July 9, 2007

Far as I know, Santa Barbara is the largest university town in the U.S. without its own local public radio station. It also lacks a full-time live local news station as well. By scary coincidence, the city also has a history of threat by wildfires, and has lost more than a thousand structures to wildfire since 1964. The last major wildfire was Painted Cave in 1990, which claimed more than 600 homes. The length of time without a fire since then has only increased the sum of "fuel" in the wild, and this fire season is already one of the driest on record. The absence of a live local radio news source therefore has a special urgency.

Since commercial radio can't serve the public in event of a fire, the public needs to take matters into its own hands. We can do that either by beefing up one of the existing public stations (KCBX, KCLU) located elsewhere but serving Santa Barbara with secondary transmitters, or by starting a new station here in town. As it happens the conditions are no less ripe for doing that than there are for fires in the hills

In Lighting a fire for public radio in Santa Barbara I make the case for moving quickly on this opportunity, and I lay out some of the conditions that encourage it. This Q&A goes more deeply into some of the questions that would naturally come up. If you have more questions of your own, please post them under that last link.

— Doc Searls

Why can't commercial radio stations do the job?

Because they lack the interest, the resources, or both. In decades past, the best local radio stations were engaged with their cities, their civic functions. Even small-town local stations maintained staffs of reporters, or took advantage of reporters from local newspapers. That was the case when the News-Press owned KTMS (which borrowed the initials of publisher Thomas M. Storck) on 1250AM. While the call letters survive on 990AM, the station today is mostly a collection of syndicated programming from elsewhere. Two of those programs — Dennis Miller's morning show and Dr. Laura's afternoon show — are national shows starring local celebrities. Credit where due: there is local coverage, but how fast will it report on smoke that's drifting across town? More to the point, can we be sure it'll be around one, five or ten years from now?

What about KZSB/1290, "The News Press Radio Station?"

While "AM 1290" does a nice job of providing local feature programming, its hourly news comes from the BBC and its local news is mostly recycled from the News-Press, which is fresh only in the mornings. Even before the News-Press lost most of its editorial staff (starting last summer), it provided little live coverage of local news. Also, both the News-Press and KZSB have gone out of their way not to take advantage of the Internet, which is essential for live involvement with the local community. While the News-Press locks its editorial behind a subscriber-only "paywall," KZSB doesn't even have a website. (It's live stream can also only be heard with a Windows Media player, rather than the industry-standard MP3 format.) It would be terrific if KZSB fulfilled the promise of live local news radio, but there are no signs that will happen.

Why public radio?

Public radio has become a vital part of the civic culture in the U.S., much as it has long been in other countries. In times past, public radio was a secondary service — an indulgence of universities and culture-oriented civic groups. Today public stations are among the most popular in every market they serve. As anchors of civic culture and sources of news and public affairs programming they are also well-supported both by listener contributions and grants from foundations and businesses. As a relatively affluent city, Santa Barbara is likely to support a local public radio station generously. A public station concentrating on news and public affairs would also fit nicely in a radio landscape already well-populated (perhaps even overpopulated) by that other public radio staple: classical music.

What would the programming be like?

We would probably anchor the schedule around public radio staples from NPR, PRI, American Public Media and PRX. — sources for both new and familiar programming at stations across the country. But we would also do our best to maximize local news, public affairs and events. Ours should be the station citizens of Santa Barbara would turn to for breaking news and authoritative reporting. Not that the station wouldn't be entertaining as well. Public radio can be many things. But what matters would be serving the public with what it needs most to know.

With all the new media in the world, isn't radio old hat?

Radio remains a bedrock technological and civic institution in modern society. And there still isn't a better way to reach many people at once, especially when news is breaking and citizens need to be informed. Also, new media rarely displace old media. At their best, they supplement each other. Two modern developments — the Internet and mobile phones — are ideal complements to radio, greatly increasing the capacity for news gathering, fact checking and participation by citizens who are often in the best position to serve as sources and provide original talent.

If we create a new station, who would own and run it?

That's open. It could be a new or existing local nonprofit. It could be a local school. It could be one of the existing noncommercial stations already active in Santa Barbara. Let's talk about it, and see who steps forward to take the lead.

How would it make money?

Public stations are usually funded by a combination of listener contributions and sponsorships from businesses and other generous sources. We expect the same to be the case here. We might also look into other fresh funding models. For example, in the past few months ProjectVRM at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society (where I serve as a fellow) has been meeting with public radio officials and working on a new approach to funding that will make it easier for listeners both to contribute to public stations and to become involved with them as members. A new station (like this one in Santa Barbara might be) would be an idea place to test out such a system.

- Doc Searls