New Year's Eve Memory

My son asked me about a scar on my chin today. It was about 42 years ago on New Year's Eve. I was setting up for a gig at the Holiday Inn. I played lead and rhythm with a group called Snack. The group included Glenn Hahn who also played rhythm and lead. Glenn was the lead singer. 

Anyway, we were putting the amps and speakers in place when one of them was being lifted when I though we were putting it down. It caught my chin. The speakers were heavy. The amp won. It was bleeding a lot. I taped the wound shut and hoped for the best. We went on about an hour later.(I had a Gibson ES 359 and a Sunn Amp.) 

I have the scar and the memories.

Several DuPont Awards for NPR and PBS

The Columbia Journalism School announced the DuPont Award winners today. NPR won an award for its coverage of the conflict in Syria. Deb Amos and Kelly McEvers got special mention for their daily coverage of events there. Frontline won awards for Opium Brides and The Interrupters.   StoryCorps 9/11 and State Impact Pennsylvania also won DuPonts. StoryCorps worked with NPR, POV and, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to present a multi-platform history of 9/11.  State Impact Pennsylvania was a collabroation between NPR, WHYY and WTIF to report on the effects of fracking in Pennsylvania.

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honor excellence in broadcast and digital journalism produced for audiences in the United States by local stations, independent producers, networks and cable systems. 

Being first...being wrong

When social media and and old media team up, the results can be wrong.
Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports that news organizations around the country posted Facebook information about the wrong guy in connection with the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

There was also early speculation that the shooter was an angry father and, that the guns were all acquired legally. Yet, I heard the spokesperson for the Connecticut State Police tell reporters today that they had not finished investigating the history of each of the weapons. It is now assumed that the alleged shooter, Adam Lanza, was mentally ill. A logical assumption but, it is speculation at this point.

Whatever happened to checking the facts and confirming sources?

Is it live or, is it Memorex?

Do you remember that ad campaign from Memorex tape? The campaign was promoting cassette recording tapes. The assertion was that the quality of the tape was as good as a live performance.I'm guessing you're over 40 if you remember.

Fred Jacobs blogged today that more TV viewing is done on a delayed basis. Jacobs points to data that suggests that it is not rare for most of the audience for Fox's Glee is watching after the fact on DVR's or On Demand.

Fred says that radio's live quality is unique.

"If you think about it, radio looks like it may end up being the last live broadcast medium.  Not only is radio more personal – chances are you’re listening by yourself – but it also has that live, you-never-know-what’s-going-to-happen next feeling."

I'm in agreement. That feeling can be lost with voice tracking. The immediacy can be lost too. Voice tracking on weekends and at night is a great way to save money. But, if a line of thunderstorms rolls through or, if a tornado touches down or, if there's an earthquake. The fact that you have a lot of listeners on Saturday morning should be enough motivation to be live and engaging.  That opportunity to be engaging is lost with voice tracking. 

In public radio, voice tracking can kill the fund drive too. If the talent is unable to interact and react to the content or update the challenge...the immediacy and urgency is lost. At least, that has been my experience.

Engaging the audience is an important element of the radio experience. I was taught that radio is a personal medium. I was taught that the companionship of radio is important to the listener. That companionship can be lost when thinking about the bottom line or the convenience of the staff. Think carefully about when voice tracking can be used. The decision might be penny wise but pound foolish. Turn your audience away and it will affect listening. Diminished listening and you will diminish listener support.

Facebook was Down?

I missed it! Facebook was down!
I stumbled across this report from Huffington Post over four hours later.
Facebook Goes Down.
I thought...Perhaps I'm not really connected all that much. Should I feel bad? Am I just too far out of it?
Then I realized...Maybe not.
I was working on a quarterly report for South Church. I was under a deadline. And earlier, when Gmail was down, I was working on my job search...sharpening up my resume and crafting a cover letter.
There's something positive about not being totally consumed by social media.
I'm not celebrating. If the Internet had gone down, I would not have been able to complete the quarterly report, worked on my job search. looked at articles on-line or written this blog.

Listener Support

I'm getting ready for another fund drive. I volunteer my services at WNPR. I ask for contributions on the air for an employer that let me go. I do it because of a sense of loyalty to the people I used to work with. I do it because I think the information provided by public radio is important for promoting civil conversation in our society. I value the content from NPR, PRI and APM. I also value the content produced locally when done well. The local stations need funding to keep you informed regionally and nationally. I'm glad I can help.

The model I use comes from Audience 98 - The Stairway to Given.

1. Someone must be a listener or a user of the service. 
2. The individual relies on the service
3. The content or service must be personally important. (Personal importance and sense of community.) This is the idea that the content and the services are the ties that bind together people with certain shared values. 
4. Funding Beliefs – Users must believe their support is crucial. They must understand that funding from other sources is only a piece of the fiscal puzzle. Individual support is the most reliable source of income. 
5. Household income is a contributing factor in whether someone will give, but that it is not nearly as significant as the other steps of The Stairway to Given. 

People give because they rely on the service, find it personally important and believe their contributions are truly needed.

As more of public radio's audience switches to digital content on social media, the web and  mobile devices as platforms for their information, the question becomes can the listener service model be used to raise the revenue needed to support the services? 

John Sutton's recent blog asks Will Listeners Voluntarily Support Web-based Services? The impetus for John's question is the report in Current that corporate support for NPR was off by $9 million last year. NPR's Stephen Moss says the potential for growth in digital ad revenue is limited by competition and downward pressure on the price of ads.   Corporations and foundation support cannot be the only sources of income for public media. 

What's working? Are there examples within public media of successful revenue generation from users?

Can the system build on that success? I think we need to find those answers. I'm willing to help.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports on the Gallup finding that 24% of Americans give journalists high ethics.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating.

