Many Americans start their mornings with coffee and the news.
It turns out that one of the strongest reactions Herald readers had to the change in print frequency from seven to four days per week was a disruption in their morning routine.
Though still providing news online seven days per week, we know readers miss walking to the curb to get the newspaper, and then sitting down and reading it, coffee in-hand. As most know, the media industry is evolving rapidly and requiring the Herald and its readers to change along with it.
The changes are not easy, nor being experienced by print media alone. Many radio stations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, urban and rural, are looking hard at what to do about a predominately older, aging listening audience and a competitive landscape full of consumer choices for news, information and entertainment.
Community media leaders are asking themselves, “How do we set ourselves apart? How do we stay relevant in a 21st-century media environment?” One answer: Focus on creating and delivering, via multiple-platforms, exceptional local news and information, content readers and listeners can get nowhere else. Another answer: The power of partnerships. If we are to thrive, we must pursue both.
In an isolated rural region like Southwest Colorado, we rely considerably on community connections – in person, in print, online and on-air – and on knowing what is going on locally. Which is why we are excited about the Herald’s partnership with KSUT Public Radio, and Rocky Mountain PBS’s with Fort Lewis College.
The former begins Monday when KSUT listeners will get a dose of local news as the Herald headlines will be read on-air during NPR’s Morning Edition on weekdays (KDUR’s website hosts them too).
As for the latter, FLC students are learning digital video production, research skills and documentary filmmaking in chronicling Durango’s history with uranium. In October, Rocky Mountain PBS will premier a feature-length documentary about uranium issues throughout Colorado.
The end result? Local news and information reaching more residents via public radio, our local history reaching more Coloradans via public television and a new generation of media professionals enrolled in FLC’s new “Journalism and Multimedia Studies” program, gaining invaluable training.
We all share a common goal of growing and sustaining a robust media environment for our rural region. One other important question to ask of everyone who reads or listens is “Are we all doing our part?”
Subscribe to the Herald and support your favorite radio station. KSUT’s last day of its fall membership drive is today and KDUR’s kicks off October 6. Help KSUT grow listener revenue – the largest portion of its almost $1 million budget – and raise another $1 million to earn a $1 million match pledged by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe; funds needed for the station’s future home in the Eddie Box Jr. Media Center in Ignacio.
Imagine a morning without good local news and information. It may be worse than one without coffee.
