2029 mission impossible: Save public radio

An utopian scenario

Cross Radio Conference, Frascati, 29 may 2009

Tiziano Bonini, Iulm University, Milan

In 2029 a man born in 1980 will be 49 years old. The young audience of 2029 will be the babies of today. They will consider the iPod an old fashioned toy, as today it happens to the walkman.

2029 challenge for public radio is not a technological one.

2029 challenge is a question of change in genetics and culture.

Audience scenario

In 2029 the radio audience scape is completely new:Public radio will have to adress its contents to different kinds of audience.These new classes of listeners could be roughly divided into three main slots:

1. over 55ers (born between 1960 and 1974) the last analogic generation

2. 35-55ers (born between 1974 and 1995): the generation X: my generation,the last of the 20th century. An hybrid generation grown up inan in-between time, that one between analogic and digital age,walkman and iPod, enciclopedia and wikipedia, radio and podcast...

3. 20-35ers (born between 1995 and 2015): the first bit generation,the first digital one.

Nowadays on the average the public radio listeners are between 45 and 65.If this actual trend will be confirmed, in 2029 the most substantial sliceof the cake will frame the last analogic generation and people of my generation.All these people will be grown up with computers and internet and day by day they will get more accustomed to connect themselves to internetthan switching on the radio.Public radio will have to provide these people with a reason for keeping onlistening to radio.

Some reasons could be the followings:

1. The radio identity is close to the listeners's one.The speakers share same age and similar cultural backgrounds of their listenersThis means that public radio should start to train a new team ofyoung speakers to make them able to talk to their peers

2. Sound designing (themes, jingles, music, sound grammar)is always updated and tailored ad hoc to the audience body

3. Popular and fresh contents

But all these reasons won't save public radio.They'll temporarily heal its wounds and solve just a part of the problem.

The problem:

As the british media historian Paddy Scannel claims,in the industrial society of past century radio played the role oforganizing and synchronizing community experience, uniting the nation,nurturing the sense of belonging to a same gemeinshaft, acting asthe social clock of a systemical society.In a post-industrial and post-ideological society instead,it doesn't exist just one nation, or one public sphere,or a general common experience of reality.We assist to a multiplication of public spheres, an hyper-privatization of listening habits (this is the meaning of my background image),fragmentation of audiences, proliferation of different ways of life.

a potential solution (or a kind of...):

Multiply channels and contents in order to attract a fragmented audience

Public radio offer: a mixed offer of traditional channels of general interest (updated following the reasons we saw before) with brand new channels, adressed to niches of listeners.

Young people want to listen to young speakers talking about young musicand fresh pop contents (this is what I've learned from my students)

Creating new thematic channels (this means brand new speakers,brand new staff, brand new producers, brand new studios and workspaces)...is the only way to regenerate public radio genetic and structural agony.These channels will start as a lab for the traditional ones,and, at a first stage of experimentation, they can be broadcasted only on lineor digitally.These channels should be highly supported by the internet department.

The first three new channels – within the italian context - could be the followings:

1. an under 30 channel which employs only under 30ers workers. a kind of college channel, scheduling the best speakers and programmesof the college radio scape.

2. a channel adressed to the G2 generation, all those italian listeners born in Italy from migrant parents. An hybrid channel run by young G2 people, with music and information and talk programmes (the model: Beur fm, France)

3. a fresh (pop) art & culture channel, made of features, talk, drama, (old and brand new), new music. Contents with a long life span, suitable for an on demand listening or podcasting.

A final note:

In 2029 I'll be 52. I'll be a listener of nostalgic radio of my youth,I'll be wandering wired to my prehistoric iPodloaded with old songs and I won't understand anything about the aestheticsof young people around me.

Maybe, if you want to save public radio in 2029 you should study- the closer you can - the audience of tomorrow, mapping theirlistening habits since now.

I am already old for saving public radio in 2029!

Tiziano Bonini, Iulm University, Milan