Rural Programming Initiative
Final Report, Allegheny Mountain Radio

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You set some programming-related goals for your station when we began this project.
Please describe which ones you have accomplished; which ones you are still working on and where you are in that process; which ones you have abandoned and why you abandoned them.

1. Main goal was to improve 6 AM to 6 PM programming, resulting in more overall listening, and to decrease drop-off at transition points in programming.

Strategy was to make programming more consistent and eliminate the "patchwork" pattern of programming; particularly in the morning.

One big obstacle was to move the gospel hour forward one hour, from 9 AM to 10 AM. The program had been in this time slot for nearly 20 years and was very popular with older, long-time, loyal listeners.
The gospel hour was moved to 10 AM, and drive-time was extended one hour.

After drive-time morning programming was very inconsistent, both horizontally & vertically. Changes were made, programs were eliminated and created, and now the morning 6-noon format is consistent M-F.

Another strategy was to improve the Noon Hour Magazine format to try to build more audience. We are still working on the noon hour magazine program. We have experimented with features on local schools, libraries, senior groups, etc. We have added a recipe "Let's Dish" segment. Our news director left to accept another position, which caused us to temporarily postpone this project. We plan to tackle it again in the near future.

2. Has there been a financial impact-either directly or indirectly-as a result of your participation in this project? (For example, has membership increased or decreased; have you used the research to get new underwriters or raise your rates; have you used the research in seeking and getting grants). Please tell us the percentage increase or decrease in financial support since the summer of 2001 that can be tied to programming and/or the use of the research.

We have had in increase in donations from membership and also an increase in underwriting sales during the past two years. We included results of the research in our underwriting packet that was sent to businesses. We do not have enough information to determine whether the project has had a direct financial impact.

3. Please summarize what you have learned about programming and listening at your station as a result of your participation in this project.

The project caused us to objectively and analytically review and study our program schedule. That was probably the most positive outcome from our participation. Many of the programs were there just because they had been for many years, and without the project I'm not sure that we would have or when we would have opened our ears.

4. Can you generalize from anything you have learned about programming and listening at your station that would be useful for other rural public radio stations?

Managers need to listen to their stations more…from a listener viewpoint vs a management viewpoint.