Is NPR truly owned by the public?

With a network as expansive as NPR's, I have always been amazed at how a network that ends every segment with a plea for funds, can afford to air large quantities of high quality programming nationwide. Estimating the costs of modern radio production in my heads, it just doesn't seem logical that the media minority NPR supporters can afford such an extensive network of affiliates and national hub stations. Doing what any sensible person in the Digital Age would do, I took to the internet to find the true owner of NPR. What I stumbled upon was an anonymous blog post on elingreso.com, summing up NPR's ownership as a deadly cocktail: one part government/tax/independent funding, two parts corporate sponsorship.

In 1970, National Public Radio was created as a provision of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into effect by President Lyndon B. Johnson. At its conception NPR was an independent news source, gaining most of its monetary support from government aid. In the 1980s, under the economic policies of "Reaganomics" (supply-side, essentially) the government cut back on spending on government programs, to boost our economy, causing NPR to look for outside donors. As much as the anonymous author of the blog mentioned in the previous paragraph accurately explains the trend shift in funding for NPR, he or she fails to recognize the current numbers of how NPR's funding is created.

Behold, NPR releases how their funding is provided in a snazzy little pie chart, and shockingly, I was as wrong in my assumptions as was my anonymous friend.

The public actually provides most of the funding (39%), followed by corporate sponsors (17%). The public still has an interest in their public radio, even though they have been accused of being puppets of corporate America, their business "Big Brother" can only get them so far.

BBC Radio: On a scale from one to six

BBC has come a long way. Created in the aftermath of one World War and the conception of another, the BBC was created as the first public radio service in England in 1927. Once used strictly for news, its purpose evolved into a variety show of programming with entertainment for the family. Now BBC radio has split personalities, many of which are marketed for trendy young listeners, while still keeping a serious news source for older generations (most similar to NPR). The BBC family is a unique mix of personalities, so in true posh fashion, let us formally meet the House of BBC.

Radio1: Lowest in number, and probably age in listeners, Radio1 plays today's pop music, where Top 40 playlists meet the "new" new-age movement. It is the type of radio you listen to when you want to stay in the know of popular culture, but want to listen to something cool and obscure to seem hipster. Radio1 is even taking on popularity in the states as their Youtube channel is becoming well-known for popular artists covering and remastering the most popular songs of the moment. Radio1 is very much integrated amongst social media and streaming platforms, because that is where there listenership is. Easiest way to understand Radio1, is that it is the baby of the BBC family.

Radio2: Radio1's elder sibling. Radio2 is BBC's take on adult contemporary. It plays current songs, but keeps a focus on easy listening and light music, in contrast to the loud and brash (depending on your age or taste in music) sound of Radio1. Formerly known as BBC Light Programme, Radio2 was renamed to streamline the BBC family in a ploy for fresh marketing from one of the oldest radio networks in the world.

Radio3: BBC's jazz station was renamed for the same reason as Radio2. Unlike NPR across the pond, the BBC has invested in creating genre specific radio stations to expand listenership. Radio3 plays modern smooth jazz and is marketed toward urban, refined individuals in their 30s, but also for older listeners looking for something other than news or talk to follow.

Radio4: The national station of England. Radio4 is the home programme, delighting listeners with talk radio, domestic news, public service anouncements. Essentially BBC's counterpart to our national coverage NPR based out of New York. The original BBC is what Radio4 is now, essentially.

Radio5 Live: Radio5 Live replaced the former Radio5, a children's network, with a station that is purely sports coverage and news. ESPN radio for footballers and hooligans.

Radio6: With a boom of hipster culture arising globally, BBC digitally offers an all alternative station for the unknown, underground, and obscure to enjoy all the indie entertainment they want. Purely streaming alternative music, Radio 6 is feeding the digital age by bringing new sounds through a new medium.

The BBC family also includes distant relatives like BBC World News Service, for globally broadcasting BBC coverage and channels in Spanish, or with focuses in Wales or the Middle East to accommodate the global community. Just like the actual royal family, this radio brood is just a figure head, still lagging behind in listenership. But like all things American, NPR should take a hint from the British before breaking away to do their own thing.

This German Life

NPR, National Public Radio; our national beacon of free press across the radio waves, known for being uniquely local, is making waves in Germany?

This is Europe we're talking about. A continent caught between the east-west turf war between the UK's BBC and middle eastern powerhouse Al Jazeera dominating the Mediterranean coast and eastern Europe, a land that is only known to Americans as being Soviet. How did NPR make its way into the popular airwaves of Germany?

Considering Berlin's booming economy, the answer is simple: ex-pats. Berlin's flourishing international community, however, can't be purely American. With its central location as the gateway between eastern and western Europe, it would seem that Berlin would be BBC territory, but a 2012 poll conducted by German relocation company OTA-Berlin, found that english speaking Berliners chose NPR as their premier radio news source. NPR had a low popular vote with only 38%, making the majority. BBC didn't even fill in the second place, as Berliners were more inclined to listen to local German stations, over the British news source that has dominated airwaves almost as long as the British empire dominated the rest of the world.