Before journalists start chortling to themselves they should realize their rating of 24% is in the lower half of this poll. The results are not surprising when you consider a Pew Survey in 2011 that found that 75% of Americans thought journalists could not get their facts straight. Those being interviewed were kinder to the news organizations they used. 62% believed the news organizations they used got it right. They also believed that the organizations they did not use got it wrong 66% of the time.

PBS and NPR often tout surveys that show they are the most trusted sources of information in this country. The slap of reality is that the Pew Survey found that PBS and NPR are not top of mind when it comes to news sources. NPR was mentioned by 3% and PBS was mentioned by 1%.

Part of my experience is in journalism. I actually did some reporting before moving over to public broadcasting management. Since I spent a lot of time raising money, I'm pretty sure journalists would rate  me somewhere just above car salesmen.

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

The friends group contends the stations are in the state their in because of mismanagement. The Friends of Delmarva Public Radio, Inc. also say the proposal from  the consultant, Public Radio Capital (PRC), would culturally diminish Delmarva. PRC recommended the stations become mostly automated. WSCL would become a classical service with programming provided by an outside service. WSDL would become a AAA service with programming provided by an outside service. The Friends hope to preserve the current services according to an article in The Cape Gazette.

Two major obstacles stand in the way. They are facilities and funding. DPR's facilities are being demolished to make way for a new library at Salisbury University. The Salisbury University Foundation has made it clear they no longer can afford to fund Delmarva Public Radio's deficit.

If the friend's can get a reprieve and find new facilities, they need to find a way to grow the audience, increase listener support, increase foundation support, and increase corporate support. They'll also need to look for ways to decrease expenses. These things don't happen overnight.

What could be done?

• Seek help with your fundraising and your goals and objectives. The Station Resource Group and The Development Exchange have resources to help stations.
• Be Brilliant on the Basics. Check out the article by Deb Blakeley and Israel Smith.  How far from the basics is the local content?
• Focus - Do a few things well.
• Look for alliances to increase the quality of local content. Start with other public media outlets.
• Could Delmarva Public Radio find ways to work with their competition without being consumed?
• NPR's flagship programs are expensive. Alternate information programming is available through the networks and independent content providers. The Public Radio Exchange is a good place to start.
• The two stations can still have local content under the PRC proposal. There is room for local programming within the two services being proposed.

Maine public radio cuts back its music.

Maine public radio cuts back its music for more talk | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

This is never easy for public radio stations. After all, we invite listeners to invest in the programs.

Major changes always result in heat and some defections in the short run. Having 4,000 members threaten defection made a lot of staff members sit up and notice when we changed formats.

My past experience with change has yielded surprises. Replacing the opera with coverage of the shuttle disaster resulted in dozens of heated complaints. Coverage of the Pope's death in place of the opera resulted in even more complaints. We temporarily changed programming to offer coverage of the 9/11 disaster. One listener was so incensed by the change he threatened to blow up the station. (We called the police.)

In one case statistics suggested almost no audience and poor loyalty for a stand-alone weekend program. It was easy to understand why. The program had nothing to do with the rest of the schedule. I took the program off the air. The response was really light. There were literally a handful of negative comments. In fact, there was hardly a ripple. Within a few weeks after leaving the station, the program was back on the air. One of the members of that small ripple was able to dangle a check from a foundation in front of senior management. They went for it.

Car Talk on SiriusXM Satellite

Car Talk on SiriusXM

You can drive home with Car Talk but, you need to subscribe to SiriusXM Satellite Radio. According to the Sacramento Bee and other news sources, Car Talk and SiriusXM have reached an agreement.  Sirius will run NPR's Car Talk back to back episodes from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. ET starting November 23rd. Sirius will run a Car Talk Marathon Thanksgiving Day.

Car Talk announced over the summer they would stop producing new episodes. They are continuing to run the best of the show for public radio. The repeats began in October. There has been a lot of discussion in the public radio system about what to do with the time slot occupied by Car Talk. Some stations have decided to continue to run the show as before. Others have moved it. The deal with Sirius will spread out listening further. The program is also available on-line. It has been for many years and, Sirius runs episodes on their NPR channel.

Over time listening will erode for Car Talk which has been one of public radio's most popular programs. It is unclear what effect the daily airing on Sirius will have on public radio's audience. The Sirius airing runs up against All Things Considered starting at 4:00pm. ET. For Sirius subscribers who also use public radio, there will be some further sharing of audience. 

Something to think about; the sharing will erode station loyalty further. Station loyalty is one of the key factors in listener support.

KMHD Best Jazz Station

KMHD, Portland went from the brink of chaos in 2009 to jazz station of the year. Jazz Week Magazine gave the award to KMHD in August. Tom D'Antoni interviews PD Matt Fleeger who is credited with turning the station around after he was hired by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The interview and video appear in OregonMusicNews.com.

Broader Implications Updated

On November 19th the Pew Research Center reported that more people are following news about the Fiscal Cliff over the Petraeus scandal.

More Following 'Fiscal Cliff' Debate Than Petraeus Investigation

The Pew Research Center is reporting that there is broad concern about the fiscal cliff. They also have found that confidence is low that a deal will be reached.

Broad Concern about 'Fiscal Cliff' Consequences

Public Is Skeptical Deal Will Be Reached

When it comes to choices...what should we cover? As a a programmer I was concerned with serving my audience and what they expected from us? I always came down on the side of broader implications. My understanding of the research of the public radio audience is that they expect us to cover the issues that affect all of us in the long run. Coverage of  the fiscal cliff may be more complicated and less sexy than the lead story about the Petraeus/CIA scandal...but in the end the Fiscal Cliff will affect more us more deeply than the tawdry scandal involving the General and his biographer.

I'm not trying to preach...I'm just reminding all of us to keep our eye on the ball. It does matter what we cover and how we cover it...no matter the story and no matter platform. The true public service is embedded in the fiscal story and the ability of our political leaders to breach the divide.

