Public Broadcasting's Upward Trend

Data provided by the Pew Research Center shows modest yet steady growth among Public Radio's news oriented stations. Data shows increases from 2015 to 2016.

Take a look at these trends. How does the data from your station stack up against the benchmarks established by national trends?  (If you need help with that, let me know.)

• Listenership if up 11% among the top 20 station.

• NPR programming is up 14%.

• PRI Programming is up 12.5%.

• Public Radio's digital presence is on the rise.

• PBS NewsHour grew 22%.

• Revenue went up at the national level for NPR and PRI. APM saw a decrease. According to Pew, "At the national level NPR increased its total operating revenue in 2016 to $213 million, up 9% from 2015 levels. PRI saw gains as well, rising 26% to about $22 million in total revenue for 2016. APM’s total revenue, on the other hand, went down 6% year over year, accounting for $126 million in 2016."

• Locally, earnings have been relatively flat.

• News oriented station increased investment in their news gathering resourced about 5% from 2014 to 2015.

• Viewership for commercial network news declined 1% to 24 million viewers.

• Cable news networks increased 55% to 4.8 million viewers.

• Newspaper subscriptions dropped 8% between 2015 and 2016. Subscriptions are up slightly since the election.

Searching for Sanity in News Coverage

In Praise of Journalism

More and more, I find myself searching for sanity in news coverage. I find myself recoiling from the bombast and daily assault of half truths and false statements.

There was a time when I would avoid the PBS NewsHour. It seemed so slow, so dry. I've come to appreciate the comprehensiveness and evenhanded approach to the stories. It comes down to trust.
I trust journalism...not punditry. So much of what passes for journalism is based on the exception. The comments and assertions are based on the exception to the norm...not on what is actually going on. The exception feeds on our fears and takes our attention away from real solutions.

After the recent election and the continued avalanche of misstatements based on sketchy sources, I find myself being a lot more careful about what I read. And if something turns out  to be incomplete, I appreciate sources that continue to dig.

Other trusted sources:

• NPR
• APM
• PRI
• Reuters
• BBC
• and an assortment of newspapers, magazines and sites that take the time to check their sources.

What was it that Ben Bradlee said? Something like, "Check all your sources twice, except for your mother, check her three times.

The News Cycle and Mutual Destruction

The News Cycle Fuels Funding 

In fundraising circles we often discuss the value of the news cycle and the ability to raise funds from listeners. During presidential campaign the public radio audience swells and membership dollars increase.  For public radio's core audience, the news from NPR, PRX,  PRI and APM offer a sanctuary of thought provoking and rational content.

It looks as if the news cycle may not take its usual post election dip. That should be a happy thing for public broadcasting. Then again, maybe not.

 As someone who lived through the Cold War and the threat of the Nuclear Holocaust, Donald Trump's tweets about the nuclear arsenal are not going down well. The need to be informed from a reliable news source will become more important.

Fake News Ups the Ante

Add to the mix the proliferation of fake news. A news story from a fake new site heightened tensions between Pakistan and Israel.  According to an article published by Huffington Post with sources included in the New York Times "Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, wrote a frightening Twitter post in response to a fake news article stating that Israel would attack Pakistan with nuclear weapons." Asif's comments were in response to a fake story posted by awdnews.com quoting the Israeli Defense Minister that "If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack." 

We are are closer to the brink than most people realize. According the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, we are three minutes to midnight, a global catastrophe. In 2012 we were five minutes to midnight.

Public Media will have plenty to report on and a steady, measured and fair treatment of the issues will be greatly appreciated by our core audience. By focusing on the core audience and their values the growth potential will continue to increase.

Duck and Cover

I'm part of that core, and I remember the drills at school, "Duck and Cover," and being reassured that we would be okay if the Menominee River Valley took a direct hit. Then later seeing the civil defense brochure about the circles of destruction and understanding at age nine that we were too close to the epicenter to survive, and understanding that if we did survive, we would likely die from the burns or radiation poisoning.

The theory behind the policy of mutual destruction was that nobody would be foolish enough to push the button. I wasn't reassured then. I am even less assured now. Public Media has a part in all this. No matter the platform, we must continue to meet the expectations of our audience. Public Radio news has grown up to be trusted news source among its audience. When we first started we considered to be boutique in nature...an alternate news source. There's no going back now.

At Wits End

All Things Millennial?

I don't have much to say about the cancelling of Wits. It was touted as A Prairie Home Companion for a younger crowd.

I listened...sometimes. It was on Saturday night. That's not exactly prime listening time for radio. Even in its heyday, A Prairie Home Companion lost over half its audience in the last half hour on the stations where I worked.

