Show Prep / Topical Connections

In the PPM world it has become more important than ever to use the basics of AQH maintenance. We share with so many more stations than was assumed in the old diary method. Besides, there's a lot of competition for our listeners.

The idea is to keep the listeners listening and to increase occasions. Not only does it help ratings, it helps develop listener loyalty. A loyal audience is more likely to voluntarily contribute.

I'm consciously looking for those promotable moments. I work at a music station in Boston that specializes in Americana and all the elements that feed into that format. I'm always on the lookout for things that might entice the listeners to stick around or tune back in. There are two items that stood out for today's airshift.

A couple of days ago The Atlantic published an article about Ray LaMontagne. LaMontagne's album, "God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise was in our Top Ten Albums of 2010. His 2004 release, "Trouble" is featured in an ad for The Travelers." Plus, he now lives in Western Massachusetts. I'll be connecting to the article and fashioning a tease to increase TSL.

I'm also on the mailing list for the World Cafe produced by WXPN. The Wold Cafe will feature Amos Lee today. Amos Lee has a new CD Mission Bell. I'll offer the same treatment with a couple of teases to promote TSL and use vertical promotion for our broadcast of World Cafe which airs on WUMB weeknights at 10pm.

Nothing is forced in either case. I'm working with music already scheduled on our play-list. Both artists are well within our format. Both artists are a draw for our audience. My topical connections will be short and to the point, but still give enough information to draw the listener in. It would be impossible to for me to do this without some advance preparation.

Firing Someone? Take a Deep Breath First

Social Media gets the news around fast. The news being spread can often be distorted.  In the case of Shirley Sherrod and Juan Williams decisions were made hastily. Those with an agenda pounced quickly, fanning the flames to promote their own agenda.

An article by Linda Bond Edwards suggests a better way to handle this type of situation.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20101212/BUSINESS/12120328/Take-time-to-make-good-employment-decisions

Linda Bond Edwards is a partner in the Tallahassee office of Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell. Her practice is devoted to labor and employment law, mediation and arbitration.

WBUR’s new ad campaign is a rarity for public radio - The Boston Globe

WBUR’s new ad campaign is a rarity for public radio - The Boston Globe

The competition for public radio's news audience continues in Boston. WBUR has a new billboard campaign. WGBH has the ability to cross promote with it's other radio stations and it's public TV station. So, how is it going? "Last month, WBUR drew a weekly audience of 455,400 listeners to its daytime programming, while WGBH attracted 258,900 listeners."


Billboard campaigns for public radio in the past have had mixed results. Certainly, they increase awareness. In my experience, there has been little evidence of audience growth as a result of the campaigns I've been involved with.

Check out the article by Johhny Diaz in the Boston Globe from December 11, 2010.

Tavis Smiley-KCET Relationship Strained

Tavis Smiley-KCET relationship ending badly - KansasCity.com

Tavis Smiley was the only PBS show being produced at KCET in LA. In January KCET drops all PBS programming. Is dropping Smiley from the line-up at KCET an unintended consequence of management's decision to split from PBS? Maybe not, according to an article in the LA Times by Scott Collins.

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.

Support for Public Radio Growing

It has been a Fall filled with uncertainty for Public Radio. The sluggish economy along with the turmoil surrounding the firing of Juan Williams has resulted in unease within Public Radio. Despite these issues, the news is good from several stations. Public support continues to rise. Here are some recent stories and releases about membership campaigns around the country.

Capital Public Radio, Sacramento's NPR affiliate, wrapped up the most successful fund drive in the station's history last week, according to president and general manager Rick Eytcheson.

The station did not release final pledge figures, but Eytcheson said, "It'll be our first time over $500,000." (Modesto Bee)

Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2010/10/25/1397723/capital-public-radio-has-successful.html#ixzz13T9eeYdm




HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii Public Radio met its $808,000 fall fundraising goal and ended its 10-day pledge drive Friday afternoon to return to regular programming.  Read More:  http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=13375120




WHQR 91.3, the local public radio station, raised $155,000 during its fall pledge drive, exceeding the goal of $125,000. In addition, it took only seven days to get there instead of the usual 11 that has been the standard for spring and fall pledge drives in recent years. (Star News Online)


In enthusiastic WAMC fashion, the on-air fund drive began at 6 a.m. on Monday, October 4, 2010 and ended in six days and a morning with 6,912 pledges. Dedicated WAMC members and listeners locally and nationally called and pledged on-line all day and into the night and manned phones to help make this happen. Says Alan himself, "Because of the wonderful and generous WAMC audience, we made it with time to spare. "We are immensely grateful to everyone who helped.  by WAMC/Northeast Public Radio

PULLMAN - Northwest Public Radio’s sixth one-day campaign on Oct. 21, “Super Thursday,” attracted more than 2,600 online and telephone pledges and raised more than $295,000. 

