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.