Rural Programming Initiative
Final Report, KMUN

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1. 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.

When KMUN began participating in the project the programming committee was looking at improving our Saturday line-up to increase listening. We also wanted to increase our local news and public affairs programming and do some work on our weekday mornings. We changed the Saturday programming first. Car Talk and Weekend Edition were put together instead of being separated by a local children's show. The Scandinavian Hour was moved to later in the day and we added a folk/blues/americana mix from 12-2. Our Saturday listenership has gone up from 6% to 21% between 9 and noon and from 12% to 26% from noon to 3.

At the beginning of 2003, KMUN moved its Morning Edition hour to 7am. The hour is now locally hosted with local news inserts. There has been a very mixed reaction to this change. For almost 20 years KMUN had broadcast a very popular Morning Classics show from 6-9 a.m. The insertion of an hour of news has made many listeners upset, while others are very pleased to hear Morning Edition and local news. We are still working on this change and might move Morning Edition to 8 a.m. and have a classical block from 5-8 a.m. or leave Morning Edition at 7 a.m. and move our classical block to 8-11 a.m. We plan to make one change or another at the beginning of January, 2004.

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.

Our development director has used the research quite a bit when talking to potential underwriters. Our underwriting revenue has gone up 30% since the beginning of the project.

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

Programming flow is very important in bringing listeners along throughout the day. Our music programming is very diverse, but attracts a strong listenership. We are not really known as being a news station. The addition of local news and moving Morning Edition to a drive-time hour has had a mixed reception. First of all, long time classical listeners (who as a whole, according to research I studied*) do not want news to interrupt their "peace and quiet", have been vocal and upset about the change. We have lost some of their memberships. However we have added listeners who appreciate the drive-time Morning Edition. There has been a small increase in listening in the survey from 6-9am. Since we added the Morning Edition in January of 2003, perhaps there has not been enough time to gauge the listeners "new" habits.

The one hour insertion of news in a music block is not considered wise programming, according to what I learned from the project. It is better to have at least a two hour block of news or music. The one hour was a compromise between the perceived desires of two different audiences- news and classical. In January of 2004 we will change to a 2 hour news block at either 6-8 am or 8-10 am.

* Core Values of Public Radio's Classical Music by Marcia Alvar, PRPD

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?

The most important thing is to serve the local community. We have added local public affairs and local news to our schedule in order to increase our relevance. Listeners have access to so many sources of information and entertainment, that it is critical to provide something unique that only a local source can provide. We are very big on community access and that is a big part of our appeal. I have confidence that we will remain important to this community and will continue to have its support.