On November 19th the Pew Research Center reported that more people are following news about the Fiscal Cliff over the Petraeus scandal.

More Following 'Fiscal Cliff' Debate Than Petraeus Investigation

PPM may bring jazz back

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette is reporting that Pittsburgh Public Media (PPM) is moving ahead with plans to acquire WVBC-FM. WVBC-FM is currently owned by Bethany College. If PPM can raise the funds   necessary by February First and, the FCC approves the sale, the station will carry Jazz full time.

PPM acknowledges that WVBC-FM does not cover Pittsburgh. PPM Board President Chuck Leavens says they will try to boost the signal so it will reach Pittsburgh.

The programming will be provided by PubMusic. Among the hosts is Scott Hanley the former GM of WDUQ.

Delmarva Public Radio - No Way Out?

Listeners on the Delmarva Peninsula are upset.
Delmarva Public Radio part of our identity
Tom Hehman: Even if SU throws in the towel, we will not

Keep Delmarva in Delmarva Public Radio

As the published letters in the links suggests, listeners are going to miss their local public radio station.

Saving the stations, current local programming won't be easy.

Is it feasible to expect the kind of support it is going to take from listeners to keep WSCL and WSDL from switching formats to national music services? The stations lost money 17 out of the last 21 years. Listener support, foundation support and underwriting continually fell short of fiscal needs. In the past, the university made up the difference. The Salisbury University Foundation responsible for Delmarva Public Radio hired Public Radio Capital (PRC) to assess the station's fiscal viability. The University, coping with a shrinking budget, is looking for places to save.

The suggestion by PRC is that DPR drop news programming and most local classical programming. Public Radio Capital reported that too much of Delmarva Public Radio's audience was being siphoned off by stations in DC and Baltimore. Reduced audience results in diminished support.   The suggestion is to replace the NPR news station with a AAA format. Most of the programming would be syndicated. The classical service would also lose most of its local content and be programmed by a service like Classical 24.

The Numbers Matter
Size isn't everything but, public radio stations need a large enough core audience to draw from to sustain itself. WSCL and WSDL's numbers don't offer alot of hope for listeners to save their stations. In order for residents of Delmarva to save their stations their stations they will need to step forward in numbers that exceed the usual membership benchmarks. The simple benchmark is that ten percent of a station's cume can be expected to contribute. WSCL's cume 12+ was about 18,000 in Fall 2011. WSDL's cume was about 13,000 in the same period.   A rough estimate of potential givers is 3,100. DPR's annual budget is about $1million. According to the station's website about 50% of their budget is covered by memberships. To cover the $500,000 the average pledge needs to be $161. To cover the $220,000 projected deficit the average pledge will need to increase $71.

Simply taking 10% of the cume to make projections doesn't really cover the issue. Specifically, the station needs to look at the size of the core audience and the core's loyalty to the station. Drawing on the core is a much smaller sample to draw on for funding. Simply put, DPR's audience might not be large enough to support itself. Without support from other sources the stations will continue to run deficits as currently programmed.

Where people get their campaign news

INTERNET GAINS MOST AS CAMPAIGN NEWS SOURCE 

BUT CABLE TV STILL LEADS

Social Media Doubles, but Remains Limited

(Pew Research Center)

We in public radio like to think of ourselves as a reliable, dependable, informative and in-depth sources for campaign news. Our hope is that were the go-to source for information you can rely on. But, Public Radio is not where most Americans go to get their election news. NPR and Public Radio are ranked ninth. Public Radio is tied with Facebook.

According the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism Cable TV is still number one with 41% of respondents in the survey reporting they go to cable. Local TV News is second. The Internet is third. National TV news is fourth with 31%

NPR is ninth with 12%. It is tied with Facebook and Late Night Comedy Shows. Conservative Talk Radio gets 16%.

When it comes to believing which source is most helpful...NPR gets 4%. Talk radio gets 2%. Cable News is believed to be the most helpful with 24%.

Three Takeaways 

• Estimates of Public Radio's Audience used to be around 10% of the universe of radio users. NPR stations remain close to that benchmark despite declining audience for traditional media.
• 88% of the potential audience never listens to Public Radio.
• Only one-third of Public Radio's audience finds the service "most helpful."

Please click on the link above for more details.

Voter Intimidation and the media/connect the dots.

Billboards in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Columbus proclaimed earlier this month, “Voter Fraud Is A Felony! Punishable by up to three-and-a-half years in prison and a $10,000 fine." The Billboards are owned by Clear Channel. Clear Channel is owned by Bain Capital. Bain was run for years by Mitt Romney. Romney still owns a tons of stock in Bain. These dots seem easily connected. It is unclear who bought the messages.

Clear Channel also owns over 800 radio stations.

Clear Channel refuses to disclose who paid for the message but, they have agreed to take them down after protests about voter intimidation. Clear Channel says it has a policy against anonymous political ads which they remembered after the protests grew. 

A Federal Court in California ruled that it would be OK for public broadcasting to run political ads to raise revenue. Given the lack of control over the content by the commercial media, the idea seems misguided. (I'm being nice.) 

Most of the political ads in my neighborhood range from misleading to out and out lies. Watching the local news on TV makes it clear the TV stations know the ads are deliberately false but, the stations won't do anything about it. There's a lot of money being spent and, the way Citizen's United is being used, most of the money is untraceable. It will not be so easy to connect the dots and, the way it works in politics is you tell a lie over and over until it becomes the truth. 

Did you know that Radio and TV stations are responsible for all of the content which they broadcast? This includes advertisements. Prior to 1982, if a radio or TV station aired a misleading or false advertisement, the station could suffer the consequences. The strength behind these rules were seriously diluted during deregulation in 1982. 

What's left? Journalists have a role. So do the rest of us. Speak up.

