(Annette Moser-Wellman)

The advent of social media promised exposure to more people and diverse ideas. We'd learn from each other's differences and might even grow smarter in the process. But one could argue that social networks have had exactly the opposite effect. It appears that narrower and narrower groups of people talk to each other about similar topics and that the hope for rich dialogue and cross-pollination is more elusive than ever in the digital space.

Chicago Public Radio has made a bold effort to address this trend by creating a form of hybrid media to spawn rich dialogue with wide audiences. Research showed WBEZ's territory covered a large non-white, underserved population. How could new media serve as a lever to encourage participation and involve African-American and Latino communities? Vocalo.org is a Chicago Public Radio enterprise - a radio broadcast channel in Northwest Indiana designed to target a different demographic mix and expand dialogue at the same time.

Vocalo.org is more than just a radio station. It's also a social media, content-sharing website that takes the best user-generated content and curates it as the broadcast. "We have on-air hosts just like traditional public radio," says Wendy Turner, General Manager of Vocalo.org. "But the content is all talk-based speech ranging from stories of personal experience to parodies, commentaries and opinion. We curate the content and expand exposure. We take conversations already happening on the ground and transfer them to mass media."

Similar to YouTube, Vocalo.org is driven by user generated content. But more importantly, Vocalo.org spreads audio uploads across the sound waves and directs people to the web to comment and continue the discussion.

The Vocalo.org format is an experiment blending social media with all the assets of mass media by allowing users to upload their own content and share it with a wider, more diverse audience. From a region that spans the inner city of Chicago to rural farms of Northwest Indiana, Vocalo.org gives people a greater voice in conversations ranging from economics to health to education.

Turner notes the hallmark of the service is exemplified in a recent conversation on the air and via the website about gun control. She says, "A police officer from the South Side of Chicago and a hunter from Northwest Indiana were having a civil, interesting dialogue that went beyond the cliche of what you'd expect a gun control conversation to be. By contrast, you can imagine that sort of niche conversation on the web as being very insular. Vocalo.org allows for a valuable conversation to be brought out and shared with a wider community and illustrates the power of the hybrid media."

Vocalo.org is only three years old and Turner admits it is growing at a slower rate than they would like. Yet even with 5,000 listeners - compared to WBEZ's 500,000, Turner believes that Vocalo.org represents an important part of the future of media for Chicago Public Radio. It seeks to answer the news industries' concerns about multiple sources for unique content. When people can get content they love directly from other outlets like NPR, it will be important for the local radio station to secure its value proposition. From local television to local newspapers, again the 'hyperlocal' clarion call can be heard. The unique ability for radio to broadly share audio feeds puts Vocalo.org squarely in the battle for that local consumer. Turner says it this way: "Our mission is to be very, very present in the local community and reflective of the concerns of all the people in that local community."


Annette Moser-Wellman is President of Firemark, Inc., an innovation consultancy, and author of Six Competencies of the Next Generation News Organization and Running While The Earth Shakes: Creating An Innovation Strategy To Win In The Digital Age, both published by the Media Management Center.

This TechScout article is part of a series of Moser-Wellman interviews commissioned by the Media Management Center to explore opportunities and insights at the intersection of technology and the news media. Click here to view other articles in the TechScout series.

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