Giving Up on Millennials

It's Not An Option

Applebees announced they are giving up on Millennials. Their decision has implications for Public Media.

Applebee's Gives Up On Millennials After Failed Rebranding Efforts

They declared their attempt to rebrand themselves a failure. Business has been down and the restaurant chain was hoping to draw new customers from the largest generation right now...the millennials. 

Applebees' executive, John Cywinski, told NPR, "From my perspective, this pursuit led to decisions that created confusion among core guests as Applebee's intentionally drifted from its ... middle-America roots and its abundant value positioning." 

One of the things I was taught is that rebranding can lead to the situation described by John Cywinski. It is fraught with danger. Remember the New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, Mustang II, and when Radio Shack became The Shack?

Chains like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, Chili's and Friday's are seeing business fall off. Anna Lucia Murillo's feature for All Things Considered points to research by Technomic that finds all these people are offering the same food items, the decors are the same, and also that prices have become very high in these places." Customers are drifting away.

There might be two solutions. 

First, don't assume Millennials are one giant marketing block. There are cohorts within that generation just like all the generations before it. Early research about the public radio audience suggested an affinity with Country Music fans when, in fact, there was very little crossover.

Second, to reach this generation might require taking on a whole new identity and platform. Creating a new platform allows the original concept to focus on strengthening it's hold on the core market (in the case of radio on the core audience) while creating a new identity and purpose for the new target audience.

It's Not There!!!

A Listener's Rant

I went to tune-in to  my local public radio station to listen to a daily news and interview program, but it wasn't there. Because I wasn't able to tune in at the start of the hour...there seemed to be no explanation as to what happened. Not tuning in at the beginning or end of an hour is pretty typical of listeners.

So...I'm left to wonder.

When to comes listener loyalty...that's a bad idea. Loyalty is based on habitual listening habits. When a listener wants Morning Edition, it should be there. When a listener wants to find All Things Considered...it should be where it always is. The same goes for local programming.

Consistency

Consistency leads to listener loyalty. Loyalty is important when it comes to AQH and Share...and membership dollars. Keep messing with the listener and your giving him or her an opportunity to tune away.

The special in it's place was pretty good, but I didn't hear any promos for the program. They're easy to miss. To reach half the audience in a week...optimum effective scheduling is needed. That could be as many as 64 spots in a week. If the special is important enough to bump regular programming, perhaps effective promotion might be in order. At the very least, producers could have created announcements for the breaks with horizontal promotion to the next "Where We Live," or a reassurance that the program would be back.

A daily program that has built an audience should be there well...daily. The best way to build audience and loyalty is by consistently meeting the listener's expectations. It might take a little extra work, but the rewards are worth the effort.

Okay...I'm done.

Think Audience

NPR's Older Appeal

Recent research released by NPR suggest they have two audiences. There is the stalwart over 54 crowd...loyal to the programming. Then there's the less loyal under 54 crowd more enamored with social media. According to an article in Current,

"The gap between older and younger listeners of NPR stations is widening. Stations are losing listeners 12–44 years of age. NPR projects that by 2020, its stations’ audience of 44-year-olds and younger will be around 30 percent, half that demographic’s audience share in 1985." 

The 44 year old audience in 1985 would be 64 now which explains, in part, the bulge in the NPR audience among the boomers. The research seems to suggest the younger audience is spending a lot less time with public radio. Does anybody really think we can change the way they use media? I hope not.

Where are they?

Probably on their mobile devices. If they're like my millennial sons, they're connected to three devices at once. They are toggling their brains between content. It's whatever catches their attention for the moment and then they move on. Time spent listening is divided. attention spans are short. They are not interested in gathering news in the way our traditional audience does. They think it's boring! As the article in Current points out, the frustration is, this kind of listening (and watching) can't be reliably measured yet.

Because this group listens less to radio doesn't mean we stop making great radio. As Jeff Hanson said in the Current article, “The radio audience is still funding most of what we do.”  And the audience is still much larger than any single podcast or groups of podcasts.

Since most of our funding still comes from the much larger radio audience, the most effective way to fund new initiatives, digital or radio, is through the practice of great radio. If, as the article suggests, Public Radio is under performing in its medium, we need to examine what we're doing, and correct it fast.

Eric Nuzum challenged public radio's program directors to think audience not formats.

