The only way to be heard in all that noise is to tell a different story. To cover something that only public radio's special reporting skills and relationship with its audience allows it to cover.

It will still be hard to find, but the listener will at least have a reason to keep looking.