Praise and doubts heard regarding A New World

Originally published in Current, April 25, 1994
By Jacqueline Conciatore

Public radio managers are interested in but somewhat skeptical about APR's plan for an ambitious new daily, one-hour international news program, A New World, announced April 12 during the Public Radio Conference.

The skepticism seems to be a response to the scale of the new venture, which will be a joint production of APR, the BBC and a U.S. station yet to be named. With a $6 million annual budget, the show is planned to launch in spring 1995, with two hosts--one based in the U.S. and the other originating from points around the world.

Claiming to have $5 million in hand from donors, APR hopes to raise an additional $10 million to nurture A New World through its first three years. The program will be free to stations for at least the first year, APR President Stephen Salyer told Current.

Salyer indicated that APR's preference would be to schedule A New World at 4 p.m., though NPR's Fresh Air and All Things Considered and APR's own Monitor Radio have claims or designs on that time slot.

The project's budget had some PRC attendees expressing doubts, says Eastern Public Radio's Marjon van den Bosch. ''I too have to be a little skeptical [about] whether they can aggregate the resources necessary to do a first-class job,'' she says.

Erik Nycklemoe, news director of New Hampshire Public Radio, says his station would be ''very interested'' in carrying A New World, but adds: ''I'm frankly not sure the system can support it ... that stations would be willing to pick up another huge expense.''

Asked at the PRC how much the program would cost stations, Salyer said: ''This is not going to be an inexpensive broadcast. This has got to be terrific.'' But APR will give stations time to build an audience and a name among potential funders, he said.

''A new language for public radio''

As envisioned, A New World's London staff--about 10 strong--will work out of BBC headquarters, and have full access to the news coming into the BBC from all over the globe. The U.S. station-partner will operate the principal production site, with about 20 staffers, Salyer said. Marketplace Executive Producer Jim Russell will act as a consultant to ''pull all the elements together'' until an executive producer is hired this summer. Russell will not be a candidate for the producer's position, nor will Marketplace's home station, KUSC, Los Angeles, be the production site, Salyer said.

A New World will present the news from international perspectives, rather than strictly American ones, using voices that aren't typically heard, Salyer said. ''We would like a fair number of people on the broadcasts who are not journalists as well as people who are,'' he told Current. ''English-speaking natives'' from around the world will act as correspondents, and people native to their countries will also help decide what stories get reported, according to APR's plans.

Several pubcasters were enthusiastic about the idea of broadcasts that incorporate voices of la raza. Said Sandy Tolan, an independent producer: ''We don't hear enough directly from people who are affected by policy. And something about the interiors of lives is left out in domestic reporting, just as much as in international reporting. I think this program could present a new language for public radio.''

Rick Lewis, g.m. of WOI-AM in Ames, Iowa, also favored the described approach, but warned that simply airing the opinions and ideas of people native to a region does not necessarily make for truly representational broadcasts. CNN's international reports include the opinions of nationals, but viewers ''don't know if it's truly a more accurate local view of what's happening, or if it's in fact propaganda,'' he says. At this point, it is unclear exactly how APR will find and select its native sources.

While many broadcasters argue that public radio news needs to jog out of the tunnel of ''America-vision,'' at least one program director at the PRC expressed doubts that U.S. listeners could shake loose their xenophobic attitudes and appreciate international perspectives.

But APR says it is confident listeners will like the program, and points to research backing up that confidence. Last year, the network commissioned surveys of program directors as well as audience focus group research to determine what programming concepts would fly. An international news program, fronted by an American voice, was the top choice of both radio listeners and program directors, Salyer says. The network tested nine concepts, including what APR executive Craig Oliver described as a program with a ''Sunday newspaper feel,'' and a program that mixed news and cultural material.

Time-ly conflicts

One factor that could affect how many stations carry A New World is its feed time. Salyer told Current that ''if four [p.m.] can work for us, that probably would be our first choice.'' This would conflict with the feed time of the NPR-distributed Fresh Air, and also runs head-on into NPR's plans for an earlier start for All Things Considered. A 4 p.m. start for A New World would also pit it against APR's own Monitor Radio afternoon edition.

NPR Vice President Bill Buzenberg said the news division still wants to start ATC at 4 p.m. and expand it from 90 minutes to two hours, but has been unable to raise the additional funding required to do it next year. Executive Producer Ellen Weiss is looking at other budget items that could be sacrificed to begin the show earlier, he said. East Coast stations want the earlier feed, and West Coasters have come to ''understand the need.''

Many broadcasters would rather not have to choose between ATC and A New World, says Bill Drummond, former NPR journalist and now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. ''People will avoid having to make that kind of choice if they possibly can,'' he says. A consultant to APR on the project, Drummond says that at a meeting Salyer had with about 20 general managers at the PRC, the message was clear that a 4 p.m. feed time for World ''would represent problems.'' He believes Salyer was ''more flexible'' about the start time at that meeting. He also believes a noon feed time would work better for World because of the five-hour time difference between U.S. Eastern time and London time.

As for questions about whether APR will be putting out two afternoon programs that serve the same audience--World and Monitor Radio--Salyer's response is that Monitor ''will be putting its effort'' into a recently announced noon edition. Monitor Executive Producer David Creagh, however, says that his organization is as committed as ever to its 4 p.m. edition. ''We have no plans to do anything except promote it,'' he says.

Monitor Radio recently reupped its distribution pact with APR for three years, through mid-1997, according to Salyer.

A New World is not the only new project at APR. Melinda Ward, cultural programming v.p., also said the network is developing a new classical music program, new cultural programming ''that showcases outstanding artists from diverse fields and backgrounds,'' and a weekly studio-based variety program, similar in format to St. Paul Sunday Morning, that will feature performers outside the classical field.