It depends on the platform. Radio is all about consistency of appeal and programs that have a high affinity. Digital media? It all depends on what the individual is looking for. The individual is formatting their own listening and viewing preferences. The sweet spot for public radio lies in ability to offer content that appeals to the younger cohort on the platforms they prefer.
I'm probably one of those old-timers Eric Nuzum talked about at the PRPD conference. We were cohorts when we both served on the board of the Public Radio Program Directors Association, He might have rolled his eyes every time I started talking about programming at conferences. I worked with some of the first generation of public radio researchers. I learned from people like Bailey, Church and Giovannoni. I was able to apply findings from Audience 88 and participated in Audience 98. To those producers and programmers who think public radio is all about doing anything they want and find reinforcement in their decisions based on phone response I was part of the unwashed...the philistines. We were about content and programs that are put together in a cohesive manner to be appealing to a targeted audience.

And yet, we grew a loyal audience and a large membership base. Support from corporations and foundations followed. With success came more talented people providing more content our listeners cared about.

What If Nobody Listens?

My motivations came from some early failures. I worked in public radio for over 30 years (this is where you start rolling your eyes). Early on I had dreams about, "What if nobody is listening" which is kind of like my other dream, "What if nobody pledges."  During my career there were instances where nobody listened, and there were instances where nobody pledged. If nobody is listening and nobody pledges...there's usually a reason. If you do not have a handle on your audience preferences you will have no clue as to what is working and what is not.

Everything Matters

Ask yourself this, "How can your content be a community service is nobody is listening?" Who exactly are you serving? It is best to take a look at the effectiveness of your entire schedule by taking a step back. In your research data look at the entire day and look at longer periods of time. Audience averages that reflects listening over six months or a year. That way you'll be able to limit statistical bounce.

The View From 30,000 Feet

I recently worked with a station that's struggling. In their research analysis they were focusing on growth in individual hours while overall their audience was slowly eroding. They failed to see the big picture of how their midday, evening and weekend programming fit with their program tents poles. There were broad expanses of programming with poor appeal to their core audience. There was no way Morning Edition or All Things Considered could overcome poor programming choices. Everything you do...all of your content matters from the listener's perspective.

Shiny Object Syndrome

At one of the stations I worked for, upper management decided it would be a good idea to program opera year 'round. Their decision was based on a successful European tour featuring several operas. The tour served about 25 major donors. After cost, we cleared a few thousand dollars. It was a classic case of Shiny Object Syndrome. The decision was based on making some quick bucks. The decision ignored the listening choices of the station's audience. Opera was already driving away audience by the boatload. Adding more opera only made it worse. Average audience numbers during that time slot dropped. Total loyalty crashed to below 10%. Core loyalty was almost non-existent.

It could be argued I was focused too narrowly on the hours dedicated to the opera. Surely, a few hours wouldn't matter. After 18 months time spent listening to the station dropped by about an hour. Among the core audience TSL dropped by almost two hours a week. Total core loyalty dropped about five points. Even more distressing, the number of core listeners was dropping. Changes to this situation were made only after being able to demonstrate the adverse effects an ill-advised programming decision was having on listener sensitive income. We were falling tens of thousand of dollars behind our membership goals. To be sure, there were other issues with our programming choices. Those were addressed at the same time.

Where to Start? 

I used to look at the loyalty charts provided by Audigraphics...first. They give a quick look at what is working and what is not throughout the week. Then figure out what can be fixed and what cannot. Listen to the station. Run airchecks.  Sit down with your talent to assess their performance. Understand that everybody needs an editor. Everybody needs to be on-board with the idea that this service is for the audience, not the content producers and providers. No matter the platform, the content has to have a strong appeal for the audience. Need more? Go back to Deb Blakeley's and Israel Smith's report "Thinking Audience." Become brilliant on the basics. The art of good radio and great content requires your attention.

I agree with Eric Nuzum. You have plenty of room to try things. It is likely there are programs...even program streams....within your schedule that are not resonating with your audience. Those resources can be better used elsewhere. As program director, the tools are there to fix the programming on your radio station. By doing that you can create opportunities to create content no matter the generational cohort or the platform.

There's plenty of experience in the system. Ask!

Think Audience!

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.

Eliminating Seams

Saying Goodbye Less Than Seamless

I was listening to the last minutes of Science Friday Today. At least I thought it was the last few minutes. Ira Flatow was saying goodbye. He was reading the credits. He told me to have a good weekend. The PRI button played. The show was over! Well, maybe not.

He told me to tune away.

So, I did. I got out of the car and did my errand. I got back in my car. I turned on the radio and there was the second half of Science Friday. I thought you were gone. You said goodbye. What gives?

I remember learning in my PD classes we were supposed to promote time spent listening by not creating barriers to listening. Telling listeners goodbye is a big sin. When you do this you're telling listeners to go away. You're creating seam. You're creating an excuse to tune out.

I would hope the network people would know about something as basic as the avoidance
of seams. Yet, I hear it all the time. The halfway point of Weekend Edition has a long goodbye. Garrison Keillor spends a good two minutes saying goodbye. They say goodbye every night on All Things Considered.