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/company-taking-down-anti-voter-fraud-billboards/article_102e7dfe-1cd1-11e2-b364-0019bb2963f4.html

Newsweek Goes digital in 2013 - Poynter

Newsweek to reduce staff, eliminate print edition as it goes digital only in 2013 | Poynter.

Newsweek says to has reached a tipping point. Circulation has dropped dramatically in the past few years. They've lost 51% of their readers since 2007.  Some of the content will be available on the Daily Beast. The digital edition will be a subscription service.

As public radio and television evolves with more of its content available digitally on-line, will that mean the demise of broadcast services and big layoffs like at Newsweek? Public radio is still doing very well. There a signs of stress brought on by economic pressure. Is the situation at Delmarva Public Radio (DPR) only the tip of the iceberg? Salisbury University and the SU foundation are looking for solutions to the station's funding dilemma. According to Public Radio Capital, the consulting service hired to look into the viability of DPR, outside sources are siphoning away audience. This is making it very difficult for the station to be sustainable. In fact, they've been running deficits for 17 out of the last 21 years.

Will digital delivery systems replace broadcast? What will be the effect on local broadcast operations?

Public Broadcasting, Grants and Accountability (Networking)

Recently, I attended a discussion about how non-profits can leverage corporate support. Many non-profits are finding themselves in the situation Public Broadcasting started to face in the 80's when the Reagan administration applied a rescission to the funding for CPB. The funding was cut by 50%.
Suddenly, membership campaigns and underwriting became very important.

The discussion got around to foundation support and grants. A key to renewal of grants is deliverables and, how the deliverables are communicated to the grantor.

The foundations we worked with in Connecticut were interested in education issues, the environment and, healthcare for the poor. The tendency might be to focus only on the obvious...audience size and the number of reports. The foundations we worked with in Connecticut wanted measurables beyond the standards of audience data and the number of reports and programs offered.  We kept track of the contacts we made when researching the issues and the reports. We kept track of the community groups we interacted with as a result of our conversations inside and outside the building. We also included information about the number of on-air promotions, Social Media mentions and interactions, phone conversations, emails, podcasts and the hits to the Webpage.

Getting outside the broadcast facility is important. It is a lot like networking. Public Broadcasting is not just what it puts out over the air or the web. It is a lot more than the one-way conversations of the 70's, 80's and 90's. The community connections created by the community service we offer are much broader than we realize.

Reporting on Deliberately Misleading Statements

Lost in the shuffle of the debate this week were the deliberately misleading statements made by the candidates. Journalists should not be shy about reporting on the lies, half-lies and misleading statements. Maybe I'm too caught up in my own standards of ethical behavior and integrity  When it comes to our leaders and future leaders it seems to be a matter of course. It seems to be okay to lie and lie again, as long as you get elected.

I was in New Britain for a classic car show. A sign in a toy shop window caught my attention. The sign was promoting the fact that the store sold Boy Scout and Girl Scout Uniforms.  By taking a picture and editing out portions of the sign...by taking the message out of context...I'm misleading you. They do not sell scouts. They sell the uniforms.

There are journalists and other organizations reporting on these issues. But it seems there are so many misleading statements being repeated over and over that most of the electorate believe them. And, what do the lies say about the people who would lead us? It's okay as long as we win? When do the lies stop? Can you place your trust in somebody who lies all the time?

Lost among all the hoopla about who won the debate was the fact that the winner played fast and loose with the truth.

NPR reported on how the candidates manipulated the statistics they used. Sources included FactCheck.org, Politifact.org and the Washington Post.

Romney Goes On Offense, Pays For It In First Wave Of Fact Checks

One of the biggest disputes was over tax cuts. Obama argued that Romney's plan to stimulate the economy includes a tax cut totaling $5 trillion that, Obama said, isn't possible because the Republican nominee is also promising to spend money in other places.
Romney flatly disputed that number. "First of all, I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut," he said.
Who's right? The Washington Post's Fact Checker says the facts on this one are on Obama's side. The New York Times notes that Romney "has proposed cutting all marginal tax rates by 20 percent — which would in and of itself cut tax revenue by $5 trillion."

What set me off was a mailing from Linda McMahon. It says, "Our Seniors Depend on Medicare But, Chris Murphy cut $716 Billion from Medicare." McMahon takes the facts out of context. 

"That amount — $716 billion — refers to Obamacare's reductions in Medicare spending over 10 years, primarily paid to insurers and hospitals," says PolitiFact. So there is a basis for the number. But, it adds, "the statement gives the impression that the law takes money already allocated to Medicare away from current recipients," which is why it gets only a "half true" rating.

Simply reporting on what the political candidate had to say is not enough. Dig a little deeper. Inform your readers, viewers and listeners by putting the politicians comments in full context. (Nobody is selling Girls Scouts...At least, not at this toy store.)

The barrage is only going to intensify over the next five weeks. Spending for 2012 has already surpassed 2008. 

KUAZ Best of Tucson

Best Radio Station for News 

KUAZ FM 89.1/AM 1550

Readers of the Tucson Weekly choose KUAZ as best station for news in the Tucson area. If this were sports (which it is not) KUAZ would be a dynasty. This is the 12th year in a row the readers Tucson Weekly has chosen KUAZ as the market's top radio news station. It's a tribute to quality and consistency of coverage. KUAZ is Tucson's NPR station.

Civil Discourse and Politics

Civil Discourse is a core value of the public radio audience. It seems civil discourse is almost non-existent in 2012. Tracy Powell writes for Poynter.org that the problem is being made worse because local news outlets are not reporting on the toxic mix of money, politics and media.

"A Free Press report released this week says that “perhaps the most important story of the 2012 presidential election is the toxic mix of money, politics and media that is shaping so much of the discourse in the months before the general election. Yet that’s not a story you’ll find on the local news.”      Toxic Mix 

Powell suggest that local news stations are not reporting on this mix because of the money involved. Local TV is making a lot of money accepting misleading advertising from candidates and Super PACs. Because of this voters are being denied real coverage about the dangers and divisiveness of this type of campaigning.

