End Of NHPR's 'The Exchange' Prompts Discussion About NH News

CONCORD, NH — When the long-time host of "The Exchange" Laura Knoy announced she would be leaving the station in June after more than 25 years of broadcasting in New Hampshire, the news did not make much of a clamor.

Knoy, whose last show is Thursday, has accomplished a lot in what everyone would consider to be a stellar broadcasting career — being named broadcaster of the year, winning a slew of broadcasting awards, and interviewing hundreds of people, from presidential candidates, to state officials, to CEOs, authors, and average folks, too, in a respectful and thoughtful manner. And knowing when to ask tough questions and when to get more information out of a guest. Knoy wanting to pursue the next chapter of her professional life would not be a surprise — after more than three decades of doing the same thing and succeeding at it, everyone needs a new challenge.

Knoy told the network she began to think about shifting gears after the 2020 first-in-the-nation primary, wondering what else she could do. She began working on a novel. But when the pandemic hit, Knoy decided to stay and weather it out like many in the journalism business who felt their jobs were essential not unlike firefighters, police officers, nurses, and doctors.

On May 4, Knoy made the move away from the show known and many in the news and radio business say her exit is a disappointment.

"Laura is an amazing journalist who is able to get to the heart of the story and make people feel welcome to call in and participate," Nancy West, the founder of the nonprofit New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, which is a Patch news partner, said. "The stories and the experts are usually all local so that's quite a bit of important air time that will be lost at a time when we need to be growing local news."

West said Peter Biello's Friday roundup also "proved a great way to summarize a week's worth of New Hampshire news lest I missed something" while noting that former producer Ellen Grimm did a great job working for the show, too.

Jack Heath, who hosts Good Morning NH on five Binnie Media radio stations in the capital region and the Seacoast said he had known Knoy a while and respected her for being "a good professional journalist" and creating a great show.

Chris Ryan, who hosts New Hampshire Today, which airs on four stations including Manchester and Concord, called Knoy a "significant broadcast figure" and "a pioneer, really," who will be missed.

A number of listeners, and former guests, too, wrote notes on Twitter, wishing Knoy well.

And then, the announcement came that the show, too, would be coming to an end.

Ending 'The Exchange'

Finding someone to replace Knoy would be difficult but probably a given to most listeners considering the show is so popular.

But last week, listeners learned that was a wrong presumption.

On Friday, Jim Schachter, the president and CEO of the network, in a letter to listeners posted on the network's website, stated the show would end at the end of the month.

Schachter said NPR's Morning Edition will air from 6 to 10 a.m., while the local Morning Edition segment would be "enriched in new ways" to include new features and more Granite State voices. The network, he said, would continue to host debates and the Friday Weekly News Roundup program would be reevaluated.

A follow-up story, written by Todd Bookman and published on NHPR's website on Monday, delved a bit deeper into the decision — stable but diminishing audio audiences and finances at a "tipping point," while also sustaining more than 30 journalists and 70 full- and part-time staffers.

Schachter clarified Wednesday there were 20 newsroom employees and another dozen working on some of the network's podcasts. The radio journalists are focused on their own beats — ranging from politics, healthcare, energy, climate, and education. The decision to end the program was not an easy one, Schachter said, and not a case where fewer radio journalists could be employed to make up the financial difference of a host and producer.

"Quality journalism isn't cheap; it's not just a host," Schachter, who has been working in public radio for about eight or nine years and also worked for the New York Times, said. "It's a team of producers who plan ahead and write questions (too). We looked at the choices we faced and how we could use our resources to build across the organization that we think will put us on the most solid economic footing for the long term. We also want to be the best possible employer, offering equity in pay, and giving people career opportunities. Being a good employer is for the long haul; (it's) making choices that don't involve cutting corners."

A number of listeners, however, were not happy about the decision, making comments online calling it "the end of local news."

But is losing one program that airs four hours a week really the end of local news in New Hampshire?

Long-Term News Strategy

NHPR has made a significant investment in radio news to fill the void in the media scene and the gap in journalism, Schachter said, due largely to the struggle newspapers have had with digital advertising and consolidation of corporate ownership.

The network's last audited financial statement shows that statement to be true: NHPR spent more than $2.9 million on non-management salaries and wages for program services during the 2019-2020 year — nearly doubling its spending from 2013-2014, which was slightly less than $1.77 million.

At about 20 radio journalists today, that is easily three times the number of journalists at the network 15 years ago when about half a dozen staffers produced most of the news stories for the network. Although, back then, staffers weren't producing long-form programming like the Bear Brook Podcast, concerning the deaths of a woman and three girls found in barrels in Allenstown during the 1980s, which has been downloaded by more than 16 million listeners.