Wits had its moments, but not enough to draw me in every week. I only listened if I happened to be in the car.


Wits was an attempt to find a new hit to replace Public Radio's aging stars like Wait, Wait, Car Talk and APHC. Those programs were anomalies. Most attempts to create the new shining star have failed, especially one hour programs. It is hard for a program to gain audience...unlike programming. Listeners have trouble finding a single program. Landing on, and listening to, a program stream with a consistent appeal is much more conducive to habitual listening. Being able to listen to programming that consistently meets a listeners expectations on a regular basis can lead to greater loyalty and a large enough audiences to support the programming.

There's a difference

Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition and Marketplace are programs that work well together and resemble programming. Wait, Wait, Car Talk and APHC appeal to the same core audience. It just seemed like Wits, with it's out of the way scheduling, was trying to change the way people listen to radio. That's an uphill battle. We had a music director at one of the stations I worked for who vowed he was going to change the way people used radio. All he managed to do was drive the audience away.

I was at a PRPD retreat in 2002 when a network exec stopped by to give us an update on the status of public radio programming. He told us there were a handful of programs that were breaking even or better. There were over 350 programs being offered at the time. The odds of success weren't good...even when times were good.

Location Matters

All of the public radio hits mentioned above air when people use radio...except for APHC. The programs are all well produced and appeal to the lifestyle and values of the public radio audience. They also air during times when listening to radio reaches its peak. They air during morning and afternoon drive, or during the midday bulge on the weekend. A Prairie Home Companion is the exception. We aired APHC twice on WNPR. We carried the live broadcast on Saturday evening. We repeated the program Sunday at noon. It was not long before the Sunday broadcast outperformed the Saturday broadcast. The reason...The potential for an audience was greater on Sunday at noon because more people use radio at that time.

There is no shame or blame. The effort to create something new and vital should be encouraged. We should endeavor to create new audiences and, more importantly, reengage the audience we already have with new ideas and perspectives.

Classical Sell Off

Classical gives way to Christian Format

APM is selling off it's on-air presence in South Florida. With it goes the classical music programmed on the stations (Classical South Florida). The changes reflect a broader change for APM Group with staff laid-off throughout the system. The three stations in South Florida have been sold to Educational Media Foundation for about $21 million. EMF programs Contemporary Christian music

The Board Up In Arms

Members of the  Board feel betrayed. According to an article published by Inside Radio and Current, seven board members resigned since the deal was first approved in late June. According to Current, AMPG signed the deal without consulting the board when EMF gave APM one day to decide.

Due to Circumstances...

There are influences outside the realm of control that adversely affected Classiccal South Florida.
The way listeners use radio has changed dramatically in the past three years. Time Spent Listening is down. So is the Average Quarter Hour Audience. That means listener loyalty has taken a hit. Lower loyalties means diminishing returns on Listener Sensitive Income. Cume and Cume Rating have also dropped for many public radio stations because of the Advent of PPM.

Winter 2015
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 4,000      1.2                116,100               4:15

Winter 2014
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 3,300      1.0                137,500               3:00

Winter 2013
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 3,100      0.9                159,200              2:30

Winter 2012
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 2,700     0.8                150,300              2:30

Winter 2011
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 5,800     1.5                219,100              3:30

Winter 2010
             AQH      AQH Share   Wkly Cume        TSL
WKCP 6,100     1.9                 226,700              3:30
(All data from Radio Research Consortium, Nielsen and Arbitron Person 6+ Maimi, Ft Lauderdale, Hollywood)

There has been a trend downward in most statistical categories over the past five years, The Winter 2015 quarter saw a bounce upwards. I'm not sure of the benchmarks APM is using to measure success, but revenue consistently is falling below the break even point, A major factor contributing to the shortfall is our flagging economy. CSF was launched just as the Great Recession began to unfold. Uncertainty in the economy, suffering portfolios, unemployment and underemployment are all factors affecting Listener Sensitive Income. A robust recovery from the recession may have made it possible for APMG to carry its debt load.

Classical South Florida has been posting deficits since 2008. APMG took on $30 million in debt to set up the network. By accepting $21,1 million from EMF, APMG is selling the three stations at a loss.

News Coverage - Going Deeper

Looking For Depth

There are stories that lend themselves to in depth coverage. In depth coverage is something public radio listeners expect. They want to look beyond the headlines. These stories also lend themselves to continuing coverage.

After the crash of 2008, listeners looked to public radio and television to give a broader perspective to the great recession. Because of the slow recovery and other issues, this story is still with us.

