This American Life host and creator Ira Glass was the keynote speaker at the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Phoenix. He told the PD’s in attendance that creating original programming, specifically podcasts, is key if they want to survive. And that stations and talent need to work together to grow that industry and make podcasts work.
The Current reports that Glass said he hears from small stations across the country who complain they cannot start new shows and says that just doesn’t fly. “I don’t want to be too harsh, but I just think that that’s ridiculous. I think anybody who says that actually is not looking at all their options.” Glass said a solution to that concern is to for talent and the station to share legal and financial ownership of podcasts. “When I started This American Life with WBEZ, our deal was I would own it 50 percent and the station would own it 50 percent, on the common sense understanding that they couldn’t make the show without me and I couldn’t make it without them.”
The Current reports that Glass’s company is developing three new shows, one of which he said could be a radio show in addition to a podcast. The understanding he has with each of the producers involved is that they will own a stake in their programs, should they come to fruition. In his keynote, Glass gave several examples of Podcasts for the PD’s to learn from, all of which you can read about HERE.
