Rural Programming Initiative
Summary #1, KMUN

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What did you learn about listening to your station and your Listeners from the first round of research?
The first round of research confirmed some of what I had learned from earlier informal surveys of our members. It was not a surprise that our listenership is strongest in the 35-54 age group and that a higher percentage of women were listeners. I was very pleased that our TSL was so high- 158 minutes a day, 18 hrs and 26 minutes per week. Of course I wasn't so happy that 41% of our regular listeners turn to another station more often than KMUN.

There were some big surprises in when people were listening. Our classical morning block from 6-9a.m. has over the years been a big money maker during pledge drives and is strongly supported by people who like to write letters to the station. However on this survey, it was our folk slot from 9am to noon that pulled in the highest numbers. In the last couple of years, our folk shows have received more phone calls, (although making less money) than the classical show during pledge drives. This encouraged me that it was time at last to add Morning Edition to a 'real' time slot in our morning line-up. Some of our audience is listening to our competition (which airs news) in the morning and then turns KMUN on at 9am when Rush Limbaugh starts. Classical music has support, but I think that reducing the show to 2 hours (from 3) and expanding Morning Edition will be a better service to our community.

Another interesting figure from the survey concerned our 4-6pm slot. Our overall listening goes down during this high-volume radio listening time. However it is when the highest percentage of 18-34 year olds is listening. I hope that adding Morning Edition will increase our 18-34 listenership in the mornings.

Based on the research and other information you have, what are your programming strengths and weaknesses?
I think that our programming strength is music shows and the variety of music we play. Clearly our audience is tuning in for music of all kinds. Our afternoons from 1-4 feature a different music style every day of the week, yet the audience numbers are high.

Our weakness is our lack of local news. This is a priority for us this year. I would also like to increase our local public affairs. I think that we would gain listeners, especially in the 6-9am slot, if we featured local and national news during that time.

What is the process you are using to decide on programming changes?
I have spent a number of hours with KMUN's programming committee discussing making change. KMUN has kept pretty much the same schedule since it went on the air in 1983, so it is especially difficult to bring "shareholders" who love the station as it is, to come around to some new ideas. The materials on the "Change Cycle" and "Managing Programming Change" were helpful to me as I attempted to bring folks along past the fear, resentment and discomfort stages to the positive, encouraged, beneficial stages. I have been using my own sense of what works in radio and what I've learned from the information gathered from our listeners to put together a schedule that will be more accessible and listener-friendly.

We had been ready to make some changes to our weekend schedule--moving Car Talk next to Weekend Edition on Saturday morning, moving Scandinavian and Celtic music to early Sunday afternoons and creating a stronger music block on Saturday afternoon and evening. After a programmer went on the air to complain about her program being moved, there was a "battle" about children's programming. It got pretty ugly and draining. I decided on a 'compromise' - still moving the show but not as late in the day, but by the time the dust semi-settled, a new manager was hired and we were asked to delay changes until she came on board. It is my hope that as we make our weekend changes and add Morning Edition to weekday mornings, that we will not face a loss of members who are classical fans. I think in fact, that we will gain membership. We plan to implement these changes on May 1st.

What program changes have you made?
The only changes we have made are the following - moving our Hispanic programming to Thursday nights from 8:30 to 10:30 and putting a folk/country/blues mix in its place on Saturday from 1-3pm. We also dropped Rewind on Monday mornings and replaced it with the Radio High Country News.

I'm anxious to get underway with Morning Edition and our new weekend line-ups. Till then, good luck everyone.

P.S. When I let listeners know in our newsletter that program change was in the works, I made the mistake of printing out a proposed schedule. This was picked apart- "Don't move this". I think it would be better to explain what we're doing in more general terms, make the changes and then field the response.