Today I dropped by the studios of KCRW, in a basement at the Santa Monica Community College.
KCRW is public radio as you would never have imagined it - it is at the forefront of music exploration and how to develop talent in air. There is a ton of music here and live concerts all the time. These are the folks who found Norah Jones and introduced Cold Play to North America. THEY ARE NOT BORING!
This is a studio cam shot - you can be in the studio. KCRW also podcast video and sound.
Jennifer Ferro showed me around today. I dropped into one studio where Jackie Greene was broadcasting live with DJ Nic Harcourt. His show is called Morning Becomes Eclectic: Morning Becomes Eclectic is committed to a music experience that celebrates innovation, creativity and diversity by combining progressive pop, world beat, jazz, African, reggae, classical and new music. Recognized nationally as a forum for promoting a wide range of music ahead of the curve, the show has become a very attractive whistle stop for both established and emerging artists from around the world.
In the next door studio I spotted Arianna Huffington setting up for Left Right and Centre, a talk show
Check it out. Below is my interview with Ruth Seymour - the magic behind KCRW.
Technorati Tags: KCRW, Public Radio
Please tell me what you think is going on?
Do you know much about my station because it knowing more about it may help.
No I am completely ignorant please tell me about you
We are "eclectic". We are one of the world's most influential music stations (contemporary) We help set the trends. We were first to promote Norah Jones and caught Coldplay early. We also offer a very broad menu of news and current affairs and are the leading news and current affairs station in our large market. We do all of this is the basement of a community centre.
You sound like the "Mouse that roared".
I suppose we might be like that. We have a lot of volunteers and we do not pay people a lot. But we attract some wonderful people. We have been able to create two audiences. (25- 35 and 35-45)We have made a special effort to attract a younger audience..
Attracting the young is the Holy Grail that most people fail in. How have you pulled this off?
You fail with the young when you act as if you know what is good for them. You have to where they are maybe 3 times a week and only maybe 2 times where you want to go. You have to go where they are
We have also done this by being eclectic – some listen to music and hear something new and get acquainted. Some listen to music and hear the news or current affairs and find something that appeals. Some listen to news and hear new music. It all cross- fertilizes itself. I have learned that if I only put out what my audience wants I will lose the audience. This is especially true now.
What do you mean?
I mean that before the web, we were the only game in town. Now there are so many new channels and ways of listening to music and to news. Now we have to work even harder to remain relevant and interesting. We have to be constantly willing to change.
How do you know what to do then? How do you keep up with the pace of change?
We know that "Someone in the audience knows more than we do." We are also organized to learn quickly. Being in a basement means that we don't have a fat head. I am the only one with an office and that is like a cupboard. Everyone is in an open plan and so we all talk to each other as part of the normal day. There are few hierarchical barriers. I almost never have all staff meetings. I also give people their head. I am very hands off.
We are organized to learn and to adapt. We are focused on what is important.
What do you think is going on? How does this insight help you get focused?
The change that we are living in is much bigger and much faster paced than the industrial revolution. Just think not 3 years ago there was no iPod. I feel that the point of being truly creative in this context is to embrace the idea that things will happen soon that we could not ever have imagined. Who could have foreseen the iPod? We are only just now beginning to understand how disruptive it is.
We cannot know the future. We can only participate in it.
We have been online for 11 years but the economic model is not yet clear. But the important thing is that we are participating extensively. We are in the game. We run 3 distinct services. The Station on Air live, the all music station that we are moving to a time shifting mode and our news service. We partner with Shoutcast, iTunes, AOL and Real.
It is still hard to see where this will lead. In our main station we match a lot of our local coverage but this may soon expand. In the iPod world most of the listeners come form outside. It looks like geography and time for a station like ours may go away. For instance Toyo is our 2nd largest music audience. Why? We cannot be sure.
So we hope to find our way through the revolution by being proactive. We try things. We don't have a lot of money so we try and be smart and we partner.
So our focus is twofold – we experiment and we do our best to offer GREAT CONTENT.
If I had any advice for Public Radio it is that great content is the winner. No matter how we reach our "listeners" great content is the key.
With a focus on great content comes a focus on TALENT. Many in management have an administrative bias. But you know, we are in show business. We have to have a nose for finding talent. Not just copy cat talent – like finding the 3rd edition of Jon Stewart but finding our own original talent.
This is why our organization helps us. No one thinks that we can buy our way. We tend to take the clever rather than the expensive route. My people don't get paid much but they are deeply engaged in the community. Our brand gives my people an entrée to the scene and hence the network to spot talent. We offer the culture and the environment where people can take risks.
Many stations are making their focus – convening community. How does this work for you?
Not for us in our world of a major market. We are in show business in the show business capital of our country. We do facilitate communities but they tend to be artistic and we do this by partnering and by sponsoring. We even sponsor concerts in New York and in London. The type of community that makes sense for us are artistic such as the music community. We even help out in areas where we are not on air - such as we sponsor the symphony.
We do this not just because we are nice but because we help each other it is a trade – a fair trade.
Thank you
