Boston Herald on Talent Quest
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Boston Herald on Talent Quest. This pass mostly gets it right:
Public radio is jumping on the reality talent search bandwagon - launching its own version of the TV megahit “American Idol” as it scours the country for its next big radio star.
With an eye on the Web-savvy and Generations X and Y, the contest is being held online by the Public Radio Exchange in Cambridge, a nonprofit Web site that links producers of radio programs with public radio stations.
“We wanted to use the Web as a way to cast a really wide net to find new talent for public radio,” said Jake Shapiro, executive director of the Public Radio Exchange.
Shapiro said public radio is trying to “broaden its appeal to new audiences.”
“It needs to grow like any other industry,” Shapiro said yesterday. “It needs to reflect a much more diverse public that’s grown up around the country and that, in many ways, isn’t yet tuning into public radio.”
Would-be hosts should create a two-minute, personality-driven audio demo of talk, entertainment or music and then upload it to www.publicradioquest starting April 16.
“In the first round, we really just want to learn who you are - it’s about your personality,” said Shapiro, who said contestants will undergo four rounds.
The public can vote and contestants will be critiqued by a panel of judges that include Jay Allison, producer of National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” series.
Three winners will be paired with a producer who will help them create a pilot program for public radio.
While baby boomers have been public radio’s core audience, Shapiro said more and more Gen X-ers are tuning in and will eventually make up the majority of public radio’s listeners.
“It’s a continual challenge to figure out how to bring in the next generation of listeners,” Shapiro said.
Compared to commercial radio, public radio’s audience has doubled over the past two decades and grew tremendously after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but has hit a plateau in the past couple years, Shapiro said.
“It’s just a question of, is the growth going to continue and if so, where is it coming from?” Shapiro said.
Competition Begins for Public Radio ‘Idol’
Monday, April 2, 2007
The Public Radio Talent Quest gets a nod from the New York Times today in the Monday Media & Advertising briefing:
(Help us give this a boost on Digg by clicking here and digging the story)
Competition Begins for Public Radio ‘Idol’
Aspiring pop stars can turn to “American Idol”; budding screenwriters had “Project Greenlight.” So where do fledgling public radio hosts turn?The Public Radio Exchange, a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Mass., that connects independent radio producers and public radio stations looking for programming, is holding an online contest to find a new national radio star.Two-minute audio submissions in talk, entertainment and music genres will be accepted online beginning April 16 (at publicradioquest.com); winners will be chosen through four elimination rounds by a panel of radio professionals and public voting.The competition, which will ultimately award pilot production money to three finalists, is financed by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that administers federal subsidies for public radio and television.A second grant went to a group of longtime public radio producers who call themselves Launch. That group is conducting a separate private search, aimed at “people who are Oscar winners, MacArthur genius granters, and Grammy winners,” among others, said Mary Beth Kirchner, a partner in Launch.The three finalists identified by each group will submit pilot shows to the corporation, which has said it will choose one, and maybe more, to get development funds early next year, part of its push to broaden the public radio audience. Both teams said they expected that even some of the runners-up would find a place on the dial.Jake Shapiro, the exchange’s executive director, said he hopes to receive “hundreds and hundreds” of submissions for the “American Idol”-style search, despite some online grumbling from podcasters, who in recent years have bypassed the radio distribution system and put their own shows on the Internet.