Why?

As a PD responsible for keeping listeners listening and engaged...you're doing your best to send them away. It is supposed to be about the listener. We're supposed to think audience. The audience tunes in and out all the time. They do not listen to programs from top to bottom. Instead of saying goodbye, how about an opportunity to forward promote?

Why is this important for public broadcasting? Building audience and promoting time spent listening creates loyalty which allows stations the opportunity to grow funding and build partnerships within the community. It's basic. It should be a part of best practices.

KGPR's Small Market Challenge

Community Support Coming Up Short

KGPR (Great Falls Public Radio) is in jeopardy of losing $97 thousand of its funding...all at once. KGPR does not generate enough non-federal support to qualify for CPB's Community Service Grant. According to CPB guidelines, Great Fall Public Radio should be generating $100,000 in community support. They're currently $30,000 short of that threshold.

A Numbers Crunch

Is the Great Falls Market large enough to support a Public Radio Station? According to Census data about 59 thousand people live there. If 10% of the population listened to the station, they would have a weekly cume of 6,000. Of that number maybe 20% would be part of the core audience, or 1200 listeners. KGPR reported to The Great Falls Tribune that they have 450 contributors. That means an estimated 38% of the core audience is contributing. Given the market size, there isn't much headroom. This is a numbers crunch many small market stations face.

ROI for NPR Programming

Great Falls Public Radio pays Montana Public Radio $34,000 to carry NPR and APM programming. I'm not sure of the arrangement between Great Falls and Montana Public Radio, but under an LMA agreement with NPR, Great Falls must carry Montana Public Radio's entire feed. My understanding of these agreements is that Great Falls would not be allowed to cutaway from the feed to carry their own announcements or to fundraise during the feed.  One solution might be to return a portion of the fundraising dollars to Great Falls Public Radio based on the zip codes of the contributors.   That might not alleviate the entire funding issue, but it would contribute to the solution by having contributors to Morning Edition, All Things Considered and A Prairie Home Companion in Great Falls go to support their station.

                                                                                                                        

Station management is holding a series of meetings to get input from listeners about what they should do. 40 showed up at the first meeting on Saturday.

Political Ad Ban For Pubcasters

U.S. ban on political ads on public TV struck down

I think this is a really bad idea. Among the values of the public broadcasting users...getting away from the commercial clutter.

The rulling seems to run counter to the intent of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

So what matters most? Is it the values that bring listeners and viewers and to public media or is it the potential advertising revenues when SUPERPACS start placing ads adjacent to All Things Considered and Frontline?

NPR Story about glogg brings back memories.

Get Into The Holiday Spirit With Scandinavian Glogg

Every Christmas Eve was a time for the family to gather. It was also a time to recapture our Swedish heritage.

As kids, my sister and I learned to say grace in Swedish. Of course we had no idea what we were saying at the time. And the pronunciation must have been more than slightly off the mark. It must have been hilarious for the true Swedes in our family to hear how we butchered the language. At least I hope they were laughing.

We would feast on Lutefisk, boiled potatoes with white sauce, rutabagas and, Swedish meatballs. The family was evenly divided between those who would eat the gelatinous fish and those who would not. I did not join the fish feasters until we started baking the fish. In the early days the dried fish was soaked in lye and then boiled.  The fish seemed to hold up much better after we started baking it. The sensation of gooey fish sliding down my throat was gone. If I put enough white sauce on it with some pepper, everything was fine.

We also had pickled herring, suelze, fruit soup, cheese, and krumkake. The only thing missing was glogg. It wasn't that that we didn't try. My father was in charge of the glogg. His attempts always came up short. I think he tried to improve the recipe before mastering it. I'm not even sure Dad followed a recipe. It was undrinkable. Maybe that was for the best since I was never sure of the chemical reactions created by the variety of ingredients.

It wasn't until a few years ago when a Norwegian neighbor brought over a bottle during or celebration that we discovered how it was supposed to actually taste. And now, because of this story on NPR's All Things Considered, the recipe is revealed. I'm sending it to my sister.

Thanks!

Changes at KLCC

A declining audience and declining in listener sensitive income lead to some big changes in Eugene.

Music is not gone but, there's a lot more NPR news and information before noon. All Things Considered starts at 3pm.  Schedule

FINE TUNING | The area’s largest public radio station makes some big changes

Haitian Radio Station Exemplifies Community Service

An FM radio station in Haiti was an informational lifeline for the people of Haiti in the hours and days after the quake there. NPR's John Burnett filed this story for All Things Considered about Signal FM 90.5.

KSTX Focus On Hunger

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

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