Hacker News Reader

Comment by parfe | Hacker News Reader

Local affiliates are independent stations with their own production departments. Some shows get picked up for national syndication (e.g. Car Talk from WBUR, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me WHYY, On The Media WNYC, Prarie Home Companion by Minnesota Public Radio ) while other shows might target the local market which won't make sense as a national broadcast.

Local affiliates can cross license content directly between each other, or from NPR, PRI, BBC, American Public Radio, and Public Radio Exchange, etc.

Local affiliates are not simple repeater stations, as you seem to believe.

View on HN

I am always delighted when a story from our small town's affiliate gets picked up by one of the nationally distributed news programs like All Things Considered.

I understand that local affiliates produce their own content, especially local content that's not interesting to bigger outlets. I was calling the delivery system outmoded, the need for local broadcast affiliates to facilitate distribution. It's a cost that doesn't need to exist in the age of saturated 4G, and I think that in the medium-term, this issue will become larger, especially as more and more cars get cellular modems.

Unfortunately, just saying "We produce Car Talk/Fresh Air/whatever" is going to be enough to salvage the affiliate as presently composed; if they have a show of value, they'll have to make it available independently and will just be the Fresh Air company, not WHYY in Philadelphia.

I was under the impression that most local affiliates do not produce any content licensed by anyone else and just license content from other sources.

In the Southern California market, we have two big NPR stations (KPCC and KCRW). Both stations actually produce a lot of their own radio shows, and supplement some nationally syndicated content.

When I visited Oregon, I noticed most of the shows were nationally syndicated, and I suspect that might have to do with how much money they can get from their local regions.

Often true in commercial radio land, but not on NPR. Things are much more loosey-goosey there. Probably because of shoe-string budgets.

No, local affiliates often produce between 20% and 80% of their programming.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com