Cruz Won’t Endorse Trump, Public Archaeology In Wisconsin, What’s Next For Public Radio?

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Aztalan State Park is home to a number of ancient mound structures, and archeologists from UW are opening up excavations to the public. Our guest talks about the importance of including everyone in the field of archeology. We also take a look at the future of public radio with the changing media landscape, and look at the fallout of Ted Cruz’s pointed refusal to endorse Donald Trump.

Featured in this Show

  • What's The Future For Public Radio?

    Earlier this month, public radio showman Garrison Keillor stepped down from the helm of the massively popular “A Prairie Home Companion” after 42 years as its host. More than just the end of an era, his retirement is a high-profile symbol of the uncertain media future that public radio executives are facing, ushered by a boom in podcasting and other New Media services, as well as changing listening habits and demographics.

    So says Adam Ragusea, host of the weekly podcast “The Pub” for the public broadcasting trade publication Current. He said he believes public radio — led by its flagship outfit, NPR — is the victim of its own success, becoming overly cautious and risk-averse. With podcasts now showing big growth potential and the media market changing, NPR has an opportunity to grow and adapt, he said.

    “I think the retirement of Garrison is a big moment,” he said. “It comes not so long after ‘Car Talk’ stopped making new episodes. That show still gets syndicated and a lot of stations still air it, but one of the hosts has sadly passed on, it’s all sort of recycled material right now. And there’s other retirements in the works, just big institutions of public radio kind of just going away, ending, reaching the end of their life cycle.”

    Ragusea said NPR is still holding steady thanks in large part to what he called the network’s tent-pole programs, “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” in the afternoons.

    “Those are the two things that hold up everything else. Those are kind of what we’re here to do,” he said.

    Those programs have seen am overall ratings gain of 16 percent on terrestrial radios in the first quarter of 2016, according to the Los Angeles Times, and Ragusea said he has seen internal numbers that show even larger spikes later on in the year. Industry experts suspect that’s due in large part to the presidential race.

    But Ragusea said NPR is still catering its programming style to older listeners, potentially spoiling an opportunity to capture a younger audience.

    What NPR doesn’t have and what it’s desperately been in search of for years now is a big weekend hit that can drive ratings, revenue and new listeners, said Ragusea. NPR tried with “Ask Me Another,” a hour-long quiz show with what Ragusea called a nerdy-cool sensibility. While it’s nationally syndicated, Ragusea said it would be unfair to call it a hit.

    Part of the reason why Ragusea said he thinks it’s failed is because massively popular radio programs can’t be made in laboratory setting, carefully scripted and contrived by market research. That’s never been the spirit of public radio. In fact, said Ragusea, NPR’s spirit still lies in its early days when hippies in their 20s were running public radio stations at universities who enjoyed experimenting with storytelling with virtually no standards to uphold.

    Think about “Car Talk,” said Ragusea. It was a radio show with two working-class guys with Boston accents and funny laughs who spent an hour on the air talking about radiators and mufflers. It doesn’t sound like it should be a hit, and yet it was. It was the same way with “A Prairie Home Companion.”

    “It just came out of this period of experimentation where people were just throwing spaghetti against the wall and those were the two that strands that stuck, because they’re wonderful, but no one could have foreseen those as being hits,” he said.

    Ragusea added that some of the ratings and demographic research is a little hazy. Many audience surveys can’t capture how many people are listening through non-traditional channels like web streams and podcasts. But in terms of digital metrics NPR and other public radio outfits produce an impressive number of the most popular podcasts.

  • Wisconsinites Get Involved At Aztalan Archaeology Project

    An archeological project is exploring the mysteries of Wisconsin–and the public is getting involved. The leader of the project tells us about the people of Aztalan–and the people getting involved in the research.

  • Where Is Public Radio Headed Next?

    Celebrated public radio icon Garrison Keillor recently stepped down as the host of ‘A Prairie Home Companion.’ His departure, happening alongside a boom in podcasting and new media, has sparked conversation about the future and adaptability of public radio in a rapidly changing media landscape. Our guest joins us to take stock of public radio and look at where it might go next.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Producer
  • Rob Ferrett Producer
  • Adam C. Ragusea Guest