Planning for
AMPPR’s Future
By Bob Goldfarb
 Life
begins at forty! And at AMPPR’s 40th-anniversary conference in Savannah,
a surprisingly large number of attendees got together to discuss possible
plans for AMPPR’s future. The discussion was led by the members of the
Board’s Strategic Planning Committee: Beverley Ervine, Hal Prentice, and
myself. The bottom line was a consensus that AMPPR should take steps to
reach out to its constituencies and should begin to move from an all-volunteer
operation to a more professional one to help accomplish that goal.
The
starting point for the session was a review of the committee’s work over
the past year. The committee members believe that a lot of the public radio
community is unaware of what AMPPR does, so a prime objective for the future
is to raise awareness dramatically. What’s more, this is a time when there
are special opportunities for AMPPR. Kim Hodgson of WDAV contacted AMPPR
in connection with his activities on behalf of all-music stations, and
AMPPR has entered into discussions with the European Broadcasting Union
about planning a joint conference in Europe in November, 2003. There hasn’t
been a better time than this for AMPPR to stand up and take its place among
the leading organizations in the public radio system.
How
can we be better at what we’re already doing? One suggestion: commission
research that identifies the competitive strengths of music programming.
Another idea was to establish ongoing working relationships with other
organizations, such as PRPD, and plan joint activities with them. Since
PRPD is currently spearheading a study of the classical music format, AMPPR
could help disseminate the findings of the study and might be able to provide
input on practical ways to follow up on those findings.
A
theme that unites several of these ideas is to “make the case for music,”
as one speaker put it. It’s no secret that many stations in recent years
have reduced the amount of music they air in favor of news/talk programs.
Yet a number of general managers recognize that music programming can attract
more listeners in certain dayparts than talk shows; and, as John Berky
of Connecticut Public Radio WNPR noted at the session, music programming
is far less expensive than news/talk. Still, news/talk programming dominates
the interest and attention of decision-makers in public radio, and one
reason is that the voices on the other side of the question aren’t being
heard. AMPPR might be able to counteract that perception.
Of
course, research costs money, and advocacy activities do, too. A show of
hands indicated that there would be support for a higher level of membership
dues, including the creation of new membership categories, such as a “corporate”
membership open to stations and perhaps other entities. Institutional participation
might also attract the involvement of more general managers, which in turn
would help raise AMPPR’s profile within the system generally.
In
the months ahead the Strategic Planning Committee will grapple with different
ways that AMPPR can become a more professional and more effective advocate
for music programming. Members with ideas or comments should contact committee
members directly:
Bob Goldfarb, Chair bob@artsmedia.org
Laura Harbert Allen allen@wvpubcast.org
Beverley Ervine ervine.1@osu.edu
Hal Prentice hal@wkar.org |
