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THE PRPD/LNI TALK SHOW BEST PRACTICES PROJECT

Talk Show Summit: "Beyond Hit or Miss: Building Better Talk Shows"

A national gathering of talk show producers, hosts and station PDs, convened to help identify and develop "next steps" for the Talk Show Best Practices Project.

Possible Outcomes/Future Projects:

Attendees suggested a number of activities to help strengthen public radio talk programs. PRPD and LNI have already begun work on several of these ideas and welcome any potential partners who want to support and participate in this important work:

• Issue a broader "call" to stations throughout public radio for examples of current talk show practices and tools that may serve as models for others.
• Explore the creation of regional training sessions. These would be hosted by a station that produces a talk show. Observation of the planning, production and critique of the show would be incorporated into the training agenda.
• Develop training that helps people become trainers themselves - a "Train the Trainers" approach that can strengthen full station staffs rather than just the one person who can attend a workshop.
• Use the web to provide ongoing listening sessions and critiques as well as topic-focused webinars.
• Refine the Matrix and reversion into other forms such as handbooks that could be focused in a variety of ways:
• • A handbook for those stations thinking of starting a talk show. This would include more detail about points outlined in the Checklist for Starting a Talk Show.
  • A handbook for those already doing a show that provides "how to" information and guidelines.
• Issue a broader "call" to stations throughout public radio for examples of training activities they feel could strengthen the listener service of public radio talk programs.