I don’t care what the Pew people pollsters say about radio’s decline in the news ecosystem. I still think it’s a good way to reach underserved communities that live off the grid, as well as Silicon Valley techies sitting in slow California traffic. And that’s where guest blogger and fellow hyperlocalist Dan Hugo steps in.

When you think “hyperlocal” or “community journalism,” you probably think blogs, newspaper-style articles or some sort of written word — I did. Clearly this is not the only way to go, and in August 2009 my colleague Kevin Fox and I tried a new angle on hyperlocal media in a project called Radio Sunnyvale (Calif.).

It wasn’t “real” radio at first, though we did toss around the idea of somehow getting our content broadcast somewhere in the area. We started off on my couch with “The Dan and Kevin Show” and talked about simple things, including the warning horns on the Caltrain that would pass by during our podcast recordings. By October 2009, our programming had diversified with city-council candidate interviews, special segments, and a well-received interview with the city manager.

Because our programming was not bound by time slots, hard breaks, and FCC regulations, we would post our content as recorded, without looking for sound bites or removing what we felt might be boring. If someone had something to say, we would put it up. Bringing as many people as possible to the table was the general idea.

We were well received — one operator of low-power AM radio offered to take us from a podcast to an on-air broadcast — but we were not necessarily well timed. With the declining economy, even the most supportive of Sunnyvaleans were not able or interested in contributing cash to the cause. Real interest did not translate to financial support. Even with our negligible operating budget, there was a need to pay the founders so that they might continue to reside in the city of interest. Ultimately, this was our undoing.

A traditional advertiser-funded model might have worked in an established medium, but visionary funding is needed when trying something new. A reasonable economy may have made that more likely. Creating a nonprofit entity probably makes sense, and we seriously considered making a community advisory board to keep the effort community-driven, at least in part.

Radio-style programming in the hyperlocal space is an exciting opportunity despite the financial difficulties we encountered in our first go. A better business plan, segmented shows, and a solid user interface for our podcasts are things we would attack first if we had to do it again. Also, a better way to measure our audience size would have given us more momentum when approaching potential advertisers.

Enabling real voices and real discussions without editing is a powerful proposition that builds trust between the community and its media efforts, as well as between people within the community. The discussion can flow and it can reach people who want to participate. There is still much to be done. To be continued?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Burnt Pixel.

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  • Tags [broadcast, distribution, news neutrality, podcast, radio, underserved communities]