How the phantom of ‘socialized medicine’ came to be

Related to this is Trudy Lieberman's article for the Columbia Journalism Review about Jill Lepore's "The Lie Factory." Lepore's New Yorker article describes the work of Campaigns, Inc. (NPR had a feature on Campaigns Inc. and their founders of the company Whitaker and Baxter, Political Consulting And The 'Lie Factory) Whitaker and Baxter may not have invented the negative (dirty) political campaign but, they refined it into an art form. They invented political consulting. Their methods are slash-and-burn, repeat-the-lies, cutthroat campaigning. Keep it simple. If you explain something, you've lost the advantage. Lieberman reexamines how Campaigns, Inc. scuttled Harry Truman's plan for health insurance. When introduced by Truman, the plan had overwhelming public support. with the backing of $1million dollars from the AMA, Campaigns, Inc turned the public against the plan.

This type of campaigning is exacerbating the us vs. them mentality. That point was brought home to me in a class about Parables. The focus of the study is John Dominic Crossan's, "The Power of Parable."
There are four types. They are riddle parable, example parables, challenge parables and attack parables.
Whitaker and Baxter used attack parables. They are angry and aggressively hostile. They are meant to divide and marginalize opponents. It is deliberate in squelching civil discourse. The leader of the class pointed out that attack parables can provoke violence. Violence runs through three stages.

• Ideological violence is thinking that persons, groups and nations are inhuman, subhuman or, seriously lacking in humanity (sound familiar?).
• Rhetorical violence is speaking on that presumption by dehumanizing those "others" with rude names, crude caricatures, and derogatory stereotypes.
• Physical violence (sometime lethal) is acting on those presuppositions either by illegal attack or, if in a potion of power, by official, legal political action.

Lieberman points out that the simplicity of the lie makes it difficult to combat. Powell points out that is why the political ads need to be consistently questioned by journalists. Considering the hundreds of ads running today...covering the issue once is not going to cover it.

I've been working on two projects about civics and civil discourse. A couple of weeks ago the issue of politics was broached during a civics discussion on the Real Life Survival Guide. There was real hesitancy in the room to discuss politics. It has become increasingly difficult to rationally discuss the issues because of the negative examples around us. I've also been working with the Civil Conversations Project from APM's On Being. Their goal is to bring people with differing views together of a rational discussion around issues that are dividing us.

Delmarva Public Radio

Public will have input on Public Radio's future

For smaller public radio stations with smaller audiences, the struggle to survive comes down to sheer numbers. This is holding true for Delmarva Public Radio owned by Salisbury University. In a letter to the Delmarva Daily Times, Charles T. Capute, chairman of the SU Foundation and Janet Dudley-Eshbach, president of SU, explain why they are taking a serious look at the station's situation. The Foundation hired Public Radio Captial to assess the station's situation and make recommendations. Members of the Foundation are now reviewing PRC's report.

In 17 if the past 25 years DPR has run a deficit. Funds from the University have been used to balance the books. One of the questions that needs to be answered is can a station with cume audience less than 20,000 continue to sustain an NPR news and information format? Especially when you consider they are competing for the same audience with WAMU and WESM.

When considering listener support, the size of the P1 audience is much more significant. If 40% of the Cume audience for news is core (P1), the member base is being drawn from 8,000 listeners. Is the size of the P1 audience large enough to support the cost of the news operation?

Delmarva Public Radio runs two formats. WSCL is a mostly classical service on a 33,000 watt station. WSDL is a mostly news service on a smaller, 18,500 watt signal.

Make the Most of Specials

Lately I've been helping market public radio specials. Most of the time I talk with program directors and content directors about filling a specials slot in their schedule. Real estate is getting tight for most stations. Many have their slots filled through the next quarter. If the content providers offer a short turnaround (a few weeks) my job is more difficult.

Looking for Opportunities
When I was a (PD) content director, I used to look for opportunities to get some of these quick turnaround programs on the air. If I thought the content was something the station's listeners might value, I would look for opportunities.

• I looked at weaknesses in the schedule. Programs that were doing poorly with the audience were often targets for preemption.
• Another possibility was running specials anywhere we were running repeats. Again, if the repeat wasn't doing well according to audience data, it was an opportunity to schedule a special.
• I might also decide to bump programming in my specials slot depending the content and the opportunities. 

I tried not to program for my convenience. As a curator, I looked for content that would serve my audience. There are opportunities beyond the program schedule.

Partnerships

Try thinking beyond the on-air schedule. A limited series can offer marketing and community partnership opportunities. I am currently working with On Being. They're offering their Civil Conversations Project as a limited series. On-Being is recording for programs in front of a live audience. The purpose of the series is  to promote new conversations around hot button issues. The idea is timely. According to Pew Research political partisanship is at an all-time high. Political discussion have been reduced to dogmatic proclamations and rhetoric. 

This series offers opportunities for partnerships. A marketing package could be put together. In my region, the Hartford Seminary and a major divinity school could be approached. The Hartford Seminary is trying to advance common ground issues between the three Abrahamic Faiths. If your station has a local news/talk production, regional experts could be interviewed to advance the issues represented in the series. There might also be other organizations that promote civil discourse.

We did this when I worked at WNPR. There were several instance when we were able to pull together partnerships around issues. All we did was take advantage of a desire to make community connections and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities.  

Your airtime is not free. You want to take advantage of these opportunities. You have to start with a bit of thinking beyond the schedule or convenience.

NPR tightens comment moderation.

Poynter is reporting that NPR and other news organizations are taking tighter control of on-line comments.

NPR, other news orgs tighten comment moderation to improve conversation.

