Public radio manifesto, preamble

Friday, February 16, 2007 by Dave Winer.

I've been a user and critic of public radio for my entire adult life. I've even produced my own form of public radio, called podcasting, and helped other people get started doing it. 

Radio is so much a part of the way I think that I named a product Radio. I thought of the tools we were using as a new form of radio, where the wires were carrying TCP/IP signals and HTTP formatted packets, and XML structured data.  

Change has been coming to radio, for a long time, the same way change has been coming to all media, and the change that's coming is the same one for all -- decentralization. It's the mode of our times. When our parents and grandparents were in the prime of life the flow was the other way, toward centralization. Who was the best singer, the richest business person, the smartest doctoral student. We worshipped superlatives, most of us could only admire those who were more blessed than we were. There was only one Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson or John Kennedy. One Marilyn Monroe, one Martha Stewart.  

There once was a time when we entertained each other. If you wanted music on a Saturday night you'd have to perform it yourself or listen to a neighbor. Before there was broadcast radio, music was personal. It will be personal again, and it wouldn't be such a bad thing, because the joy of creating is something we should all share. We learn how to draw and write and sing when we're children, but we were taught not to do that so much as adults, but it still feels good, even if we're not the best at what we do.  

So when people talk about the Long Tail, or crowd-sourcing or participatory democracy, I think they miss the point. The new way of doing now involves the minds, knowledge and creativity of everyone, not just a few.