Label this a thought experiment. The last thing I want to do right now is set up and run an online radio station – or any other sort of media enterprise. But the more I go through this in my head, the stronger the case becomes for a second-tier public service media outlet for New Zealand.

I have used the word ‘media’ rather than ‘broadcasting’, because broadcasting describes the pre-digital ‘one-to-many’ paradigm in which a central authority scatters its message as a farmer scatters seeds – that then lay where they fall.

‘Broadcasting’ is based on the notion of spectrum scarcity.

In the digital age, media is abundant. It is many-to-many. Given knowledge and tools, we can all make media.

My tentative proposal is for a grassroots organisation that facilitates the creation and distribution of new media content, based upon public service principles. The organisation should have certain key qualities:

It should encourage participation.
It should encourage innovation.
It should seek to further the public interest.
It should enable new programme-makers.
It should form part of a Digital Creative Archive.
It should be free from commercial or political pressure.
It should be free from restrictions of scheduling and duration.
It should be free from the concerns of populism.
It should be free to be popular.
It should work to increase accessibility for all New Zealanders.
It should generate, enhance and promote New Zealand culture.

There have been several catalysts simultaneously at play in my head over the past few days that have led me to the notion of this alternative public media organisation for New Zealand:

1. Simon Grigg’s been complaining about the standard of our national airquotes public television service;

2. I’ve just finished re-re-reading ‘The Shoestring Pirates‘ by Adrian Blackburn (the story of Radio Hauraki before it went over to the dark side);

3. Nigel Horrocks sent me a link to an article about Clear Channel’s Corporate Crapcast;

4. I had a long Skype chat with Ewan Spence about podcast music rights; and

5. That conversation I had with the BBC Wales Controller while at the Peacock Conference last week (about it no longer being about owning the means of distribution) has really been going round and round in my head.

Radio may not be dead, but I think it’s fair to say that commercial music radio atrophied quite convincingly some years back, and is now – with only a few shining exceptions – only a sad parody of its former self.

Timeshifting is rapidly becoming the norm, rather than the exception here in the UK. Ownership of the means of distribution is becoming a secondary industry. Even the BBC are selling off their broadcasting division. It’s all about making good programmes. There are any number of ways of getting them out there.

It’s fair to say that TVNZ has its shortcomings as a public service broadcaster (“really? TVNZ’s a public broadcaster?!”) and that there are gaps in the media landscape despite all those zillions of radio stations and the sheer journalistic thoroughness of the NZ Herald and the Sunday Star Times.

Like I said – not knocking everything here, and there are, of course, some great media outlets in New Zealand (you know who you are).

But I think it’s time that a bunch of us start considering the idea of an alternative NZ public media system informed by the lessons of open source software, rss enclosures, bittorrent distribution, Creative Commons licensing and non-linear media. There are also lessons to be learned from the Low Power FM movement, from existing ‘indie media’ models, from blogging, from podcasting (of course) – and from more traditional nationally-configured public broadcasting models.

There’s a strong argument to be made in favour of NZ On Air funding for this (though let’s not rule out underwriting, sponsorship and donations at this point). They may have discounted website content as a potential candidate for funding, but this is something demonstrably different – and far more in line with their stated goals (a set of priorities I’ve made myself very familiar with over the years).

There’s actually a strong argument to be made for substantial cross-departmental government funding to get this off the ground. Arts, Culture and Heritage, MED, Health, Education, Te Mangai Paho… not to mention Creative NZ.

There’s such an incredibly vibrant New Zealand creative scene. There are so many possibilities for so many different types of content – and for once this configures the internet as a potential public space, rather than a shopping mall.

That old kids radio thing I used to harp on about starts to look like a possibility once you remove the whole spectrum scarcity thing. It may not get it into every home, but it’d be a bloody good start.

There’s even the possibility of pairing the idea up with access radio and television stations, low power FM transmitters, community groups and newsletters, spilling over onto the bNet stations…

Making good content, sharing it and making it freely available for non-commercial use in whatever way we can, with the internet as a central enabling mechanism.

There’s a wealth of fascinating people from every imaginable sector that could easily make a programme for online delivery that would never get airplay on a time-bound medium like radio.

Cheap to make, cheap to deliver, no limits on schedules – just a single, central website for the content – audio, video, animation – and whatever else (text, photo essays…).

A couple of good editors and production supervisors to keep the technical standards consistent, and a small, enthusiastic team to hang it together – I think it could do wonders.

Not a replacement for public broadcasting – but a much-needed enhancement. I can think of a team of about a dozen people I would love to have onboard to get something like this off the ground. You’re probably one of them yourself.

The Radio Hauraki story proved that you can fly in the face of conventional wisdom about broadcasting and propose a new model for new times. Maybe it’s time for something like that again – only of a digital age variety.

Your thoughts?

PS: Such a shame about Paul Hester…