According to the article by Jeff Sonderman, The Calgary Herald,Vancouver Sun and other news organizations are moderating more to cut down on inflammatory comments and, comments that are provocative for the sake of being provocative.

NPR surveyed its on-line audience. Kate Myers writes the blog Inside NPR.org. She says NPR was surprised to see the majority of the respondents wanted to see more moderation for news content.

Your Questions Answered on Our New Commenting System

Integrity - Core Value

When posting on the Connecticut Re-Employment Group (CREG) site, I was asked to provide and example of the importance of integrity. I did mention it is one of my core values. There are so many aspects to integrity. It would depend on which aspects I want to focus on. When accepting the separation agreement from the local public broadcasting company after 21 years, the CEO special mention of my integrity.

As General Manager and Program Director (and fundraiser), I was the arbiter between marketing, radio programming and the audience. I was responsible for revenue streams for the corporation. The financial goals and objectives of the company did not always make sense in terms of serving radio's highly educated and highly loyal audience. At times I needed to balance the financial needs of the company against the needs of the audience. What I did was to look for ways to make those demands work in terms that work for radio and its audience. I can't go into detail on specifics because there aspects of the working relationship that cannot be divulged. But the management team and I looked at ways of making sure the integrity of the firewall between funders and the content remained intact while meeting the needs of those funders.

Did it work? You bet. In my last three years we saw significant gains in audience, audience loyalty, listener donations, corporate support and foundation partnerships. That would not have been possible without keeping the integrity of our relationship with our listeners (listener expectations) and our funders.

For more on integrity go here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/integrity/

Looking for Direction

Core Values Still Matter

I listened to a very interesting discussion today at a round table at CREG, The Connecticut Re-Employment Group. I'm asking myself, again, what is at my core. What motivates and excites me? It started some thoughts on core values. Those values are why I got into Public Broadcasting.


Public Broadcasting is a very narrow field. To do that again would mean moving across the country. I cannot do that right now.  It leaves me in a place where I'm looking outward to other fields. Those core values include:

     Credibility
      Integrity
      Honesty
      Idealism
      Believe in Civil Discourse
      Inspired by Public Life and Culture


These values align well with the socially engaged audience we served. These values can be summed up by a desire to make a difference. These values can result in the ability to communicate core values to key constituencies. Is this applicable anywhere? I hope so.
The challenge for me is to translate these values into a new direction.

Real Life Survival Guide and Civics

At a recent recording session of the Real Life Survival Guide the importance of civics was discussed. (The program will air in a week or two.)  Voting is often touted as a civic duty. The issue of the right to vote and, who has the right to vote, is a big issue in this election.

Voter ID laws are seen by conservatives as a way of preventing voter fraud. On the other hand, actual cases of voter fraud are scarce. The Brennan Center for Justice, www.brennancenter.org, a nonpartisan public law and policy institute affiliated with the New York University School of Law, has studied the issue. They say the issue is a myth.   If you care to read more...go to the Truth About Voter Fraud.

Why the concern? This is going to be a close election. The losers in a close election usually claim widespread voter fraud. As the Brennan Center report points out, the allegations about widespread fraud do not pan out. 

Now there are reports that an offshoot of the Tea Party is recruiting a million volunteers to show up at polling places in minority neighborhoods this November to monitor those who show up to vote. The group calls itself "True the Vote." Common Cause released a report called, "Bullies at the Ballot Box." In it they quote "True the Vote" as rallying volunteers to block  “illegal alien vote” and “the food stamp army.” Their stated goal is to make the experience of voting “like driving and seeing the police behind you.”

This is an issue that is immediate in Worcester, Massachusetts. There are allegations of intimidation at the polls during the primary in Worcester last week. The Election Commission is set to discuss the issue at a meeting June 10, 2012. In an article in the Worcester Telegram there are allegations "that some observers engaged in voter intimidation and voter suppression with their actions, which included challenging the legality of some voters and giving orders to poll workers. There were also reports that some poll observers were illegally recording conversations between voters and poll workers."

As officials in Worcester say, the rules need to made clear and laws against illegal tactics need to be enforced.

Changes at IPR

Iowa Public Radio changes its signal array. According to CEO Mary Grace Herrington, the changes are the result of changes in listening patterns. The change puts news and information on signals that can be heard by more people. The same for IPR's eclectic music channel, Studio One.

IPR also used this opportunity to make some programming changes. Comments have been fairly light but, this should be pick up Monday when the changes take effect.

There's more information in the Des Moines Register.

Reporting Politics Uncovering the Spin

Ryan’s VP Spin

To see how Ryan's statements were spun, take a look at the coverage from Factcheck.org.

Paul Ryan's spin is not unique. I was told a few years back by the Program Director at NPR that everything in that city is spun. Covering politics in Washington is not for the inexperienced.

Coverage of Paul Ryan's VP Speech at the convention is filled with misleading statements. This behavior is standard for politicians in Washington. Former NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook told Politico in a recent interview that she was lied to everyday. Simply covering what politicians say was a sort of collusion.

Ex-NPR Hill reporter: Lied to daily

Coverage of Ryan's speech the next day focused for the most part on how energizing it was and how Ryan fired up the faithful. Information about the misleading statements were buried deep in the articles. The Columbia Journalism Review thinks the rate of fact checking needs to be sped up. Coverage of Ryan's speech on day two focused on the content and factual errors. Suddenly, the speech was seen as ordinary and filled with lies.
Speeding up the factcheck cycle
Is the after the fact in-depth analysis enough? Would a more balanced approach on day one be better to the public and for Paul Ryan as CJR suggests? Is it enough to just cover the daily events in Washington and or state capitals without the context behind the statements?

SOU Takes Control Of Jefferson Public Radio

Jefferson Public Radio's 22 stations will fall under the control of Southern Oregon University. The deal announced this week ends a dispute between former JPR head Ron Kramer and the University. JPR ran some of the stations.

