Rural Programming Initiative
Final Report, KSER

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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.

The programming goal for KSER was to address the issue of a measurable drop in listenership on weekday afternoons. The A & A Survey suggested a significant fall-off in listenership at Noon that did not begin to reverse itself until about 3 p.m.

We also had the goal to strengthen and unify our daily program of music, The Sunlit Room, to increase its listenership and make it a stronger contributor to our membership efforts. We also talked about our Saturday morning schedule and the listenership weakness that it displayed when compared to the traditional value of the Saturday daypart.

We were very successful in addressing the issue of listenership drop-off in the afternoons. For several years we had aired the 38 minute BBC program Outlook at Noon. We dropped that program from our schedule about one year ago and, according to the July '03 listenership survey, our afternoon trough of listenership has been eased significantly.

Contributing to the overall improvement of our listenership to The Sunlit Room was a small, but needed, "tweaking" of the structure of the program. Although the program never had and still does not have a "format" in the classic meaning of radio programming, we did impose on it a structure that made listening to the program more predictable for the audience. For example, we now regularly schedule underwriting announcements for the station at the top of the hour and another "business-related" break is scheduled for the half hour. In addition, we have scheduled a pre-recorded promo for other shows and/or event at approximately 18 minutes after the hour and 12-minutes before the hour. This structure reduces the possibility of long stretches of air time consumed by music without station identification and requires the hosts come on the air to back-announce music with greater frequency. Moreover, the imposition of this structure on the program gives it a degree of predictability for the listener. He/she can, unconsciously develop a sense of the passage of time, based on listening to the radio.

We did not address the issue of Saturday's programming during this project. However, the information gathered and lessons learned during the project will be used when the time comes for Saturday to be made the focus of attention.

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.

Unfortunately, there has been no impact on our grant or underwriting fund-raising efforts. The information gathered in the listenership surveys is welcomed and much needed. It will be invaluable to the process of grant writing or the solicitation of underwriting. At this time, we have no one available to put the data to work.

I do believe the project and the resulting adjustments to the programming had a measureable impact on our most recent membership drive. One year ago, KSER's Fall '02 membership drive, a ten day event, earned the station just over $15,000. The just completed Fall '03 membership drive brought slightly over $21,000 to the station. While the improvement (approximately $6,000) might seem small, it must be seen in context. Prior to the start of this membership drive the host of a very popular Saturday afternoon program ended his show after 5 years. This one program, during which we always scheduled two consecutive Saturday pledge drives, was responsible for approximately $5,000 of the final membership numbers. This just completed membership drive, conducted over the same 10 day period, resulted in a $6,000 increase over a year ago and was accomplished without the usual money raised by the popular Saturday afternoon program. I believe this increase reflects the greater number of listeners as shown by the A & A Research data and that the increase in listeners is due, in part, to the changes made in the programming during 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.

This project taught me one lesson and reinforced a long-held belief about radio. The lesson I learned is that making changes at a community radio station is a very difficult task. Change at the station is met by resistance from those inside the radio station, both from those directly affected and those who empathize with the affected, and change is resisted by those who have become listeners and fans of the program. And every program will develop a fan base, regardless of content. But, change is necessary if stations like KSER are to survive. The project also helped reinforce a long held belief that radio listening is a habit and the best way a radio station can create the habit is to offer a good product and offer it consistently and reliably. Once the listener learns he/she can depend on a program, the host, and the content, they will return to that program and, eventually, become a member.

This project imparted two very important facts to me about KSER's programming and our listeners. According to the results of the survey, KSER listeners stop listening because of lifestyle changes, not because of programming changes and a great deal of KSER's listening is done in the car. We have an audience that is transient and dedicated. This information would not have been available without this project and we now have to find a way to use this data to our benefit.

3. 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?

A radio station, even a community radio station, cannot be all things to all people in the community. Choices have to be made about whom you are serving and how to best serve the community, within the parameters of the mission. No one is served if no one is listening. Although decisions about the value of a program cannot be determined solely on the amount of money it raises during membership drives, membership pledges can be one factor in evaluating a program. If a program has been on the air for a reasonable period of time, yet no one or very few people call during the membership drive to support it, it may be time to question the program or its broadcast time. Moving the program to a different time slot may result in higher listenership and greater service or replacing it with a different program may enhance the station's fulfillment of its mission. You have to get people into the tent, before you can convert them.

One important lesson I learned from this project is that you cannot make people listen to a program just because you think it's a good or important program. The example for us was our Outlook experience (see above). This program was almost universally hailed as a good, interesting, quality radio show. However, the listenership surveys taken with the program on the air and off the schedule demonstrate a real difference in the number of people choosing NOT to listen to this "good" program and, by extension, KSER.

My "take away" message from this project, one that might be passed along to other rural radio stations, is that finding the balance between what a community radio station "should be" and what it "must be" to survive is difficult. The desire to put programming on the radio that is "good" for the community is strong and laudable. The desire must be tempered by the understanding that the programming must also have an audience. If there is no audience, even the best programming is useless. I learned that you must strive to create a station format that offers the listeners what you believe the community needs in a package that acknowledges what the community wants and how they use radio.