WGBH Changes Leads to Dissent

The negative blow-back that WGBH is getting from listeners about the recent program changes is to be expected. In a way we in public media enable a sense of ownership over the programming through our membership campaigns. We ask listeners to become activists when we ask for their support, and they become invested. Despite the fact that ratings, loyalty figures and support dollars may be below what is needed to sustain programming, there those who did invest who will feel alienated by the changes.

Take a look at the article from the Boston Herald By Daniel Gerwetz and then drop down to the comments. Recent changes at KUT in Austin and WDET in Detroit have led to similar protests.
You can make changes for all the right reasons, but for some listeners those reasons won't matter. They're felling a sense of loss and betrayal. Management and the major stakeholders need to be prepared and be able to weather the storm.

To be sure there are other issues surrounding the changes made by WGBH. Not the least of which is the question; is there room for two public radio news and information stations in the Boston market. WBUR is well established as the NPR news station. WBUR's ratings are four times that of WGBH according to the Herald article. WCRB's ratings were three times that of WGBH. That made their NPR news service and classical music service second choice among both audiences. Being second choice directly affects the stations ability to raise listener sensitive income. In a down economy difficulty raising listener support is not a comfortable position to be in.

Grow the Audience - Using the Basics

Using the Basics to Regain Audience
WNPR changed formats in the summer of 2006. Within the first six months the audience started to show strength. Loyalty figures were up. The weekly Cume was up and the average audience started to rebound. We also saw a jump in underwriting support. Then in late 2007 we started to see evidence of a leveling off in audience figures and then a decline in 2008.

Time For Change
Changing the program strategy at WNPR resulted in audience growth. The changes made in the summer of 2006 resulted in about a 20% increase in total audience and about an eight percent growth in average audience. The early growth was the result of the newness of the format in Connecticut. Up to the summer of 2006 nobody else was offering most of Connecticut the NPR news and information format. WNPR was the first to do so.

The changes were dynamic and dramatic. Accomplishing the changes were challenging in the face of healthy skepticism from senior staff, certain stake-holder in development and, the Board of Trustees. They questioned the need for change when the bottom line at WNPR was still relatively healthy.

There were signs of weakness in the longstanding hybrid format of NPR News, Classical Music and entertainment programs like  A Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk and Wait, Wait! This formula had worked well since 1989. Why change? Loyalty figures were slipping, WNPR's dominance over other public media outlets was eroding. Membership was flat and trending slightly downward. Underwriting booked exclusively for WNPR was weak. Most of the underwriting on WNPR was sold as part of a package that included CPTV and Connecticut Magazine. WNPR had over 20,000 contributors, but the majority was radio and TV combined. Major donors for radio were almost non-existent. We had less than 100.

The Glass Ceiling
Research consultants told us in 2004 and 2005 that we were reaching the glass ceiling. The potential for growth had plateaued. Predictions were for a gradual decrease in audience and member support in five years. Among the issues facing WNPR was the lack of unique programming. The picture wasn't entirely bleak and desolate. Working in our favor was a very strong news department, and a well established daily talk show produced in our New Haven Studios, The Faith Middleton Show. The rest of the program schedule was duplicated by two very strong public radio stations WFCR and WSHU. Added to that WNPR had very little geography that was exclusive. Almost everything we did was duplicated by these two stations.

Declining Market Position
The decline came much quicker than anticipated. WNPR's main transmitter failed during an ice storm in late December 2004. Replacement parts were not available and had to be custom made. 90.5FM was at half power for six months. Making the situation worse was an engineering mistake in the design of the structure supporting WNPR's satellite dishes. Connecticut Public Broadcasting moved to a new facility in the summer of 2004. The dishes were placed on top of the new building. Because the supports were under-engineered, the dishes would blow around knocking them slightly out of alignment. The results were garbled signals from our national programming sources. It took many months to sort out the structural issues. During this period we were beginning to see declines in average audience, share and time spent listening. The catastrophic failure of our main transmitter pushed WNPR over the edge. WNPR lost 70,000 listeners and membership support declined 12%. After the transmitter was repaired the audience did not come back. The audience found the programming they wanted just as satisfying on our competitions' stations.