The issue came to boil after an audit suggested that Kramer's dual role as head of the JPR Foundation and Director of JPR were a conflict of interest. That issue came out of effort by Kramer and JPR to purchase a theater in Medford, Oregon. The Theater was to serve as the new headquarters for Jefferson Public Radio.


The situation became contentious. Governor John Kizthaber called in a mediator. In the agreement the University and Foundation agreed to drop legal claims against Kramer and, Kramer agreed not to sue them.

There's a lot more information in articles published by MercuryNews.com and The Mail Tribune.

Foundation President Steve Nelson says selling some of the radio stations are a part of the Foundation's future plans.

Giving and Geography

The Chronicle of Philanthropy just released a report on "How America Gives." I heard and read the report on NPR.org by Pam Fessler.    The study breaks out giving by zip code.

Study Reveals The Geography of Charitable Giving

Faith Makes a Difference
Among the findings is that giving in areas with stronger religious values giving is stronger. Giving in Salt Lake City is 9% of discretionary income. Giving in Birmingham, Alabama is 7.1% of discretionary income. Giving in more secular areas like New England (where church membership is way down) giving is lower. Vermont is at 2.8%. New Hampshire is at 2.5%.

Income and Giving
Generally, lower income Americans give more of their discretionary income than higher income Americans. There are exceptions. Higher income Americans that live in economically diverse communities tend to give more. The study suggests that higher income Americans that live and socialize exclusively with their cohorts give less.  Wealthy givers in diverse zip codes like Brooklyn, New York, Midland, Texas, Collegedale, Tennessee, and Homestead Florida give more than 28% of their discretionary Income. Wealthy givers in more isolated zip codes like in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Indianapolis, Indiana, give less than 2%. 

A key to tapping the generosity of wealthier Americans is awareness of the issues and the needs of those is less fortunate circumstances. 

To understand more please link to the story and The Chronicle's report, How America Gives.

Credibility of News Declines

The Pew Research Center finds that the credibility of most news organizations continues to decline.  The overall believability of the news media has dropped from 62% in 2010 to 56% in 2012. The gap in believability and credibility is being driven by the partisan divide with Republicans less trustful of the news.  They trust Fox and local television. Fox's over all credibility is pretty low at 49%.

The credibility of NPR dropped sharply after 2010. The decline for NPR coincides with the controversies surrounding the firing Juan Williams and, the video sting of Ron Schiller. NPR's credibility rating was 60% in 2010. It is now 52%. Credibility is important to public radio stations. One of the core values of public radio is credibility and, the belief that the news on NPR is credible is one of the forces behind NPR stations ability to raise money from its listeners.

There's a lot more at the Pew Research Center Website.

Utilizing Influentials (Influencers)

In recent blogs about social media and public radio there has been advice about the importance of the quality of your audience.

Todd Mundt wrote about the relationship between the quality content being shared and the degree of engagement between the station and its on-line followers.

Public Radio on Social Media: Take Off the Clown Costume

It's not how many Facebook fans or followers on twitter you might have...it's the ability of your content to engage those followers that matters. Mundt suggests that the quality of the content is what matters.

Mundt suggests that you find five interesting stories or interesting things about your station and share it today. Share it without editorial content and, resist the urge to say something like, "Let us know what you think?" Then offer five more tomorrow and the next day. The quality of the content and thoughtful editorial choices we've applying to our on-air content will translate to social media.

Influentials can kick-start this process.

Fred Jacobs wrote in his blog "Friend with Benefits," about the importance of identifying and engaging a brand's most influential fans. There are studies that suggest that 1% of your fans generate 20% of your traffic sharing. A smaller group of Influencers generate 30% or more. There a few key people, if engaged, can direct all sorts of traffic to your fan page or your twitter account.

Much of the advice on-line about how to engage this group is about commercial marketing efforts. Please do not be put off by this. Ben Straley, CEO of Meteor Solutions, writes for Mashable. He offers suggestions on how to identify and utilize Influencers. 

HOW TO: Target Social Media Influencers to Boost Traffic and Sales

and 

HOW TO: Activate Your Brand’s Super Influencers

Straley says you need to find out who these people are, what their motivations may be, what they like to share, what platforms they use and make them famous. Straley offers suggestions on the analytical tools like Radian6 and ObjectiveMarketer to uncover your Influencers. Jacobs suggested WildFire in his blog.

Effective use of Social Media to expand your brand will take some research and work. It's more than throwing some stuff up there and hoping some if it will stick. That's something we learned in public radio in the last century about or on-air content. This should be no surprise now.

Huffington Post Live Launched Today

Huff Post Live launched today. It's a live stream. According to founding editor Roy Seakoff it's about conversations not citizen journalism.

Hazel Sheffield wrote about the launch for CJR (Columbia Journalism Review). Her article really helped me. I just dropped into the the service. She was able to frame it for me.

HuffPost Live Launches

I agree with Sheffield about the challenges facing the service, not the least of which will be coming up with engaging content 12 hours a day, five days a week. When I dropped in they were talking with contributors about the effect unemployment is having on 20 somethings who find themselves moving back in with their parents. When I dropped in later they were talking about is algebra necessary?

You can watch...and perhaps...participate here:   http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/live

Is there a way for traditional media to come on board with an idea like this?

Political Ads on Pandora

Based on musical tastes you might be asked to send your email information to a political candidate. That's what happened to Crystal Norris while listening to Garth Brooks on Pandora. She was outraged.

Seems like pretty nifty marketing. Eliot Van Buskirk has an interesting perspective on this in his Huffington Post posting.

Why Shouldn't Mitt Romney Advertise on Pandora?

There's nothing wrong with marketing on Pandora. Somebody has got to pay for this 'free' service.

