My slides from the talk.

1. Leapfrog
thoughts about public radio content, services and mobile
Matt MacDonald
Director, Project Management
@PRX
@neocMatt

2. Are we digital
stepchildren?
maybe, sort of, I guess it depends on who “we” is

3. A few get there ~early
but often treat the technology as a new distribution platform for existing content

4. A quick review of history
from satellites to apps

5. Satellites
1979 the Public Radio Satellite System came online
it’s in space, that’s high tech

6. WWW
August 6th, 1991 the first-ever website is published
In 1994 http://www.wsiu.org comes online - thanks @Tom_Godell

7. Podcasts
In September 2003 Dave Winer and
Christopher Lydon started podcasting

8. Mobile Apps
In July 10, 2008 the Apple App Store opens and in December
2008 the Public Radio Tuner Player is available

9. Opportunities in mobile
A quick overview of options

10. High Cost
Custom & New
Music Mine, Radiolab by PRX
Turnkey / Platform
PRX, jacAPPS, Listener Interactive
Low Effort High Effort
Mobile Web
Wordpress, Drupal, Twitter Bootstrap
Aggregators
Public Radio Player, TuneIn, NPR, WunderRadio
Low Cost
App options @PRX
Matt MacDonald
@neocMatt

11. Aggregators
Public Radio Player, TuneIn, NPR News, WunderRadio
Large install base and millions of active users, minimal control and insight into
how people are interacting.
Mobile websites
Drupal, Wordpress, Core Publisher, Twitter Bootstrap, Initializer
High degree of customization and control. Great for ‘sideways traffic’. No store/
market presence.
Turnkey apps
PRX, Listener Interactive, jacApps, RedFoundry, MobileRoadie
App store visibility, better listening experience, faster time to market, revenue potential
(ads/paid), analytics.

12. A case for new products
or why you should think beyond the app version of your website

13. January 2012
234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/3/comScore_Reports_January_2012_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
“We need to think clearly about the impediments to
audience growth and how we might break through
them. We need both the big picture and a micro
focus. Every station, every state.”
Mark Vogelzang
Former President, Vermont Public Radio
Public radio listeners
Public radio on mobile

14. Grow the audience
how many more hours of listening and reading should we expect?

15. Apps are more than just a new
way to deliver your existing
programs and news content
“The fundamental purpose of public
service media is to provide programs and
services that inform, enlighten, and enrich
the public.”
http://cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals/goalsandobjectives/

16. What if stations built
products like this?
Save money and resources by sharing stuff with
your friends
Choose the best financial advisor from the
largest financial advisor directory.
Don't rely on bus schedules! "Catch Buy Know What and get immediate
The Bus" makes use of GPS trackers access to 200 favorite places and best
on each bus to give you an accurate kept secrets in each city we're in –
prediction for when the next bus will currently greater LA and SF, with New
arrive at your stop. York, Chicago, Boston.

17. Apps are products that can
solve new problems
by solving new problems we can grow audience and deepen engagement with
existing consumers

18. Apps can be expensive
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/209170/how-
much-does-it-cost-to-develop-an-iphone-
application

19. But can be profitable
Each day TAL sells 300 iPhone apps, 50 iPad apps a day :: profit: $2.09 and $3.49

20. Many competitors

21. Some practical advice
before you consider a new mobile app make sure you’ve done the basics

22. Make sure your streams
are in the aggregator apps
app companies have highly skilled staff and spend tons of money to
create the best experience, take advantage of that

23. TuneIn
Public Radio Player
NPR
WunderRadio
others...

24. Make your site
work better on
mobile devices
Review your website analytics, how many people are coming from mobile
devices? Are they getting the best experience possible?

25. Wordpress theme
Drupal theme
Core Publisher
Twitter Bootstrap
Take advantage of platforms/code that provide a great mobile experience

26. HTML5 audio
Don’t use flash for audio playback

27. APIs are best
RSS is better
HTML is worthless
You can’t build anything interesting without an API. Every app that we’ve
built uses APIs. Many were created just for the app.

28. Apps for this
HTML5 for that
Apps currently provide the best listening experience, offline/downloading,
scrubbing, bookmarking. HTML5 features are closing the gap but features like
cameras, video and audio recording are still best done natively for now.

29. So you want an app
You’re in the aggregators, have a great mobile website, using HTML5 audio
tags, and are using a turnkey app. What’s next?

30. Apps are products
They exist in marketplaces, with competitors, they are not just a new
distribution platform

31. Building something new
Look at what you do now, are there parts of your station that can be teased
out and grown into a new product?

32. Talk with your listeners
Talk with small groups, perform surveys, look at popular web content

33. Look at your community
examples: KPBS military, WBUR healthcare, WNYC fashion/finance

34. Use existing expertise
Stations are great at curating, look at what you focus on now. do you cover
financial issues? health care? farming? education?

35. Identify a problem that
blends with your expertise
Which emergency room should I go to? where is the nearest food bank?
what is for school lunch today?

36. Before starting, does the
solution require an app?
If you’ve identified a need or problem to be solved can a mobile site do the
job? How will having an app benefit the product?

37. Scalable problems
You are not bound to your location, solve a problem for hundreds of
thousands or millions

38. Test ideas
Don’t build the app right away, test the idea first

39. You already have audience
Cross-promote and use the microphone to announce new products

40. Find partners
Look to people you have existing relationships with

41. Summary

42. 1. Apps are a way to grow
new audience

43. 2. Treat your app as a
product

44. Mobile is an opportunity for stations to
grow audience in non-traditional ways.
It’s a new playground and a laboratory,
one where public media should be trying
new things, new products, new models. I
hope I see your new products on the
shelf.