NPR and 12 public radio stations have launched the first-ever localized daily news podcast, one that blends national stories and local reporting. Listeners will hear a version of Consider This with reporting on their community from their community, alongside a national view from NPR.
The participating stations will be: Boston (WBUR and GBH), New York (WNYC), Philadelphia (WHYY), Washington, D.C. (WAMU), Chicago (WBEZ), Minneapolis/St. Paul (MPR), Dallas/Fort Worth (KERA), Los Angeles (KPCC and KCRW), San Francisco (KQED), and Portland, OR (OPB).
NPR is partnering with AdsWizz to deliver this localized news in the same way podcast publishers deliver localized sponsorship content. Consider This will use Nielsen’s Designated Market Areas to route the appropriate local content to users, if there is a participating station match. For now, listeners outside of participating markets will continue to hear NPR’s national version of Consider This. NPR expects to add more participating Member stations in 2021.
“This project is truly the best reflection of the public radio mission,” said Neal Carruth, NPR’s senior director for on demand programming. “Consider This is now a collaborative podcast that will know where users are and deliver them the news of the day from their community and beyond. It demonstrates what only the public radio network has the ability to do.”
Well, if you consider Minneapolis-St. Paul to be local I’m sure it will work. I doubt if they’ll be doing bake sales, lost dogs, birthdays, city council reports, etc. for small towns here in Western Minnesota.
Yes, this is the real problem with the ongoing homogenization of all radio, both terrestrial and digital. It could go full-circle and eventually reach a guerilla radio format where we all have an easy connection to local-local info. But when? I say it’ll be when we, as you know humans, will be forced to create content out of necessity, not for dollars. This has already taken place in digital print with neighborhood sites such as Nextdoor.com.