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!

I Listen to Pledge

Maybe I should Stop

I admit it. I'm an armchair program director. Others who have held that position in the past admit to the same malaise. I listen and I can't help myself. Maybe it is because it seems like content directors (PD's) in the public radio system seem to want to keep learning the same lessons we (the old timers) did long ago.  There I was listening and analyzing the pitching and the content.

Three Minutes...Three Mistakes

Pledge has been raging on for over a week. Maybe I'm just cranky. Today I listened to the talent acknowledge a pledge from a regular guest on the show that was being pledged. She said the gauntlet was down for other guest talent of this show's regular segment to pledge. What's wrong with that? She just let the other 12,000 listeners off the hook. She pitched exclusively to a half-dozen people. Since radio is a companion...personal...the best pitch appeals to the individual, not to groups or to insiders.

Then I heard the other talent talk about what a commitment the station was making with three local productions daily. The station invests heavily in local production. That was it. Is the pitch self-evident? No! She needed to answer why. Why is it important to be local? What is the benefit to the listener? How is the station better serving the audience with local productions? I never found out. It is important to understand that local for the sake of being local is not important to the listener. It is the quality of the content and whether or not that content meets the listener's expectations.

Wasted Promotions

After the pledge break, the station promoted a one hour program airing on Sunday night. It was Monday afternoon. I can't for the life of me remember what was being promoted, but that is the point. The most effective promotional strategy is forward promotion/vertical promotion/horizontal promotion.  Forward promotion is for content coming up in the next 20 minutes. It encourages time spent listening. It should be been placed just before the break. Vertical promotion is something that is focused on content coming up later in the day. This was in midday so, perhaps, a promotion for All Things Considered would have been best. Horizontal promotion is for programming content in the same day-part in the next day. Vertical and horizontal promotions create more occasions. At the very least, promotions are most effective if they inform the listeners of something happening on the air within the next 24 to 36 hours.  The promotion aired by the station used a diagonal strategy...and this is considered the least effective of all the promotional strategies. This particular station does this a lot.

It's Radio - Not Rocket Science

I feel fortunate. I learned these strategies by listening to those already in the system. I participated with others in what it takes to gain and maintain and audience through PRPD ARA (Audience Resource Analysis), Walrus Research, RRC, Station Resource Group, and other people and organizations.  The information is out there. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Ask.

To Paraphrase, Old PD's never die, they keep looking for opportunities to increase occasions and duration. Even during pledge.

It's basic radio - Think Audience

Super Moon/Blood Moon

What's So Super?

There's no cape. It doesn't really have any super powers, but it is a really rare occasion when a Super Moon meets a full eclipse. We haven't had one since 1982. We've got one this Sunday night! There won't be another for over 15 years.

Not the Apocalypse

Some observers are viewing the date with fear -- calling the eclipse a "blood moon." According to some Christians fixated on end times, this eclipse is the final in a series of four at the end of  the Lunar Tetrad.

 For astronomers and stargazers, the event is to be welcomed with celebration. It should be quite a sight.

Celebrating the Moon

We celebrate the moon in art, fiction and music.  I started pondering music and the moon earlier today after hearing numerous reports about the celestial event Sunday night. Here's what I came up with...

If you believe this is the end...what about Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival ? One of the garage bands I played with performed this.

The Beatles recorded Mister Moonlight. Mister Moonlight is a cover of the tune written by Roy Lee Johnson, and like a lot of tunes about moonlight it's about finding romance. Here's the version by Dr. Feelgood.

I first heard Pink Moon in a Volkswagen commercial. The music made it seem like owning a VW convertible might be a lot of fun. Given the trouble they're having with falsified emissions data, VW might want to bring back Nick Drake's tune. I first heard Nick Drake at Ripon College. Walking through the union one afternoon, there he was playing his guitar and singing. It was a great way to spend 45 minutes between classes.

We used Steve Fobert's "Moon Man - I'm Waiting on You" for pledge. There's a line in a song about a real good contact high and a chorus, "call, fax, email. I'm waiting on you."

Moon Man Link

Van Morrison's Moondance is especially relevant with it's autumnal reference. We danced to Moondance at our October Wedding 28 years ago.

Cat Stevens called Moon Shadow the ultimate optimist song. Indeed!

A tangential connection is Werewolves of London. I used to hear this a lot at Hooligan's on Milwaukee's East Side. Bar patrons would sing along with the howling part of the song. I used to go there after studying to have a Guinness and a cigar while taking in the atmosphere of Hooligan's. If it is the Apocalypse...a Guinness and a good cigar might be a good way to greet the end.

Put these tunes together and a few others and you have a lunar music special on any AAA station. Listening to the music may be an alternative to witnessing the event. It is supposed to be mostly cloudy Sunday night.

All of these songs have a personal connection, but that's what makes music so important.

Podcast Fans - Lovers of Audio

But the headline said...

