Comments on The Sound of Young America: Bryant Park Project & Fair Game: My Long-Winded Op...

Jesse - Your comments are right on. Thanks for put...

2008-07-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Jesse - Your comments are right on. Thanks for putting it out there.

I have to disagree with people like Leanne and "d"...

2008-07-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have to disagree with people like Leanne and "d". I'm 23 years old and a devoted follower of the BPP, and I never felt as if that show was NPR's way of talking down to me or dumbing the news down for a younger audience. On the contrary, in my opinion the hosts were incredibly smart and genuinely engaging. I particularly appreciated the BPP's interviews, which tended to be longer and more probing than Morning Edition's and often covered topics that other shows didn't. Sure, a little humor never hurt (some of us do like to laugh at ourselves sometimes, if you can imagine that!), but it's absurd to shrug the BPP off as a lowbrow morning show just because there were laugh-out-loud moments. It's not as if this was the kind of program that dwelt on inane topics like Lindsay Lohan's mom or what happened on Dancing With the Stars last night, it was a show that covered interesting and relevant topics like technology, politics, business, music and literature, and the media. Let's not forget that.

I don't think that my appreciation for the BPP makes me an anomoly in my demographic, I just think that the show wasn't given enough time to build a substantial audience. None of my friends had ever heard of it before I clued them in, and I wouldn't have even known about the show myself if i hadn't stumbled upon the website during a work-related search. I think that if given a few more months and perhaps some more aggressive PR the BPP could have found the listener base it needed to survive. I guess we'll never know.

In conclusion, I may be 23 and fresh out of college but I am not naïve. The biggest problem with programming for a younger audience, I realize, is that we haven't yet developed deep wallets. I'm not saying this as a condemnation of NPR - I understand the difficulties of running a nonprofit on a tight budget - but the reality is that NPR has to look out for its bottom line, which means programming for the audiences that are most apt to donate. Anyone care to disagree?

As a former CBC broadcaster, I am always baffled w...

2008-07-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

As a former CBC broadcaster, I am always baffled when the really really smart people at the top decide to abandon those listeners and donors (or, in Canada's case, taxpayers) who built the network that put them in their high paying jobs, and chase listeners who have exactly zero interest in the programs public radio is most adept at producing.

I don't see companies who manufacture single malt scotch chasing the 18 - 24 demographic. They understand that some things in this world are - and ought to be - acquired tastes. I like to think of it as a reward for getting older.

But public broadcasters insist on mixing the M&Ms in with the broccoli, and wind up with something nobody wants to taste.

This is really smart stuff, Jesse. Thanks for post...

2008-07-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

This is really smart stuff, Jesse. Thanks for posting your thoughts on this!

Oh yeah, and I love the news stories that came out...

2008-07-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, and I love the news stories that came out with shows like BPP: "young people just don't care about the news, we've got to make it fun!" Wow, way to talk down to your intended audience.

I completely agree that BPP was not exactly the gr...

2008-07-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

I completely agree that BPP was not exactly the greatest show on NPR... I've heard bits and pieces of the show in various NPR podcasts (Story of the Day, Most Emailed Stories) and unless Mike Pesca was highly involved I felt like the BPP was not so much pandering to a younger audience but pandering to a very low-brow crowd of morning radio show fans. What I mean by that is exactly what you and Jordan talk about on JJGo which is, a parody of a bunch of people who do a morning radio show -- lame jokes, overall loudness... I'm actually surprised there weren't more sound effects and prank phone calls.

If NPR was aiming toward a younger audience I think they completely missed the mark with BPP. Young people that are listening to NPR like it because it's different than mainstream radio. They appreciate NPR for what it is. I started listening to NPR when I was 18 or 19 and the reason I liked it was because it was intelligent, interesting programing that wasn't at all boring.

Perhaps Mike Pesca just needs his own show?

Do you think that Brian "Back in Business" Lane could hook up with him to make a podcast? They are my two favorites of your favorites, Jesse.

I don't think they really gave either show enough ...

2008-07-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

I don't think they really gave either show enough time. Nothing can be an instant hit in public radio. Were Fresh Air, Morning Edition, or Car Talk a major hit right out of the box? Uh, no. It takes a long time to build an audience in that medium, especially since it relies so much on stations all across the country syndicating it.

If they would've thought more long-term with it (and perhaps been a little cheaper to produce), maybe it could've picked up some steam.

And that's why TSOYA will be fine in the long run...the stations will eventually come around if you can survive long enough.

(Also, Faith Salie wasn't that good of an interviewer. Should've spent more time thinking up good questions and not trying to riff with the guest so much)

By the way, Jesse your replies in that mefi thread...

2008-07-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

By the way, Jesse your replies in that mefi thread were spot on. Way to moderate the seething of people that never even heard the show, but chose to be resentful of the (admittedly less than awesome) copy on the BPP's main page.

Glad to see this post, Jesse as the future of TSOY...

2008-07-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Glad to see this post, Jesse as the future of TSOYA was exactly what popped into my mind when I heard about BPP. Mike Pesca was hilarious over the last few months, even though he betrayed a few personal details (like liking My Chemical Romance for fuck's sake) that I'd much rather not have heard.

I enjoyed BPP because it was perfect background listening, and they handled the NPR/humor paradox much better than ME/ATC. Which admittedly isn't saying a lot, but Mike, Rachel and Alison actually got me to laugh out loud, as opposed to cringe wheneve ME or ATC attempted humor. Some parts felt a little bit contrived or forced, but it certainly wasn't to a 'Poochie' level of pandering.

I'm disappointed that they chose to cancel the show instead of (financially) streamline it - they could've made it a weekly program or at least cut it down to an hour and possibly made other efficiency adjustments, while continuing to use it as an 'experiment' for new media. But that's a moot point anyways.

Given that my local station (KUT in Austin) is even less relevant to younger listeners than your typical NPR station (check out John Aielli's program at kut.org starting at 9 am CST weekdays to sample this hell). I'm 33, an independent musician and poor, partially employed teacher, and listening to KUT makes me feel like an alienated teenager.

Hopefully we'll see a better adjustment in NPR's programming. They've done well staying ahead of the podcasting curve, making much of their content (except of course their flagship programs) syndicated, but they still need to better tune their content to the relatively younger ears of twenty- and thirty-somethings like you and me.

I listen to BPP on Sirius radio and via podcast wh...

2008-07-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

I listen to BPP on Sirius radio and via podcast when I can't tune in. I like Morning Edition, but BPP seems a little more human. Some of the best parts are the unscripted parts. I would love to see some of the old BPP staff take the podcast independent. Call me foolish, but I'd even pay to listen.

Excellent commentary. That's all.

2008-07-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Excellent commentary. That's all.

I never listened to BPP, but I always felt one of ...

2008-07-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

I never listened to BPP, but I always felt one of the real problems with Fair Game, which I liked a lot, was that ultimately it was a weekly show masquerading as a daily. There would be a lot of repetition throughout that week, and since I was listening via podcast, I wasn't always sure if I'd heard a particular show, even when I'd heard most of the content.