Public Radio News Directors Inc. recognized Public Radio Exchange’s John Barth with its Leo C. Lee Award in June during its annual conference in St. Louis.
Barth, now chief content officer at PRX, began his career as a public radio journalist at Philadelphia’s WHYY under Bill Siemering, another visionary public radio leader. Barth had a key role in developing many successful public radio programs, including Marketplace, The Moth Radio Hour and, most recently, Reveal; he also worked in senior roles at Audible and AOL.
For this commentary, Barth adapted and expanded upon the speech he delivered during the PRNDI Awards ceremony.
via current.org
All people in public media should take a few minutes to read John’s speech. I was lucky enough to be at the PRNDI awards banquet in St Louis to hear John deliver the speech live — to which he received a standing ovation. (And then proceeded to invite a bunch of us over to his St Louis home, a few doors down from the hotel. How’s that for an encore!)
Current doesn’t allow reposting the entire piece, so be sure to go to current.org for the full thing.
Here’s a key excerpt:
Now a new generation is reshaping public radio, changing how we report and tell stories across a variety of digital platforms and legacy broadcast channels. These changes are monumental and, if you believe the Wall Street Journal , we are up against an “existential crisis.” That’s a nice philosophical term for “the challenges are so complex, you’ll get vertigo if you think about it too much.”
I believe that great journalism alone will not be enough to guarantee public radio’s survival. The digital platforms and audiences we serve are evolving faster than our public radio culture.
We need to acknowledge: The greatest threat to public radio is not money, politics or even our competitors. It is public radio itself.
And we can boil that threat down to one question: Do we want to be the Oldsmobile of media, or the Tesla?
For now the answer rests a lot with station managers, even more than with NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International or the Public Radio Exchange. But we all know that the audience has the final say — because public radio is the public we serve. They vote with their ears.
I want to be riding in a Tesla. I hope you do, too.
Me, too, John. Me, too.
Again — read the entire speech on current.org