Switch On, Tune In: Public Media’s New Local Frontier
By edisonresearch
Edison Research and AIR recently collaborated on a series of research projects examining the impact of public media on several American markets, and the role of live, local events on the relationship between public media listeners and their local stations. We examined 15 markets, all of which were participating cities in AIR’s Localore: Finding America initiative.
Through the course of this study, we conducted three separate surveys: one, a market study to establish baseline characteristics of the average public media consumer in those 15 markets; two, a survey of the local collaborators in those markets–passionate local advocates for issues and stories who worked with Localore producers; and three, an exit poll of over 600 attendees to live events in six of these Localore markets.
The primary findings of this project revolved around the importance of live events both as a means to attract a “hidden” public media constituency and to hear their stories, the renewed importance of a local focus on community issues in order to engage that constituency, and the role of the “community collaborator,” the switched-on, engaged local advocates for both public media AND the stories of their communities.
The results were presented in a live webinar on Thursday, October 26, featuring participants from two Localore markets as well as Edison and AIR. A complete replay of the webinar is available below. You can read more about the findings of this project here, and you can also download the complete data slides from the research here.
