Press Publish 13: Adam Ragusea on podcasts and the pessimist’s case for public radio’s future

It’s Episode 13 of Press Publish, the Nieman Lab podcast! My guest today is Adam Ragusea, the host of The Pub, a podcast about the state of public media — mostly public radio. I first heard Adam’s voice about 7 years ago, when he was a reporter for WBUR, the local NPR station here in...

It’s Episode 13 of Press Publish, the Nieman Lab podcast!

My guest today is Adam Ragusea, the host of The Pub, a podcast about the state of public media — mostly public radio. I first heard Adam’s voice about 7 years ago, when he was a reporter for WBUR, the local NPR station here in Boston. He’s since moved into teaching journalism at Mercer University in Georgia, and by hosting The Pub — which is based out of Current, the website covering public media — he’s established himself as one of the more interesting and ornery thinkers about the field’s future.

We talked about a range of topics — how the shift to podcasting is putting local news at risk, why he thinks public radio is stuck producing content that doesn’t work well online, and what he’d do if he were running NPR or an NPR member station. Here’s our conversation.

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The Pub

@aragusea

AdamRagusea.com

Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism

Shaggy dog story

The News from Lake Wobegon

Savage Lovecast

Georgia Public Broadcasting

Ringr, an interview-recording app for iOS and Android

PodClear, another interview-recording app that Adam couldn’t remember the name of

WBUR, Boston’s NPR News station

Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation theory

Why you should be using the Oxford comma

“Why you’re doing audio levels wrong, and why it really does matter” (July 14, 2014)

Adam’s upcoming presentation on loudness

An anechoic chamber

The Fletcher-Munson curves

Audacity

Adobe Audition

Loudness units

GarageBand

Hindenburg

Lindsay Patterson asks: Where is the YouTube for podcasts?

“Journalists shouldn’t lose their rights in their move to private platforms” (April 20, 2015)

PRX

Morning Edition

All Things Considered

“Texas Turns Down Cook’s Offer Of Free ‘Last Meals'” (All Things Considered, September 27, 2011)

11 herbs and spices

Celeste Headlee

On Second Thought

The Pub #31: Adam Davidson on the economics of public radio in the podcasting era

John Sutton and Adam Davidson debate (at length!) the future of public radio

WGBH

NPR One

Starch, meat, starch, meat, Jell-O

The Pub #27: NPR One’s Sara Sarasohn, live from Lost & Found in Washington, D.C.

WTF with Marc Maron

The Pub #26: The business of podcasting, live from the PMDMC Conference

The great Bob Oakes

KQED

WNYC

Finish Line: Inside The Boston Marathon Bombing Trial (David Boeri and Kevin Cullen podcast)

West Virginia Public Broadcasting podcasts

WBUR’s program schedule

WBUR’s Sunday church service broadcast

Boston University World of Ideas

Jarl Mohn, NPR CEO

The NPR board of directors

What went wrong at National Public Radio? (June 12, 1983)

An explanation of cume and AQH

KRVS, Radio Acadie (great Cajun/zydeco music)

Jarl Mohn: “Broadcast radio is the cockroach of media. You can’t kill it. You can’t make it go away, it just gets stronger and more resilient.”

Chicago Public Media’s Vocalo

“How KPCC in Los Angeles grew its Latino listenership while trying to keep its traditional audience” (July 16, 2015)