More Music

In July, Blue Lake Public Radio will become an NPR Music station.

What does that actually mean?

NPR members can be “news” stations or “music” stations. The sole defining characteristic is whether or not stations carry the programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Music stations do not carry those programs. The fee structure is different for the two designations. Functionally, all other aspects of a station’s NPR membership are the same.

We will be airing locally hosted classical music (with NPR newscasts) in the morning (7-10 a.m.) and evening (4-7 p.m.) instead of the NPR news programs.

Why make this change now?

You have probably noticed that the media world has changed drastically. To stay relevant, Blue Lake Public Radio needs to do a couple of things. The first is to embrace digital content delivery as well as we can. The second is to focus what we offer to listeners. Folks need to know what they will receive when they tune in or click on Blue Lake Public Radio. The type of programming needs to be reliable and consistent.

In choosing our focus, we are primarily looking to the mission of our licensee, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and the legacy of what this station was created to do. We have decided to focus on music – especially classical music and jazz both of which are part of the camp’s curriculum. In addition, all of our data (including recent listener surveys) tell us our listeners primarily turn to us for music.

Will Blue Lake Public Radio still be an NPR station?

Definitely, YES. Educational broadcasters across the country created National Public Radio in the 1970s. Blue Lake joined in 1982. As NPR is a member organization, not a media corporation, we receive numerous benefits that you might not know about:

· NPR supports a satellite distribution network for all of its programming as well as programming from independent producers across the country.

· NPR (with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) negotiates licensing agreements that allow us to broadcast music.

· NPR supports the Grove content management system on which our new website resides. This provides us with a unique home on the Internet while tying us to colleagues across the country.

National Public Radio was created to bolster local community service. It still does a wonderful job in a cost effective way. Plus, it is a nonprofit membership organization with a Board of Directors that is elected by the member stations.

Will this change save the station some money?

We will see some savings on our NPR bill and the total costs of acquired programming but we will need to add at least one new voice to our staff. Overall, we will be operating at approximately the same budget level we have had for the past several years. As always, those costs are primarily covered by listener contributions. THANK YOU!