About two weeks ago, National Public Radio canceled one of its newest programs — The Bryant Park Project, which ended its run last Friday.  I've been following this show since its piloting stage.

The BPP, as it was commonly known as, had a strong social media component with an active staff blog, Twitter feeds (one staffer even tweeted every mile during a marathon he ran), and an active Facebook presence.  According to the New York Times, the BPP met NPR's online expectations but a lack of station carriage coupled with a $2 million a year budget led to the cancellation as NPR faces rough economic waters.

Due to the fact that a large number of people found the show through NPR's website or through its podcast, they were sad to see the show go since the show's site and podcast were doing well.  However, this web audience has helped the show continue through a new niche social networking site for the show's community named The BPP Diner.  It was started a day or so before the the show's final episode; social media consultant Rob Paterson, who has advised NPR and followed the BPP, set it up using Ning-powered software.

A few days into its creation, the network is growing, and its members are interacting with each as they mourn the ending of the show.  In fact, Tricia Mckinney, who was an editor on the show, has remained active on the site and has even posted web videos of her continuing the show's daily segment "The Most," which discussed the most popular news stories on the Internet.  Other former staff members are also actively participating on the site.

It'll be interesting to see how long the BPP community continues to thrive on this niche social network.  Further, it would be even more interesting if the top brass at NPR follow it as well.  Perhaps they'll better understand the power of social media.

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