Public radio is in crisis and has been for a long time.

As NPR has streamlined, corporate-ized, standardized, and segmented its programming into smaller and smaller sound bites, there has become less and less opportunity for truly creative work of any original or lasting nature. Producers such as myself, Joe Frank, Tom Lopez, Bob Edwards, Larry Josephson and others have moved their shows to XM Satellite Radio.

It must be troubling for local stations managers to see shows they fundraise with, such as This American Life, appearing on a commercial competitor.

If public radio is to survive, it has to become less dependent on national shows and devote the majority of its broadcast day to local programming. That is something satellite radio cannot do. NPR has become a crutch. Imagine a day when NPR announces it is moving all its programming to satellite radio. It could happen.

The moment NPR began taking corporate funding all those years ago, it stopped being "public" radio. More recently, NPR has lost sight of its intended mission. It has become a successful corporation (I believe, partly at the expense of contributing producers and local stations, neither of whom seem to reap any of the rewards) with a news department increasingly under the influence of its sponsors, just like in the commercial world. What are still called underwriting announcements read more and more like commercials and PR campaigns for the likes of Monsanto and Kuwait. The saddest part of all is the drastic shift to the Right that NPR News has taken of late, most excruciatingly displayed during their stunningly unbalanced coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

From my conversations with Bob Edwards's producer, I've learned that the new XM Public Radio Channel plans more original shows in the future. This may open up new opportunities for public radio producers.

I predict satellite radio is here to stay. It is just too rich in diversity, for one thing. If you are a public radio listener with limited financial resources forced to choose between membership to a single station that plays a handful of NPR and PRI shows plus a little Classical and Jazz for $60 per year or 170 satellite radio channels of diverse programming for $120 per year, which are you going to choose?

There is a great opportunity here for independent producers who get involved in satellite radio early.

I also believe "broadcast" public radio needs to rethink its role. Imagine a broadcast day that features a high ratio of local voices--drama, poetry, music, native gardening, regional history, politics, simulcasts from local coffee houses--mixed with a light sprinkling of NPR News feeds. Some stations do this now, but many, far too many, have become a national clearinghouse for NPR and PRI.

Instead of the current system in which NPR receives most of the programming funding and then offers generic shows to local stations, we need to create a new public radio model. Most of the funding should go to local stations to create programs that reflect, support, and enhance the local community, and then some of those local programs could be offered nationally through NPR, PRX, and other sources. CarTalk may be a big fundraiser for local stations, but is it really serving the local audience?

When I moved to Austin, Texas in 1999, I was surprised at how little of local Austin culture was being represented on KUT. In a city were there are hundreds of singer-songwriters, local music hosts' hours were being cut back and replaced with generic record spinning from World Cafe.

At KUT, I created a series of programs celebrating Austin's contributions not just to local culture but also to the culture of our nation. Because of this, these shows were picked up nationally and won awards. Had I stayed living in Austin, I had intended to produce other such shows.

Every part of the country has talented artists and producers chomping at the bit to create some truly amazing programs, even rural communities. I now live in the Catskills of New York State, and the talent up here is astonishing but sadly invisible. I have begun working with local talent to get their work on the radio. Neither of the two local public radio stations in the region have taken me up my offer to help them fundraise and develop content based on all this amazing local talent. So I have taken the content to XM instead.

The problem for most producers and local stations is the funding is not there in most cases or there is very little funding that supports small projects by only a few producers. If more local stations were able to secure funding for local programming that would also be of national interest, it would be in everyone's interest.

Satellite or broadcast? Why choose? Do both!