Disappointing Numbers

Lower than expected job numbers came out last Friday. The number of new jobs was about half of what was expected. NPR reports that 126,000 new jobs were created. Experts were thinking the economy would add 245,000 new jobs in March.

March Employment Report Shows Growth — But Disappointing Numbers

For U.S. Workers, The March Of Progress Slows Down

Contributing Factors

Some are saying the weather had a lot to do with the disappointing numbers. Because of the series of storms that rolled through in February and March...the construction industry took a hit. So did oil drilling.

Taking the Long View

There might be something deeper according to Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight. The economy has been expanding for six years. The thought is this might be a cooling in the economy after a period of sustained growth. Looking further at the longer trend, unemployment over the past year has improved from 6.6% to 5.5% in one year. March may have been a blip...or it may be the tip of the iceberg. Either way, the story lends itself to coverage that goes beyond the headlines. It can go beyond the two in depth stories linked to above.

Something Bigger

As I look through the story ideas below, it occurs to me I'm defining APM's Marketplace's Sustainability Desk. or Marketplace itself. I'm also thinking in terms of using station resources to create something that will have a lasting impact on the listeners we serve. There needs to be a place where overarching stories come to live. A program where these big issues can be discussed. A destination program where we can go deeper. You might be thinking, "No way. We don't have the resources." Think again, You don't have to go it alone. There are partnerships and alliances that can be created to find the resources.

Depth

There are other issues that are effected and effect the employment figures including:

• Unemployment in your region
• The real jobless rate.
• Have people given up?
• Underemployment/Temporary employment.
• The working poor.
• Discrimination. (Estimates of the cost of racism reach as high as two trillion dollars a year.) 
• Unemployment and race 
• Sexism.    
• Ageism.
• Faithism.
• Low wage jobs.
• Job training.
• SNAP benefits.
• Unemployment and social services.
• Unemployment benefits.

These are just some of the issues that could be explored, but I think you get the idea. Jobs matter to our listeners. The economy matters to our listeners. I think we owe it to them to cover this with more than the headlines or just one three-and-a-half minute feature.

Millennial Gateway for Public Radio

Two programs distributed by APM are being touted as hip and trendy for Millennials.

MPR now stands for millennial public radio

Concern within public radio is the aging of the audience and how the younger audience uses radio. The hope is shows like "Wits" and "The Dinner Party Download" will draw younger listeners to public radio. Both programs are distributed nationally. According to the article in the Minneapolis Star, the audience is still small for programs with national distribution. "The Dinner Party Download" draws 250,000 listeners on 130 stations. "Wits" has 131,500 listeners in 100 markets nationally. A Prairie Home Companion  (APHC) also distributed by APM, draws 4 million listeners on 679 stations. APHC's audierceis centered on the Boomers.

Listener measurements listed in the article are based on station based statistics. They do not include on-demand listening through hand held devices, web downloads and streaming. Millennials listen at their convenience...not at the station's. Still, when public radio was new we talked about All Things Considered and Morning Edition being the gateway for the rest of our programming. The concept of gateway programming worked then. It could work now.

This American Life / PRI Part Ways

Public Radio International (PRI) announced yesterday that it will end distribution of This American Life (TAL). According to the article in Variety, TAL has 2.2 million listeners and calls the weekly program one of PRI's most popular.

Details of why the show is being dropped are sketchy. PRI Executive Julia Yager states, “During our most recent negotiation, it became clear that our organizations’ expectations regarding our futures were different.” 

Yager said This American Life will continue to be distributed to Public Radio. Three possible sources, PRX, NPR and APM have not commented yet.

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.

WUIS Moves Classical - Changing Focus

Changes on the horizon for WUIS

Public radio affiliate switches weekday focus from music to news

The IllinoisTimes reports that WUIS, Springfield announces they will take classical music off WUIS-FM and replace the midday offering with News/Talk programming. Classical music will be available on-line through the station's Website and on HD2. The programming will be provided by APM's Classical 24.
The launch of the new programming will coincide with the station's launch of a locally produced Illinois Central. The first half hour will focus on news. The second half hour will focus on the arts.

Compare this coverage to the coverage WNPR got from the Hartford Courant when the station changed it's programming. The Courant was able to include some immediate reaction from the classical music audience.

Public Insight Network Adding Journalists

Andrew Phelps writes for the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard that APM's Public Insight Network (PIN) that they will start producing stories from the information garnered through PIN's broadening network of experts. One of the original selling points of the network was that it would broaden perspectives by going beyond the usual sources that the media usually depends on. The trouble has been how to sort through all of the information from the 130,000 experts.

