I’m not a huge fan of Tavis Smiley’s on-air work, but I genuinely respect the fact that five years after he came into the field he’s still goosing public broadcasters into considering issues of public service, diversity and style.
Here’s something he wrote in an editorial in the public broadcasting industry rag Current:
I know about the research, I know all about the baby boomers and the big donors and the ratings and cume. But I honestly believe public broadcasting can do more to get out of its comfort zone and welcome new people to the club. That means trying new things, taking risks, speaking new languages. We stream, we podcast, we simulcast; there are more ways than ever to reach the members of our global society. But are we really reaching the public and not just the select few?
It’s worth checking out the whole piece. Whatever you think of the man personally, or of his program, he’s making a compelling case for broadening the scope of public media beyond its highly-educated, white, upper middle class, Saab-driving bubble.
Another guy who’s tirelessly worked to promote diversity (particularly stylistic and tonal diversity) in public radio is Ira Glass, producer and host of This American Life. I think TAL is easily the best program on radio, and still sounds revolutionary 11 years later (even if they’re only making one show a month anymore). It’s certainly what inspired me to go into public broadcasting, and I think a survey of public radio employees under 30 would find that to be a general case. Since This American Life got off the ground, Glass has been an active supporter of new ideas in public radio — at a time when everyone else was focusing on honing the old ideas.
He spoke at the recent Public Radio Program Directors’ conference award ceremony, and focused his remarks on a topic near & dear to my heart — FUN. Open this MP3 stream, and skip to the 7:00 minute mark to hear his remarks, which run about half an hour and are funny, insightful and not very inside-baseball.
One of the things that’s special about public radio has been it’s respect for fun. Whether it’s Garrison Keillor’s horrible, horrible jokes (that I hate) or Click & Clack’s horrible, horrible jokes (that I love), or the flagship news shows’ willingness to fit a funny piece into every hour, this is one of our core strengths.
But what both Ira and Tavis are wondering is: where’s the next generation coming from? How can we continue to expand this? Where are the new voices, and the innovations? And those are damn good questions.