The headline posted on Inside Radio made me pause. Were people who love podcasts really listening to podcasts six hours a day?  After I read the article I was reassured because if this was true, there would be no future for public radio.

Podcast Fans Love Audio—Six Hours Daily

What the data from Edison Research’s quarterly “Share of Ear” report shows is that podcast lovers listen to a lot of audio. Edison uses a broad definition of audio including radio, satellite, streaming, music videos on YouTube and a consumer’s personal music. 

These are younger, well educated listeners using mobile devices. They spend most of their time listening to podcasts...about  33%. Radio is second with 20% of their time.  They spend over six hours a week listening to audio. The average American spends about fours a week.

Sound Familiar?

Public Radio's audience also consumes a lot of audio. The benchmark in the early 2000's was over six hours a week. The core audience at a station with strong audience appeal was around 12 hours a week.

Other findings, reported by Inside Radio on Friday, include: The shorter the podcast, the more likely listeners will listen to the full podcast. Half of all podcast time spent occurs on mobile devices, followed by computers. And middays and nights are podcasting “primetime.”

What's In It For Public Radio?

A reality check. According tot he research, 5% of all Americans are into podcasts. 95% are not!

 Most of Public Radio's resources need to be centered on drivetime. The content that continues to appeal in drivetime is the news and information public radio produces.  Drivetime is still radio's most important day part. Drivetime should continue to appeal to public radio's biggest audience.

The podcast crowd listens to public radio. We need to make sure we're on the platforms used by this audience. Podcasting is the best way for our content to reach these highly educated consumers of audio. Podcast lovers choose middays and nights to listen to content on their favorite platform. The top ten chart published by iTunes testifies to the appeal of public radio's content to this market segment.

• 1Hidden Brain
• 2This American Life
• 3TED Radio Hour
• 4Serial
• 5Radiolab
• 6Stuff You Should Know
• 7Undisclosed: The State Vs. Adnan Syed
• 8Fresh Air
• 9Guys We F****d
• 10Freakonomics Radio

Is it a question of resources? Local stations need to look at partnerships that will get them into the podcasting game.

Classical Music Moving in Houston

KUHA 91.7 FM Moving To HD Radio

Houston Public Media (HPM) announced that classical programming is moving to HD2. The announcement says the programming will be moving from KUHA 91.7 to 88.7 HD 2. Classical Music will also be available at HPM's website, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and TV 8.5...a digital TV channel.

Digging Further

All Access and Houston Public Media is reporting that KUHA is for sale. Houston Public Media bought KUHA from Rice University in 2010 for over $9 million. Economic trouble became evident when HPM laid off eight full time staff at the station in 2013. The move cuts expenses further and will unload some debt for HPM.

American Public Media recently cut its losses by selling off the three stations that made up Classical South Florida. In these instances, classical music was unable to sustain itself. The debt load was to heavy to be carried through voluntary support.

Classical music is losing ground. In both cases the music will be available digitally, but free over the air broadcasts are going away. The move to HD 2 and TV 8.5 in Houston is free. They will be hard to find. HD Radio has not reached deep market penetration. Finding HDTV 8.5 is viable for at home listening...not in the car.

Sesame Street - We've Strayed A Long Way

New episodes of Sesame Street will be aired on HBO first. 

I guess it's good news for the Sesame Street Workshop. They're getting an infusion of revenue to double the new episodes per season. The new episodes will eventually air on Public Television.

The Workshop has been running deficits for a while. It seems voluntary public support wasn't enough to sustain the program.

After the five year deal, will public television still be in the loop? Will HBO still fund Sesame Street or cut it loose?

After reading the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967...it seems we've strayed a long way. Are we headed in the direction of those who can pay will have access to quality programming? What about the rest of us? Has the marketplace decided educational programming for our young only goes to those 'who can afford it?

The Congress hereby finds and declares that —

1. it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes;
2. it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of nonbroadcast telecommunications technologies for the delivery of public telecommunications services;
3. expansion and development of public telecommunications and of diversity of its programming depend on freedom, imagination, and initiative on both local and national levels;
4. the encouragement and support of public telecommunications, while matters of importance for private and local development, are also of appropriate and important concern to the Federal Government;
5. it furthers the general welfare to encourage public telecommunications services which will be responsive to the interests of people both in particular localities and throughout the United States, which will constitute an expression of diversity and excellence, and which will constitute a source of alternative telecommunications services for all the citizens of the Nation;
6. it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities;
7. it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal Government to complement, assist, and support a national policy that will most effectively make public telecommunications services available to all citizens of the United States;
8. public television and radio stations and public telecommunications services constitute valuable local community resources for utilizing electronic media to address national concerns and solve local problems through community programs and outreach programs;
9. it is in the public interest for the Federal Government to ensure that all citizens of the United States have access to public telecommunications services through all appropriate available telecommunications distribution technologies; and
10. a private corporation should be created to facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.

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.