PIN will continue its primary mission of serving 60 newsrooms. The new team will not offer stories to the subscribing stations. They will generate original reporting. And, they’re starting without a distribution plan, or even a defined medium. 

http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/01/the-public-insight-network-now-swimming-in-data-launches-its-own-reporting-unit/

New Platform for Marketplace - Current

American Public Media (APM) is making Marketplace and The Current will be offered on another platform. It will be available through Slacker.


According to the press release, Slacker enables music lovers to play highly personalized music online at the Slacker web site, in Ford vehicles with SYNC AppLink, on connected home devices or on-the-go with Slacker Personal Radio applications. Slacker mobile applications are available for Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, Palm webOS, Nokia, Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry smartphones. For more information visit: http://www.Slacker.com/about.


Material from The Current will curated and update weekly by station programming staff.


Marketplace on Slacker Radio will offer Marketplace flagship program, Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report, Marketplace Tech Report, Marketplace Money and the Marketplace Index.

Positioning for PBS

PBS' President sees an opportunity for growth in presenting documentaries and the arts. Paula Kerger's vision is that public television can offer more of what is being abandoned by commercial cable channels.
In an interview with The Salt Lake City Tribune she outlines her ideas for the future of public television.
Kerger says, "So, again, it’s another opportunity if we’re really interested in making sure our country’s stories are being told. I think we need to be there."


Public radio has been doing that by providing services long abandoned by commercial services including in-depth news, intelligent entertainment programming, classical music and other music services. So has public TV. Kerger wants to do more. The difference is that the public television network does not create its own content. The stations are the primary provider of content for PBS.  NPR, PRI and APM provides content for member radio stations, most of public radio's most popular programs.

She's right. There is an opportunity. It will be interesting to see if the opportunity can be affordable and self-sustaining.

Garrison Keillor 'Rethinking' Retirement Plans | AllAccess.com

It has to be hard to leave this all behind. Stay tuned. There will be more before 2013.

What's your thinking on this?
Should he stay?

Will he be on the road more? Less?
What's APM's take?

Are still able to raise member dollars around APHC?

Before you jump that shark (take it off the air)...find out what your core audience thinks. Don't base your changes merely on your fund drive.

I've made some hasty decisions in the past. Two were additions to the schedule and one was a deletion from the schedule. All three led to decreases in the core audience (P1 listeners). In the core there were fewer occasions and shorter duration per occasion. The result was a decrease in listener sensitive income (A combination of member dollars and underwriting revenue). The decreases were overall...not just during those programs.

In each case we made changes. We added back the show I dropped. We made a big deal about it with a special event, letters to members and an OES (Optimum Effective Schedule) promotional run. We were pretty quiet about the two shows we dropped. We had calls and letters complaining about the changes but, we were prepared with bullet pointed talking points. In the end we increased our core audience and increased occasions and duration.

Garrison Keillor 'Rethinking' Retirement Plans | AllAccess.com

CrowdSourcing and CrowdFunding Combined

American Public Media Buys Spot.Us

American Public Media announced they have bought Spot.Us. APM will use Spot.Us within its Public Insight Network.

Spot.us uses crowdfunding to fund journalism. At their website they explain it this way:

Spot.Us is a nonprofit project to pioneer “community powered reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do reporting on important and perhaps overlooked topics. Contributions are tax deductible and we partner with news organizations to distribute content under appropriate licenses.

The Public Insight Network uses a network of 130,000 sources to add depth and texture to their coverage. PIN explains it this way:

Every day, sources in the Public Insight Network add context, depth, humanity and relevance to news stories at trusted newsrooms around the country. American Public Media provides journalists with the tools and training to tap our growing Network of more than 130,000 sources, engage their own audiences, and produce high-quality journalism. Using our industry-leading platform, journalists and citizens reach beyond pundits, PR professionals and polemics to inform themselves and each other, strengthening the communities they serve.

There's more information about the partnership at Mediabistro.com and NetNewsCheck.com.

uh...really?

All pledge all the time | Marketplace From American Public Media

WQED TV in Pittsburgh has devoted a digital channel to all pledge all the time.

Station management is hoping that it can raise $2000 a week.

WQED and others believe there are viewers who love pledge shows. It's HSN for the Public TV audience.

Fund Raising Made Easy?

I helped out at my local NPR station this morning asking for pledges. The task was made easier because the listeners clearly value the content produced by NPR, APM and PRI. All of that is complimented by the local and regional coverage provided by WNPR. 

