Radio 3: Communication By Talking to People

Paul Gorbould posted a note today on Inside the CBC wondering why the CBC's online promotion efforts, generally, have been less enthusiastically received than the unofficial CBC related groups. This comes hard on the heals of Tea Makers post about CBC blog hits and misses.

One of the reasons that I'm so fond of Radio 3 despite not owning at satellite radio, is because Radio 3 practices something I've been preaching for years - communication by talking to people. This, to most communications people I've talked to (not just CBC people) is too alien to be understood. It goes something like this - you start a conversation, other people join in the conversation, and then you continue to participate in the conversation. It's the difference between talking to people and broadcasting (or talking at) people.

Zed did an exceptionally good job of this - building a large online community around user generated content long before those words meant anything to most people. But about the time MySpace was building up speed the CBC castrated Zed and then, just about the time YouTube took off, the CBC killed Zed. Radio 3 though has followed in Zed's footsteps admirably.

Radio 3 through their Blog, Facebook Group and on air is building a community. Many of the people at R3 are active participants in an ongoing discussion, along with musicians and fans, about music. Think of it as a 24 hour phone-in show, without call screeners or tape delay. True, occasionally people will be rude and you'll have to cut them off, but they won't hurt you. R3 listeners (however they listen) feel like participants rather than spectators and that is how you build an audience for the million channel universe. It is the difference between friends and fans.

Fans may like a program, channel etc., but ultimately they know that if they switch the channel no one will know, or really care. Friends feel more of a sense of ownership. They feel some responsibility for the well being of the program and they feel that they are participants and part of a larger community - that their involvement and participation are important. Notice the groups I started on MySpace, Facebook etc., are called 'Friends of the CBC'.

This is what seems to be lacking in the CBC's communications and publicity efforts. Outside of Zed (R.I.P.) and Radio 3 - this is not something the CBC seems to do very actively. But, Radio 3 is not doing anything that can't be done. They found a topic that a certain segment of the population care about, independent music, found a staff that cares just as much about independent music and started a conversation. This could just as easily be done around film, literature, other forms of music, business, politics, current events, cooking, travel, parenting ......

True, some of it is generational but only to an extent. When people say 'our demographic is older' the programming they produce seems to target an audience that doesn't even exist anymore. The 'older' audience is not the same 'older' audience that existed in 1970. Even many of todays seniors grew up on Rock and Roll, the Woodstock generation is getting ready to retire and even the 'Independent Music' that is Radio 3's specialty has it's roots in the 1960s, not the 1990s - many of the early indie rock fans are now contemplating retirement. Some are already there.

If the CBC truly wants to compete for viewers, it needs to focus on tearing down barriers between producers and viewers , on talking to people and not just at them, and on building communities for the long term rather than being satisfied with short term ratings numbers. In the mean time, put radio 3 on television and learn from them.