Think-through 3: The citizen's radio station.

This is the third in a series. I'm thinking through the development of a local radio station that...well, that's totally local. Because I believe this is a frontier for owners of local radio stations. I want to get rid of that word--local. It's meaningless, for a couple of reasons. 1) Radio has drained it of meaning--the radio station owner's threshold for defining "local" content is so low--essentially measured in weather reports and place name mentions--that almost no radio station in America is currently dipping any deeper than that into the life of its community. 2) The Internet and other communications upheavals are redefining "local." You can be anywhere, and your mind can be anywhere else.

Before I completely intellectualize, let's do some dreaming. What if there were a radio station in, say, Seattle (where I live, so it's easier for me to imagine), a station whose programming targeted not just "adults 18-49" or "Country music lovers," or "talk radio fans," but people with high community consciousness? People who are really interested in and want to participate in all aspects of life in Seattle.

What I mean is, what's going on in the neighborhoods, at City Hall, in business, in schools and universities, the arts, sports, night life, the courts, the media...everything. Incidentally, the high-consciousness citizen of Seattle is interested in day-to-day police and fire activity, but in context, and not necessarily in depth. And not as entertainment. The HC citizen is more interested in the processes of life in the city than who just robbed a bank or shot his wife, for example. We know there are lots of civic-minded people in Seattle, and all other American cities. How many? I don't know, offhand, what percentage of citizens are HC. Are there enough to make a radio station show up in the Arbitron radio ratings? Don't know, but I'm starting out doubtful. I'm not necessarily looking for the easiest demographic target to make money on.

That's enough for today. Maybe you can see where I'm going with this. There is no such a station in Seattle. I don't know of any in other cities. You're welcome to offer the name of one you think provides service to this group.

HC Seattle citizens rely on Seattle's newspapers to feed their appetites for civic involvement information. There are morsels available from radio and TV, but no single radio station focuses on Seattle news, process, and human activity.

Want to catch up on my first two posts in this think-through? [#1] [#2]