NWPR is a community service of The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, and listener support is its single largest source of revenue.

A healthy membership base is vital for NWPR to continue as an essential news and information source, said dean Lawrence Pintak.

“Our citizenry is hungry for the in-depth, unbiased and quality news reports heard every day on Northwest Public Radio,” he said. “This service is truly essential and will only become more so as we continue to build our regional news program.”  WSU Today

WDUQ-FM (90.5) raised more than $354,000 in its annual fall fundraising drive that ended Saturday at noon.
Of the total raised, more than $75,000 came in the final 24 hours of the drive, and more than $20,000 was donated during jazz programming on Friday. Mark Bertolet, director of marketing and communications for the jazz and NPR station, said the fundraising effort indicated there was support in this area for the station's programming. By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10297/1097656-455.stm#ixzz13TFwgWC8

Public Radio Pledge Humor and Alec Baldwin

Public Radio Pledge Drives. Funny?
They're more like a the movie Ground Hog Day...or a root canal that never ends. (Root canals actually do end, it just seems like they go on forever.) Listeners perceive fundraising to be painful. PPM data demonstrates about half of the audience tunes away during the drive. This can make raising money on-air difficult.

Occasionally, there is something funny during a drive. The latest group of spots creating buzz for the system is a set of five featuring Alec Baldwin.  (KPLU has posted the spots on their website). Baldwin first made fun of public radio on Saturday Night Live. Many of my collegues were afraid the humor was dragging down the image of public radio. The bit made me laugh. We even had a show on our air that was a little like the food show being parodied.

The effectiveness of humor during pledge (if done right) should not be a surprise. Think about some of the spots created by Tom and Ray - Wait, Wait - Garrison Keillor - This American Life.

The Listener Focussed Fundraising Project that came out of Audience 98 examined various modes that appealed to listeners and didn't appeal to listeners during a drive.

Six Modes of Fundraising Messages Identified by Listener Focused Fundraising
Project. The modes line up (from those perceived by listeners as most likely "tune-outs" to most likely "stay tuned") as:

Frantic: More sound than message. It's noisy (ringing phones, loud or
busy music beds under pitches, etc), urgent, and nervous. We think it is
high energy, the listeners do not. Very unlike the usual sound of the station.
Listeners perceive this mode as highly negative.

Blame & Pleading: Characterized more by sound than message. It
includes threats, whining, "poor mouthing," guilt, self-victimization, and
weakness (such as a stated lack of control over financial circumstances that
require asking listeners for money). Very negative.

Give & Get: Sound and message. It's the sounds of selling, similar to a TV
infomercial, with the message "give to get stuff." Usually the "getter" is the
listener (sweepstakes, drawings, premiums) but it can also be the station
(challenge grant matches). Mostly negative to lightly neutral.

Funding Facts: Sound and message. "How to give" and "Why we need the
money" messages, always characterized by a calm, rational, respectful
tone. Informative, honest, professional, succinct. Neutral to positive.

Personal Importance Personified: Sound and message. Resonates with
our listeners' values, beliefs and interests, always characterized by a calm,
rational, respectful tone. Centers on appeals about the heart of our public
service, programming. Very positive.

Lighten Up, Public Radio: Sound and message. An intelligent humor
mode about taking our fundraising less seriously. Not always involving
public radio celebrities, but when they pitch it's in character - in the roles
they play on the air. (Tom and Ray Magliozzi are the quintessence of this
mode). Highly positive.

People in the system always seem surprised when well-crafted humor works. Obviously, you cannot use humor all the time. The limited number of well-crafted spots will burn out rapidly. But spots, like the five produced at WNYC featuring Alec Baldwin, can help lighten up the drive.  Obviously, you cannot use humor all the time. The limited number of well-crafted spots will burn out rapidly. Humor might not always be appropriate, especially when coming out of heavier news items featured during public radio's news programming.

Now that I've been on the outside for a while I find myself thinking, "Please, stop being so earnest all the time."  Actually the words I use are more blunt than that, but I want to hired again someday.