Rural Programming Initiative
Summary #1, KVNF

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What did you learn about listening to your station and your Listeners from the first round of research?
KVNF's first survey had some problems, due to mistakes we made submitting our survey area phone exchanges, and technical problems with the translator that covers our largest potential audience population. (Grand Junction, CO) As a result, part of our coverage area wasn't surveyed, and the area with the bulk of survey results (due to population) was an area where our signal was difficult to receive.

That being said, we still see useful information from the first survey. Our listener loyalty is fairly high, with 66% listening more than once per week. Our core audience, however, looks low, at 16%. The next survey, (with corrections in place for the above-mentioned problems) will tell us how valid that number is.

Based on the research and other information you have, what are your programming strengths and weaknesses?
We feel that our basic programming structure works pretty well, and doesn't need drastic modification. Our overall strength is our volunteers, and the variety that they bring to our local music programming. Our weakness is probably inconsistency of execution... some volunteers are better than others in the area of technical skills & training. This is definitely an area we plan to address. Our other weak spot is a 1-hour strip of public affairs/informational programming at noon. Our listenership appears to drop during that time, and we're looking at options to move those programs adjacent to other news/information times.

What is the process you are using to decide on programming changes?
We don't have a set procedure in place. Currently, decisions are made by the staff after discussing the various options and ramifications. Our information-gathering needs improvement. We're looking at ways to involve our Community Advisory Board as a source for listener feedback.

What program changes have you made?
The only changes we've made since the initial survey were to drop PRI programs: This American Life, A Prairie Home Companion, and World Cafe. This was done for financial reasons, rather than audience reasons. Unfortunately, as popular as those programs are, we were over-extended in our budget for program acquisition. Saturday afternoon (APHC) is now a country music program, and Sunday afternoon (TAL) will become a locally-produced spoken-word/storytelling slot. World Cafe was being aired weeknights at midnight, and we've now expanded our overnight jazz programming (satellite) to cover those hours.

What have you learned about these changes so far?
Our audience likes having a country music show back in the schedule. It had been missing for about two years. Both APHC & TAL are available on another public radio service (from Denver) in most of our broadcast area, so listeners can still find those programs. Since we haven't made a lot of changes yet, we don't have much to report.