The Look of Public Radio Station Websites

March 15, 2016 9:49 PM

I've noticed that websites for many NPR stations are using the same template. But I can't find a company that is common to the templates. There are names at the bottom of some sites but there isn't one name for all sites. Is this part of an NPR requirement that all member websites have a "corporate" identity? Some cabinet level agencies within the Federal Government went through a rebranding program in the early 2000s which included making individually designed websites adopt a organization wide look and I wonder if this is what is happening with public radio stations.

Here are some examples:
http://wutc.org/term/membership#stream/0
http://kvcrnews.org/#stream/0
http://wvtf.org/#stream/0

P.S. Larger stations don't seem to share a common look.
http://www.scpr.org/
http://www.wpr.org/
http://www.opb.org/radio/

posted by CollectiveMind to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

NPR Digital Services provides a CMS called Core Publisher. Some member stations use it. Others do not. Stations certainly don't seem to be required to use it — you've provided several examples. See also WBEZ, WBUR, WAMU, et al.
posted by brentajones at 10:07 PM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

brentajones has it right: to be more specific, you can see some of it action here.
posted by redct at 10:20 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

NPR stations aren't network affiliates the way TV stations affiliate with the national TV networks. Like all talk-radio stations, they generally get their network identity based on what service they use for news. They are public radio stations that run NPR news, while also making their own content, and taking content from other public networks like PRI, APM, and BBC.

But they're peers, and so they like to keep up with the Web 2.0 Joneses, hence the common look. The only NPR guidelines they must follow would involve respecting NPR's brand and trademarks, though.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:40 PM on March 15, 2016

Like all talk-radio stations, they generally get their network identity based on what service they use for news.

Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Member stations are ... member stations; they have an official relationship with the network, and they're very powerful as a group. They apply, they pay dues, and they vote for some of the members of the board. They're not just freestanding stations that use NPR branding because they use NPR as a subscription news service. More on this super complicated and very little understood relationship!
posted by Linda_Holmes at 6:24 AM on March 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

The bigger stations usually have dedicated software developers, and so if they want something more flexible than NPR Digital Services provides, they can make anything they want.

Many smaller stations have just a single person that handles maintaining their web site, and no software developers. So, for them, it used to be a simple choice to use Core Publisher and other services provided by Digital Services (like streaming audio) since they charge small stations as little as $1,800 a year.

That said, I stopped following the situation a couple of years ago, and stations were not happy with paying for the entire bundle, so there might be a different, a la carte, cost for Core Publisher now.
posted by ignignokt at 11:23 AM on March 16, 2016