Rural Programming Initiative
Summary #2, KCHO

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September 30, 2002

As indicated in our first report, we have set aside the initial July 2001 A&A Research survey. While the February 2002 survey utilized our revised
selection of phone prefixes (there-by weighting the sample more correctly toward our cities of license) this becomes, in effect, our initial benchmark
for tracking purposes. What's more, our switch to CLASSICAL 24 to attempt to reach a younger classical music audience-the main goal we outlined in the cohort meeting-occurred the week before the second survey data was gathered. Therefore, we will require another survey before we can begin to assess our programming effectiveness in reaching that goal. However, we can report some qualified success based on a comparison of Spring 2001 and Spring 2002 Arbitron data. Although our 2002 "book" was not as good overall as the previous year's, we analyzed the age demographics for our classical dayparts. We looked at the percentage of listeners 35-44 within the larger range of listeners 35-54 and compared 2001 to 2002. We found that the younger segment was a significantly higher percentage in 2002. 62% of our 35-54 listeners were in the 35-44 range in 2002, in comparison to 25% in 2001. We are looking forward to the next A&A Research data to see if this finding is supported.

We are also thinking about the level of public service we are providing overall. One significant finding in the 2002 A&A survey supports what we
have learned from Arbitron. The majority of our listeners come to us for our news programming rather than for music. While it has been part of our
mission for nearly 20 years to support and encourage the appreciation of classical music, we are sensitive to the increasing demand from our
listeners for more news and information programming. For many years classical music stations and networks have tried to develop playlists of
music that appeal to NPR News listeners. Our theory was that MORNING EDITION listeners will stay with our classical music at 9 o'clock if we
offer the right selection of music. However, in the most recent Public Radio Program Directors (PRPD) Core Values study, "Core Values of Classical
Music Radio", presented at this year's PRPD conference, the findings make it clear that this is not happening for us or anywhere else. Rather than one type of listener who moves from news to classical music back to news, there are two types, each choosing news or classical music for virtually opposite needs. According to the executive summary of the PRPD report, "Most of our respondents use classical music to escape from the problems of the world. Accordingly, they mostly avoid the NPR newsmagazines. While NPR news in depth attracts societally conscious listeners, it drives away most classical music listeners." This realization will resonate for us as we continue to monitor and assess the effectiveness of our overall program schedule in serving our listeners.