National Public Radio, which is supported in part by its listeners, has employed a bifurcated strategy in an attempt to remain relevant as it competes with new sources of information and forms of entertainment. Part of this strategy involves reaching out to younger listeners with an iPhone app, podcast, and an online archive of on-demand shows to supplant the live stream.
However, older listeners are apparently more likely to tune in using an AM or FM radio, which lacks on-demand playback and the ability to listen to NPR stations anywhere in the country, which is why the organization has partnered with internet radio manufacturer Livio to create a special version of its WiFi-connected radio that's pre-programmed to play back all local NPR stations and lets listeners search for a specific program, station, segment, or even guest by keying in search terms with the device's control dial.
"At the same time that we were thinking about that younger audience that are adopting all of that new technology, we're also trying to consider our core audience, which is a fifty-year-old listener," said NPR director of consumer products and e-commerce Barbara Sopato. "They may not have the iPhone, but they understand the radio, and we were just trying to figure out how to serve them in the digital space where you can get everything, anytime you want it."
After meeting with Livia at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, NPR tapped the company to create The NPR Radio by Livio (shipping in November for $200) -- essentially the same as the generic Livio radio, but with a customized menu for accessing over 800 NPR stations, setting up favorites, and searching by genre, location or keyword.
"[We developed] a dedicated NPR menu that makes sense to the NPR audience so that they can access everything that's available to hear on our website on this radio -- this very familiar device with the knobs that they grew up with, and the buttons, instead of the flat screen and the touchscreens and all of that other stuff," added Sopato.
"The real concept here was distribution of audio into something that anyone from any age group or any technological sophistication level could operate," agreed Livio CEO Jake Sigal.
No subscription fee is required, so all a listener needs to do is set up the device on their WiFi network, and it's smooth sailing from there. An audio input and output let you play MP3 players over its speaker or use it to power a larger stereo system. It includes an alarm function and a remote control (although it's easier to enter search terms with the knob), and updates itself automatically with new stations. And while the menu is designed to let non-techies find NPR programming easily, you can also use it to access to Livio's index of over 16,000 other worldwide webcasts.
According to Sopato, NPR member stations are fine with their core audiences being given access to competing NPR stations from other markets.
"That's exactly what I was worried about. The reality, which our stations realize, is that the geographic boundaries of radio are going away," said Sopato. "Our listeners are extraordinarily loyal [to their local NPR stations]. What we're hoping is that people will create a deeper connection to our network [and] their local station."
In addition, local stations, having already developed expensive secondary programming for their HD stations that nobody listens to, are excited to have another outlet for that programming.
"They see this as a great salvation from the HD experience, because they've already invested that money, and everything that they're putting on their secondary [HD] channels, that their audience isn't able to hear either because of the antenna problems with HD, their location, or because they don't want to invest in HD radio," said Sopato. "All of those secondary streams are on the web and on this radio. Now, they don't have to tell their audience, 'go get an HD Radio.'"
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