Radio Evolution Conference Proceedings

Last year, an academic conference was held in Portugal with the theme "Radio Evolution".  The conference proceedings, comprising 47 research papers in 7 thematic areas, is now being made available online.
  You can access and download individual papers, as well as the entire proceedings, here -

Radio Evolution: 2011 ECREA Conference Proceedings

CBC goes Cross-Media for 75th Anniversary Celebration

Canada's Public Broadcaster (CBC) will celebrate its 75th Anniversary on Nov. 2, 2011, with 75 days of programs and events across a range of platforms.  Hubert T. Lacroix, head of CBC/Radio-Canada, announced the plans for both the celebration and a strategic plan for the public broadcaster::

"For 75 years, the public broadcaster has had a relationship with Canadians built on trust, giving a voice to the stories and issues that matter to them ... In the same year as we celebrate our 75^th anniversary, we've also geared up for the future of public broadcasting in Canada. On February 1, 2011, we unveiled 2015: Everyone, Every way, our strategic plan to deepen our relationship with Canadians, and remain a leader in an ever-changing media environment. I invite you to take ownership of these celebrations and reaffirm the role that CBC/Radio-Canada has in your life."

Kirsten Stewart, head of CBC English services, stressed the continued focus on Canadian programming and diversity:

"For 75 years, CBC has celebrated the stories of Canadians and has connected people through the telling of important stories made for, and by, Canadians, ... Throughout our anniversary celebrations, we're going to continue to share these relevant Canadian stories across all of CBC's media platforms, as well as in communities across the country."

Sources - CBC Launches 75th. Anniversary Celebrations  Broadcaster
2015: Everyone, Every way  CBC strategic plan

PBS Lauches Digital Media Education Site

PBS, and a number of affiliated noncommercial stations are partnering to offer a new online educational service and platform.  The service, PBS Learning Media (http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/) will be made available to teachers, their students, and their families without charge.  The service provides access to more than 14,000 items of educational value, including materials from PBS, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, etc.
PBS plans on introducing portals customized to local educational standards and needs, starting this fall.

This is a good example of what can be done by repackaging and repurposing content, developing new uses and markets.  Also, the organization, search capabilities, and integration of supporting materials shows how value can be added to existing content, making it more discoverable and usable.

Source: "PBS Launches New Digital Media Education Platform," Multichannel News
PBS Learning Media portal: http://www.pbslearningmedia.org

WHYY Tries Online News

Old-line Philadelphia public broadcaster WHYY has invested more than a million dollars towards last November's launch of NewsWorks.org, a website offering a mix of hyperlocal news, community partnerships, and civic and cultural reporting, combined with numerous layers of calls for user engagement.  To date, the project has achieved some moderate success, with 210,000 visitors a month, and 45% of WHYY's total online revenue of $100,000 in fiscal 2011.  The numbers fall far short of Philadelphia's online leader (Philly.com), which regularly attracts 7 million unique visitors a month.  Similarly, the site's $45K in revenue pales in comparison with its reported $1.5 million operating budget.

NetNewsCheck has posted excerpts from an interview with WHYY's president and CEO, William Marrazzo, discussing the site's development, goals, and future.  He provided three primary goals: to get some experience with hyperlocal portals; help in training multimedia newsmaking skills for their journalists; and to try to capture a younger audience to help grow their broadcast audiences.  It's interesting that for a public service broadcaster, actually serving the public didn't seem to make the cut.

Source: "Could WHYY Redefine Public Media's Role?", NetNews Check