It conducted an in-depth survey of 45 stations regarding their current news sources and news needs. A member of the NRP staff, along with a co-founder of NRP, presented information from that survey at the Grassroots Radio Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, in July, 2000. Survey results are available upon request. A large majority of the program directors surveyed express mild to extreme dissatisfaction with the current choices of syndicated national news programs. This included program directors who currently air National Public Radio and those who have aired Pacifica Network News.
Most stations are interested in a morning feed.
The vast majority of program directors expressed interest in contributing stories to a new syndicated program. Some station program directors and general managers have expressed interest in receiving training to bring their staff's production skills up to the standards required by a nationally syndicated program. The National Radio Project has a proven track record of producing and distributing just the sort of programs that match the above characteristics described by program directors as desirable. NRP will make the final report available to all interested non-commercial stations and others by the end of April. The Live Wire Independent News pilot will be delivered free of charge, via satellite and Internet.