RESEARCH
Radio now faces stiff competition from other television, streaming, and social media sources.
Reimagining third spaces to enhance public radio programming
Year: 2024
Duration: 152 hours spanning 2.5 months
Team: Team of 5 (Trudy Watt, Bret Stasiak, Kate Gomoll, Todd Broadie, & Alesia Burton)
Expanding the way public radio connects with the community through integrated and highly functional third spaces.
Project Introduction
For the purposes of documentation here, the client will remain [Unamed] out of respect for their privacy to allow for unbiased ongoing work.
Unnamed] is a local non-commercial radio station dedicated to fostering a culturally open-minded community through music and storytelling. The station aims to promote inclusivity and engagement among listeners in Milwaukee and beyond. It features a “live studio space” where visiting bands perform live on air, allowing patrons of the adjacent coffee shop to enjoy the performances. However, this space is currently underutilized, prompting station leadership to explore opportunities for expanding programming to better serve the community. This project aims to provide research that will guide decision-making on how to move forward effectively.
My Role: I operated as Team Lead, facilitating a human-centered research process. My work included project planning and management, distillation of research, synthesis of information, document creation, and presentation of findings.
Methods: case studies, desk research, stakeholder identification, surveys, interview sessions, affinity mapping
Links: Survey | Survey Results | Research Deck, Final Presentation, & Engagement Brief available upon request
The Problem
The station faces challenges with an underutilized space and a pressing need to refresh its organizational offerings and enhance customer engagement to remain competitive in the evolving media landscape.
The Solution & Output
The solution here is based in design research and strategy outlining the understanding of third spaces, accompanied by key steps to approach implementation.
This project is centered on leveraging design research to identify and explore a promising opportunity. We conducted extensive secondary desk research to gain a comprehensive understanding of the context and history of third spaces, which informed our vision for launching a similar initiative. This involved a thorough examination of comparable spaces across the country to discern effective practices, pitfalls, and underlying reasons for their success or failure.
The design strategy that came out of this design research outlines a four-step path forward:
-
Move forward with work to develop a [Unnamed] music-centric third space.
-
Center the space and station’s efforts around emerging musicians.
-
Keep the space open to the public during business hours, enhancing it with performances.
-
Enhance the space’s inviting atmosphere through music-themed elements.
This project could transform public radio and reshape [Unnamed's] organizational efforts, potentially leading to the creation of the proposed third space and innovative programming that enhances both on-air and digital offerings.
The Process
The research process highlighted key stakeholders and initiated engagement with them to deepen our understanding. We prioritized one specific group: musicians, as they are integral to the original mission of Radio Milwaukee. It was essential to ensure that any new initiative aligned with the desires and needs of the local music community.
To gather insights, I connected with local music community members and initiated conversations, leading to the creation of a survey to extract relevant insights. After analyzing survey results and conducting additional interviews, I formalized a design strategy that concluded my research documentation to be used going forward.