It makes perfect sense that Berliners would cling to local stations. Living in a worldly city like Berlin, the masses want to be kept up on their current events happening in Germany, and radio truly reflects the concerns and opinions of locals, but as an outsider looking in, when I think of Europe, images of the BBC broadcasted in multiple languages and adapted for different demographics takeover my mind. OTA attributes the lack of popularity of the BBC to the retirement of world news anchor, Robin Lustig, as the mark of  the decline of BBC radio news in general.

But where does NPR fit into this equation? NPR is more than just a radio station in Germany. There correspondents and international staff are often quoted in German papers for expert opinions on research or news coverage. The US is cited as a beacon for global research, often using NPR's international division to link American sources to European news. NPR, often a joke of radio stations in America, is making a name for itself overseas. It has even created a German version of NPR to meet demand, maybe they will even create "This German Life" in there quest to globalize free radio.

NPR won't die out just because its listeners did

I love NPR (National Public Radio, for our international friends). I love the quirky game shows with perfectly fitting quirky hosts, I love the crisp sound quality of "RadioLab" and "This American Life", not to mention that NPR seemingly bridges the gap between being a fun online publication and reputable news source with its surprisingly entertaining website, with cute bits like "Sandwich Mondays." But what I can't stand, is that the general public won't ever appreciate any of it because the only NPR they know is that of the old white guy variety, or if you're lucky the NPR that the Prius driving, Ivy League hipster listens to.

I am unfortunately stuck with the first option. In retirement paradise, otherwise known as South Florida, the land of which I call home, the NPR station is by the Old, of the Old, for the Old.  The regular programming revolves around topics of gardening, antique restoration, local art fairs, and play by plays of charity galas, topped off with "A Prairie Home Companion" and 1940s jazz on "Night Train." Only Friday through Sunday afternoon is NPR enticing to a wide audience as national programs such as "Wait, Wait! Don't Tell Me" and "Ask Me Another" does the station receive a dip in the age of the average listener.

While working in Los Angeles over the summer, I occasionally logged onto NPR's online broadcasts to update myself on what was happening back east at home, when I noticed the station I was listening to was too young, too fresh to be NPR. It was only playing indie rock and world music from urban underground artists, yet it was owned by NPR, supported by the People, for the People, of the People. I couldn't believe my ears, yet I wasn't surprised. NPR does take the local flavor of its listeners, and this was the local flavor of L.A.

If all NPR stations were this way, we wouldn't be hunting for decent free radio on the internet, or even paying a premium to SiriusXM to listen to NPR's New York studio. Unfortunately the taste of our  local area dictates the whole station. In South Florida,  that will all change as the audience is dying out, a new era will be ushered in.

Click here to check out NPR across the country.               

Modern tastes shift from "On Air" to "Online"

Radio: the transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves of radio frequency, especially those carrying sound messages. The concept, the idea of what radio programming should be is now a romanticized memory of the past. Disc jockeys in small booths at local stations, oozing with personality while being broadcasted live to millions of personal radios is quickly becoming a dying breed. Local stations are being bought out by media giants such as iHeartMedia and and Clear Channel Media, "internet radio" is just a mask for music genome projects of the Pandora cohort. Radio is undergoing a fast change, fearing that it is on its way of becoming the print journalism of the digital broadcasting family, a platform that will cease to exist when its audience does.

In The State of the Media's annual "Audio: By the Numbers" private subscription user only and online radio platforms were  the only forms of radio broadcasting networks showing steady increases in their numbers of listeners. SiriusXM continually grows in numbers as the American consumer becomes more narrow in his or her selection of station, not to mention that the modern consumer is also less inclined to listen to advertisements and that SiriusXM is also available standard in most cars at the time of purchase. Mobile radio also experienced an increase in listeners as radio stations are now available in app form at for both iPhone users and consumers of the Android Marketplace, allowing listeners to catch real-time broadcasts on the go from major networks and cities that normally broadcast thousands of miles away. 

Differing from the satellite radio variety, Internet radio giant, Pandora, crushed both its online competitors and real-time radio competitors during 2014. Pandora mastered the art of catering to specific tastes by matching 400 musical characteristics to one's musical tastes to create custom channels, but it is questionable if that is considered radio or a robotized playlist. Similar to SiriusXM, Pandora or Spotify, its #1 competitor, are also becoming available standard in most cars, where most people recorded listening to the radio while driving. 

The decline in AM/FM listenership is projected to decline further for the next five years. The convergence of ownership with radio stations such as those owned by the aforementioned iHeartMedia group are not helping the AF/FM market, even thought they offer premium HD quality. They fail to sell radio stations chock full of ads or  quote on quote repetitive music  cycles, but listeners ironically ditched them for glorified playlists that are beyond repetitive. The only logical reason could be that consumers have no control over the air time of what they are listening to, by operating radio distribution the old fashion way.

To check out this year's "Audio: By the Numbers" click here