Justifying Change
The changes we made in 2006 came after some intensive research into the listening habits of our membership. The research was conducted by Arthur Cohen and Whole Station Solutions, and Peter Dominowski and Market Trends Research who did most of the call-outs and helped us design our survey. The results of the survey did not result in a certainty that we should change our programming focus. That was because, in large part, we surveyed members who were classical imperatives, classical/news imperatives and news/classical imperatives. We wanted to know the impact of the decision to change programming focus. The evidence suggested this was the right direction to take for WNPR's future. Many of the stakeholders still needed convincing, and even a year after the changes there were still doubts that we had made the right decision. The doubts rose mostly around the response of the membership.

The growth in audience came quickly but, there was rift in our membership universe. Members of the Board and senior management were anxious because positive results were not immediate. Fortunately, the growth in underwriting more than offset the declines in member support. Membership bounced back in the second year.

An Audience Slump
In late 2007 and early 2008 we started to notice a decline in audience. Total audience, average audience and share declined. Our share fell from above 3.0% to about 2.6%. We were not sure what was happening. We still had market exclusivity for NPR News and Information. Morning Edition and WNPR's daily news program, Where We Live, continued to show audience growth and strength. The declines were clearly evident middays during All Things Considered and weekends.

The Decision for Gradual Change
Instead of pulling the trigger on wholesale program change, I decided to focus on micro-formatics. I listened to and analyzed what was being said in our midday, PM and weekend breaks. At issue was the lack of structure within those breaks. We were not taking full advantage of the opportunity for quarter hour maintenance. Our promotional schedule was filled with diagonal promotion strategies. We were spending a lot of time promoting to programs that did not have much impact on our audience.

Vertical and Horizontal Promotion
With the help of the PRPD handbook and because of my own experience in programming, we got better at the basics. We used a lot more teasing. Since midday programming did not allow for a lot teasing about what was coming up in the next 20 minutes, we chose to focus on the next program or the program after that. Teases were placed first in the break. Produced promotions focused on the programs that drove our core audience. Those programs were Morning Edition, Where We Live, the Faith Middleton Show, All Things Considered, Marketplace, and the weekend hits. And, whenever possible we employed horizontal promotion. We made an effort to highlight what was coming up the next day at the same time.

Positive Gains
WNPR gained back audience. There were gains in the weekly audience (Cume), average audience (AQH), and share in Hartford, New Haven and New London. According to Arbitron and The Radio Research Consortium, WNPR's Hartford Cume rose 19.6%. The AQH grew 17.1%. WNPR's Share in the Hartford Metro grew 17.8%. Audience figures compare summer '08 and summer '09 and are Monday through Sunday from 6am to Midnight for persons 12+.

Not all of the growth can be attributed to micro-formatics. Staying the course with the program schedule gave the audience time to find and grow loyal to WNPR's offerings. But, paying attention to the basics certainly helped.

A special thanks to John Dankosky and the rest of the staff at WNPR for helping accomplish the changes made at WNPR and their patience and, their support of WNPR's break and promotional strategies.

Implications of the Aging Audience

The Aging Audience/Walrus Research

George Bailey's report shows the challenges ahead for public radio stations programming jazz. The size of the core audience should be of particular concern. The core audience is where stations draw community support.

I have two questions.
Is it the format or is it the way the stations execute the format? Could it be that the jazz format does not generate a large enough core audience that is willing to support the programming? Or...is it that the stations need to work harder at music selection and, the micro formatics of what is said when the announcer opens the mic?

The research does not doom the format. The research only offers insight into the questions station management should be asking and informs solutions to their problems.

Public TV in Bay Area In Trouble

KCSM's future depends on a $1 million fundraising goal by January 1. So far the station has raised $6000. If the independent PTV station owned by San Mateo County Community College District fails to raise $1 million, they say they will need to sell the station. The article in the Oakland Tribune reports that there are no plans to sell the radio station. The article says, "Compared with its televised counterpart, the radio station is faring a tad better financially, especially after a fundraiser during the summer for KCSM Jazz 91.The fundraiser for the only station in the Bay Area with a 24-hour jazz format netted nearly $14,000." Is that a typo? The amount seems very low.

You can Help. The article offered a link if you would like to contribute.
http://kcsm.org/interact/savetv/

KSTX Focus On Hunger

This is a great example of how community service programming can have a meaningful impact on the community. Texas Public Radio continues the Town Hall series with a solutions-based conversation on hunger issues affecting the surrounding community.

KSTX is building bridges between itself and the community. Through efforts like this the station is becoming a key player as a cultural institution in San Antonio. KSTX is playing a larger role. It is not afraid to step outside its walls and to reach beyond its website. Check out the KSTX webpage devoted to this subject and the links they provide to inform the conversation around this issue.