I arrived at the San Francisco airport to find a 2 ½ hour delay waiting for me because the aeroplane was broken. Awesome. I’m was at SFO on my way home from Reno, where I attended the Public Radio development conference. This is a meeting of the people responsible all those wonderful pledge drives you enjoy so much. (One swift surgical strike could have taken out the whole lot!) It was a good conference none the less, and here’s why: To use a peculiar analogy…. development folks can be thought of as the pornographers of public radio. Just as Larry Flynt and his ilk were pioneers for online business models, ecommerce, and multimedia content, those responsible for pubradio fundraising were internet leaders in our industry. They saw the potential in a new way to interact, develop relationships and make electronic transactions with the listeners. The first steps that many public radio stations took on the web were directly tied to raising cash. So these folks always keep a close eye on emerging technologies in order to squeeze more water from the stone encourage more listeners to become members. I’m going to hold off on telling you the tricks they have up their sleeves for the coming year (wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise), but that itch in the back of your neck may be our new microchip membercard implant.
On less formal conference news, craps remains my casino go-to game.