Schachter said that commitment to producing news people want, where they get it, is the "essence of our mission, vision, and strategy, with investment by donors and members." The journalists are working in different regions around the state, too. NHPR is also working on partnerships with other news organizations in both New Hampshire and around New England to ensure news of statewide and regional importance is not kept from the public, whether on its website and radio stations or a private company's newspaper.

"A number of our stories have been on the front page of New Hampshire's newspapers," he said.

The network has also created an investigative unit to get at "systemic issues" that "gnaw at our society" like the policing the police and parole system series and made bilingual hires who, along with news, will be working to reach Spanish speaking communities in the southern tier of the state that have been "long under-served" with innovative online and social media updates.

"The Spanish speaking communities told us that is where they get information," he said, adding that not unlike English readers and listeners, "we're serving people (news) where they choose to be served."

The strategy, Schachter said, was to earn the trust of growing numbers of listeners and readers while being the best source of news, in the forms of media the state's residents engage in, whether it is traditional radio, newsletters, social media, the web, or podcasts.

Shock In The NH Media World

While some understand Schachter's strategy for quality news production in different forms, others in the radio and news business said the end of the program was a bit of a shock.

"I was quite surprised that 'The Exchange' was ending for a number of reasons," Ryan said, "but mostly because it is a good format with a proven ability to generate revenue and produce meaningful discourse."

Heath agreed.

"It's a loss," he said, "If they are not going to continue the show, that's their decision, as programming managers. (But) it's a big loss for NHPR because she's a pro."

West, who started her nonprofit news org six years ago because she was seeing a "dire need" for in-depth local news, was also surprised.

"We are doing our best to increase the amount and quality of trusted news stories that hold government and the powerful accountable," she said. "(But) over the last 20 years, New Hampshire has lost 63 percent of all news jobs."

Some of those jobs were at Patch.com, too, which is about to celebrate its 10th-anniversary producing news in the Granite State. When the company first started, there were 10 local field editors and two regional editors managing 10 sites (and then later, 12, covering 13 communities). Now, there is one (although Patch recently advertised for a new editor to work on our Hillsborough County sites and Patch Labs is also working on an initiative to allow out-of-work journalists and others to start their own community sites with revenue-sharing opportunities, too).

Bookman, in his story, said the program served as New Hampshire's "only statewide call-in show" — a startling suggestion to some in the radio business.

Heath scoffed at the comment on his show on Wednesday, which is on five different radio stations and streaming online at the Pulse of New Hampshire website.

"That's hilarious," he said, adding, "but it was a darn good (show)."

At the same time, Heath said he had never really worried about what the competition was doing on television or radio.

"I do my own thing and always have. I have no knock on NHPR at all — I know it relies on a different form of funding (than) commercial stations," he said, while speaking about the support from advertisers to his show and stations. "You do not have a real show if you don't have that sponsor-advertiser relationship."

Ryan, also, sees it as an opportunity for his show, to possibly expand his format and listener base, in the wake of the end of Knoy's show.

"Talk radio and podcast listenership is changing," he said. "Listeners want truth, political independence, and to be entertained. That's my wheelhouse. We are the only statewide show that provides that."

West also sees opportunity, too.

She has been "heartened" that her organization had growing readership and a positive reputation about the news produced — with newspapers paying for content, too, to augment their smaller staffs. Similar to the collective nature Schachter spoke about, these partnerships "work together to bring readers the news they need to be fully informed, moved to political action and full participation in their democracy." New Hampshire, she added, deserved a robust news market it once enjoyed.

"I can tell you there are new barriers springing up all the time, including partisan online news outlets more interested in promoting political propaganda than reporting the truth," West said. "I’ve watched as the proud legacy newspapers continue to shrink in readership, advertising, staff, and the size of the papers. Some of my friends seem incredulous at the lighter weight of the newspaper, let alone the lack of stories that matter."

But that road, to a sustainable path for the future, she added, was long. InDepthNH, West said, had big plans in the works and major announcements in the coming weeks that she believed would help all news outlets find a sustainable path to the future.

For Schachter, transplanting to New Hampshire has been "a joy" because he has been able to work with so many "smart, creative people who are dedicated to public service," with "public-mission-minded people in a place that is filled with civic-mindedness, a passion for service, all qualities I have found pervasive around New Hampshire."

There may be some bumps in the road after Knoy is gone and listeners get used to an expanded Morning Edition. But for now, Schachter is enjoying the challenge and gig.

"It has been a stressful and anxious time for leaders of all kinds of organizations and people up and down all kinds of organizations," he said, noting the pandemic's hold on the state and nation. "(But) I wouldn't be doing anything else. I'm so excited about the opportunities ahead."

On Thursday's program, which airs at 9 a.m., Knoy will host for the last time. On June 14, the tables will be turned and Knoy will be interviewed.

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