Projects & Reports

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Having it All: How Public Radio Stations Can Provide Great Service and Live Within Their Means
A Report on the Financial Health of Public Radio Commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, November, 2004
Does public radio face serious financial threats that have been masked by audience growth?  If financial problems are identified, are they universal or are they limited to particular organizations or station cohorts? And what steps should stations take to improve their financial health? To answer these questions, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) engaged Bruce Theriault of Bolder Strategies, and the consulting firm of Brody Weiser Burns (BWB), to review the financial health of the public radio system.

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Native American Radio Assessment Project
The Native American Radio Assessment Project was a team effort of Bolder Strategies and Teleos Leadership Institute. The team examined and analyzed the needs, aspirations, financial, and operational models of Native American public radio stations, producers, and national organizations.  The goal was to assess and recommend the best course of action to ensure Native Radio’s future growth and continued development, and to advise the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on future funding investments in these services.

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Native Radio: At the Heart of Public Radio’s Mission
Originally published by Current, May 11, 2004
Commentary by Bruce Theriault and Felice Tilin
“Ride the school bus on the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona and you’ll hear Shooting Stars, a program for kids produced mostly by volunteers at KUYI, the three-year-old public radio station on the reservation. Tune in during the day and you’ll hear an update on living with diabetes or asthma. Keep listening and you’ll hear junior- and senior-high school interns reading the news. Stop to chat with someone on the reservation about what they’ve heard on the radio. Everyone knows you’re talking about the same station. …

“We were struck again and again by the deep connections between Native stations and the communities they serve. Partly because of its origins in grassroots activism and partly because it serves widely dispersed Native Americans with very few resources, radio on reservations is both indispensable and local in ways that go to the heart of public radio’s vision and mission….

“Last summer and fall we took an extended road trip through Indian Country, the common Native American term for the widely spaced reservations and other tribal homelands. We went on behalf of CPB to assess how it could invest most effectively in continuing Native radio’s growth and development. We visited 15 stations from Alaska to Arizona to Wisconsin, met with AIROS (American Indian Radio On Satellite) and Koahnic Broadcasting Corporation leaders, and conducted financial and operational analyses of Native radio. Joined on most visits by Vinnie Curren, CPB senior vice president for radio, we spoke with station and community leaders about the needs, aspirations, challenges and opportunities facing Native American public radio stations, producers and national organizations. …”

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The Blueprint Project: Expansion, Diversity and Building Capacity, 1990-1994
The goal of the Blueprint Project (1990-94) was to find a way to bring new and diverse listeners (that is, more racial minorities) into the public radio audience. This was to be accomplished by developing a plan or “blueprint,” with a set of pilot stations, that could be used by other stations in similar circumstances to guide their development. The “blueprint” was to be developed by working intensively with two struggling, yet potentially emerging, stations. Two other stations would get minimal direct assistance but were to benefit from what was “learned” by working with the first two stations. All four of the stations were interested in minority audiences, but their impact was limited by low listenership, financial and organizational problems. They were considered “outside” the public radio system and did not receive CPB support.

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