Comment Re:No NPR shows, just the crappy podcasts (Score 1) 104
So, to get at the reason behind this, you have to understand NPR's revenue model. If you think "*Public*" means government supported, you're almost certainly wrong - only 2% of total revenues come from government grants, and a good portion of the rest comes from local member stations which pay the national arm for programming like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
So given that member stations rely on their listerners to pitch in to the basket so they can fund the national programming, how do you think the local stations would feel about MP3s or podcasts of the entirety of the flagship programs being put up on the internet (potentially, on the west coast, hours before they actually air)?
NPR relies on its local stations to raise funds, and the local stations rely in turn for NPR's quality programming for their local audience, particularly during commute times when an iPod plugged into a car stereo would be a viable alternative. Unless NPR's internet revenue streams vastly increase in the near future (when's the last time you bought a tote bag from the npr.org shop?), their decentralized fundraising model pretty much guarentees that the most you're going to get from the flagship shows online are streaming audio.
So given that member stations rely on their listerners to pitch in to the basket so they can fund the national programming, how do you think the local stations would feel about MP3s or podcasts of the entirety of the flagship programs being put up on the internet (potentially, on the west coast, hours before they actually air)?
NPR relies on its local stations to raise funds, and the local stations rely in turn for NPR's quality programming for their local audience, particularly during commute times when an iPod plugged into a car stereo would be a viable alternative. Unless NPR's internet revenue streams vastly increase in the near future (when's the last time you bought a tote bag from the npr.org shop?), their decentralized fundraising model pretty much guarentees that the most you're going to get from the flagship shows online are streaming audio.