Fundraising begins with the content. The content generates the audience. The more time the audience spends with the station (loyalty), the more likely they are to give. 

Jack Callahan and I provided the impetus for giving by working on the balance of fundraising messages. We did our best to create a balance of case statements and closes. We communicated with each other about what we were going to pitch. We listened to each other and played off each other to drive the message home. We connected ourselves to the programming.

I've worked on other fund drives where the fundraising wasn't as effective. The messages were lost because of too much emphasis on the closes, premiums, funding facts or poorly constructed pitch breaks. Other drives didn't go well because the content was not up to listener expectations. In that case, no matter what was done during the fund drive, pitching was ineffective. This time, this morning, at WNPR it all came together. It wasn't perfect. We could have used some production help but, it worked.

A Call For Fox To Help Fund NPR

An Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post by Steve Coll calls for commercial broadcasters and cable outlets, like Fox News, to fund public broadcasting. The idea is not new. I've heard the idea discussed since the early 8o's when I was studying Mass Communications. The idea is, a set aside from commercial broadcasters would be the best way to fund public broadcasting. This would help ensure Public Broadcasting's future and help it fulfill its mission to serve under-served communities.

Public Radio is grappling with this issue. Despite growth to about 30 million listeners in the past decade, public radio stations are looking for ways to increase diversity in its audience. Steve Coll included in his article the BBC's handling of criticism that its coverage was left leaning. BBC managers studied their coverage and did not find they leaned in any particular direction but, did find they were not covering stories that appealed to conservatives. According to Coll, the BBC solved their problem by broadening their coverage. Coll recommends a similar self-examination for NPR.

At the recent PRPD Conference in Denver, a panel that included representatives from the CBC talked about how they broadened their coverage to be more inclusive. (Panel: The Next Step Up: Inclusiveness -  Farai Chideya (Moderator); Keith Woods, NPR; Kashmir Birk, Bioss; Susanne Marjetti, CBC)   The CBC deliberately became more inclusive in their coverage to reflect the diversity of their communities served.  The panel members from the CBC their audience grew. Not just numbers, but also in diversity.

I strongly recommend this piece. There are many more ideas that can be drawn on to build a stronger Public Broadcasting system.


Steve Coll, a former managing editor of The Washington Post and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is president of the New America Foundation.

Bi-Partisan Panel Says New Jersey Can No Longer Afford NJN

An article published by newjerseynewsroom.com says New Jersey's bipartisan panel is recommending that the state can no longer afford NJN. They recommend that a private buyer be found and New Jersey get out of the public media business.
Read more about it here: http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/bi-partisan-panel-finds-state-government-can-no-longer-afford-operating-njn-tv-and-radio#

KCET drops PBS

KCET drops PBS, risks viewer loyalty to avoid $6.8M yearly dues

It's a risky decision indeed.

One of the questions we faced on a regular basis at Connecticut Public Radio was the high cost of National Programming. Was the programming really worth it? Could we cut our losses if we just cut a few of the really expensive programs like Car Talk or A Prairie Home Companion. It was even suggested briefly that Morning Edition was too costly. Couldn't we just cancel these programs to reduce our expenses? Surely there must be something almost as good that costs a lot less? If we do that can't we put some of the savings into local efforts?

Fortunately, we took a careful look at how our audience was using the station. I even wrote an article about it for Audience 98, Public Service Economics.

We used listener hours to determine how the audience was using our programming. We then compared revenue per listener hour against cost per listener hour to determine our return on investment. The three programs mentioned above generated a large portion of Connecticut Public Radio's listener hours. The costs per listener hour were more than offset by the way our listeners used the station.

For the sake of argument, suppose we took A Prairie Home Companion and Car Talk off the air to save $32,000 in 1998. Because those programs were carried by two other public radio stations, we would have lost most of those listener hours and the revenue they represented.  In 1998 Car Talk represented about $68,000 in listener sensitive income. A Prairie Home Companion represented about $110,000 in listener sensitive income. Listener Sensitive Income is a combination of the revenue from listeners, local underwriters and local foundations. The combined return on investment was $106,000.

These numbers are a lot smaller than the $6.8 million in dues paid by KCET. The number of viewer hours represented by KCET audience is a lot larger than the 56 million listener hours generated by WNPR.  KCET has probably put a lot of thought into their decision, but they are likely to lose several million viewer hours to the other PBS stations that serve the LA Basin. The drop in viewer hours will represent a drop in viewer sensitive income. The question is, did the viewer sensitive income offset the cost of the PBS programming?
Will the new local focus generate enough viewer interest to offset those costs?