I'm guessing Crystal Norris may have been outraged because the ad seemed to invade a personal moment. But then, it may be pretty hard to have anything that approaches a private moment on the web. Somebody is collecting all our clicks and comments in the name of marketing.

Be in touch...really.

Live and Local

I was part of an interview today where we talked the best way for an education advocacy group to reach the people most directly affected...the parents and children who are a part of the school system. We talked about social media, mobile media, the website and and old fashioned print media. We also shared ideas on what effect these tools are having on grass roots efforts. Later today members of the advocacy group are going out to meet people. Not only to inform the people served by the school system, but to build alliances within the community. The idea is to involve parents in the educational system in a heavily urbanized and poorly resourced school system. The goal is to make it better. The goal is to graduate more students and increase the quality of that education.


Then this evening I read the post by Fred Jacobs on his jacoBLOG on how President Obama is engaging  voters. Fred says the strategy is to be where the people are in person and through social media. It's a combination of old and new. It's also about talking about and being about local. The strategy is this:

Know where the people are.

Be where the people are.

Mix traditional media and new platforms.

Grow reach by connecting with digital communities.

Fred supports the idea that local radio (and television) needs to focus on issues that are local and impact our communities.  "...the funding for your local art museum, potholes on your local freeways, and the impact the drought is having on area farmers are all issues that hold a special relevance to your listeners."

As I listened to members of the advocacy talk about how they wanted to reach and communicate their constituencies, I was struck with how important it is to use all of their communications tools to engage and inform. And, I agree with Fred Jacobs that public radio can learn a lot form the Obama campaign on how they are trying to reach voters.

Minority Know about Super PACs

Little Public Awareness of Outside Campaign Spending Boom

Pew Research Center reports that most Americans are unaware of of the impact of Super PACs on elections spending. In a report released August 2nd, just 25% of the respondents to Pew's research have heard a lot about spending by outside groups. The level of awareness runs across party lines and through independents.

Outside spending in Wisconsin during the recall election of Governor Scott Walker was estimated to be in the range of 25 million. Since the results of the recall was about equal the results of regular election, the effectiveness of all that spending comes into question. And, a previous study by the Pew Research Center suggests that most people likely to vote have already formed an opinion about the candidates.

Super PAC's are spending and plan to spend millions to sway our votes. Many of the ad produced and and placed play fast a loose with the truth. There are Websites where you can check the facts. One is FactCheck.org.  If you would like to know more about Super PAC's and what they are trying to accomplish, there is a series of reports on these groups produced by NPR.

Others are reporting on these groups. It seems most Americans are not paying attention or, they don't care. Statistics on voter turnout seems to support that idea. According to Infoplease.com the trend has been downward since 1960 for Federal Elections. In 1996 the turnout for the Presidential Election actually fell below 50%. Results have been better since for Presidential Elections. The off-year elections have been below 40% since 1974.

Million-Dollar Donors

Summer Try-outs For Public Radio

I think it is great that new program ideas are getting a chance on public radio.


I come to this season of try-outs for public radio with a big question. With such short try-out periods for NPR's Ted, Ask Me Another, Cabinet of Wonders, and PRI's Q from the CBC, how are the networks and stations measuring success. It takes months (years actually) for programs to gain real, measurable traction with the audience. That was the experience with A Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered and Car Talk. Car Talk and APHC were local programs before they went national.

In the late 70's and early 80's there used to be debates at public radio conferences about how to measure the audience. Programmers would argue that a letter represented 10 listeners and callers would represent five. Or was it some other number? It doesn't matter. The letter writer and the caller represented two listeners. The caller and the letter writer represented themselves and nobody else. Getting a call or letter meant somebody was listening. It did not measure audience size or the popularity of the program among those willing to contribute voluntarily.

The same holds true for Public Media responses. The numbers can be a lot larger. Several thousand likes nationally for a program is impressive...as far as likes go. The only thing being measured is the propensity of an individual to click the like button. Social Media is a great way to listen and engage. It is super for customer (listener) service. It does measure the appeal of a program for larger audience segments (cohorts).

Some measuring can be done because of PPM technology in the top 50 or so markets over a short period of time. But, a lot more data over a longer period is needed to get any sort of a trend.

Focus groups and surveys can be used. Surveys on Social Media are self-selected samples. And, if you've ever tried to make a programming decision based on focus group results, you understand that it is not fool-proof method for programming decisions. Focus group results can help inform decisions but, not give the final answers.

I think this is a legitimate question. How are the networks and stations measuring success for these programs? I'm curious. To be clear, I think it is great that new programming is getting a chance on public radio. 


You know what would really be great? A new public radio format aimed at a younger or, more diverse audience.

NPR Steps into the News Vacuum in New Orleans

NPR, The University of New Orleans and WWNO are teaming up to help fill the news void left by the downsizing of The Times Picayune. The partnership is launching NewOrleansReporter.org. NPR “has decided to make New Orleans its ‘beta’ market to develop a robust online platform for its affiliates nationally.” The project will rely on the public radio funding model with support coming from individual donations, corporate support, foundations and major donors.


There's more information from Poynter.org. The story originally ran in the Wall Street Journal.

NPR, University of New Orleans announce new nonprofit news organization, NewOrleansReporter.org | Poynter.

You can get more information about making a donation at NewOrleansReporter.org.

Changes at OPB

Music Programming is making way for entertainment and information programming at Oregon Public Radio.

Six shows (mostly music programming) are moving over to their on-line service to make room for series like Moth Radio, Radio Lab and Moyers and Company. Oregon Public Radio expects there will be complaints. John Bell, director of member communications says all programs have a fan base but, trends in OPB's audience indicate a demand for more news and information programs. There's a wealth of new programming at this time. The changes offer OPB the chance to freshen their sound and try out the new content.

There's a lot more on the changes, plus comments at The Oregonian.

A positive way to look at the comments is, at least listeners care.