Rural Programming Initiative
Summary #1, NCPR

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North Country Public Radio, based in Canton, NY, operates a network of repeater stations and translators serving Northern New York State, a vast area encompassing the Adirondack Mountains, the Tug Hill Plateau, and the St. Lawrence, Champlain and Black River valleys. This very rural region is characterized by low population scattered throughout the countryside, and in small hamlets and villages. Lacking a city or main population area, the region is an unmeasured radio market, with no useful data available to help us in evaluating our listenership and the impact of our programs and program schedule. As is the case in many rural areas, program decision making is based on staffer's vision, instincts and understanding of the communities served, and by conversations and chance encounters with listeners in the grocery, hardware store, or at the post office. Hungry for solid information about how the station was doing, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in the NFCB Rural Project.

Because our coverage area is so large, and because the demographics and character of the communities we serve vary so widely, we chose to focus on three distinct communities, rather than the region as a whole. We chose our home community of Canton, where we have been on the air the longest; Saranac Lake, our first Adirondack translator community, where we have been on the air for ten years and seem to enjoy very positive response; and Lake Placid, another Adirondack community, which we have served almost as long as Saranac Lake, but which we believed did not have the strong core listenership of the other two communities. We thought it would be instructive to see a profile of our listenership in two core communities, and be able to compare and contrast that with the third community where we seemed to be less effective.

The results of the first survey, conducted in July 2001, were surprising and gratifying. We discovered that overall we are doing as well or better than we had thought. It was especially helpful to be able to compare our numbers with others rural stations involved in the project. And it was invaluable to finally have some actual numbers --- cume, AQH, listeners demographics, and information about core and fringe listening. In many cases the numbers confirmed and validated what we believed about our audience. But having actual data made it possible for the first time ever for us to see subtle strengths and weaknesses, and to begin set benchmarks and goals.

Some things we learned:
°  Our weekly cume, TSL, and percentage of regular listeners are higher than we expected.
°  Our effectiveness in Lake Placid was stronger than we expected.
°  Our penetration is best with 45 to 54 year olds, and surprisingly good with 18 to 24 year olds.
°  We are weaker with 35 to 44 year olds and with 55 to 64 year olds.
°  Many more people are listening at work than we expected.
°  Almost all the listening in our weekday 8 to 9am regional news program is coming from regular listeners.
°  Weekday noon hour listening is lower than it should be.
°  Our weekday 4 to 7pm "bump" is lower than expected.
°  Our Saturday "bump" of peak listening is coming earlier than we expected at 7 to 9am.
°  Most of the weekend listening is coming from regular listeners not occasionals.
°  Weekday midday listening is weaker than we thought.

Because we have concerns that the results of a survey done in the summer may be very different than a survey done at other times of the year, we are reserving judgment until we see a winter survey. In many rural areas, ours included, summer means time outdoors and less radio listening. In addition, many regular and core listeners involved with public schools and colleges are away or not in their usual routine, and summer tourists and snowbirds may skew results. These seasonal variations in listening patterns should be considered in evaluating performance of rural stations.

Some goals and results that have emerged from what we know so far:
°  We have rescheduled fundraising to take full advantage of strong core weekday listening, and minimized fundraising at low listening times, including portions of weekends.
°  We have reworked some of our promo copy to speak more to people listening at work.
°  We are planning several station-sponsored focus groups in the next twelve months to evaluate response to our weekday regional news hours at 8am and noon.
°  We are considering various options to expand listening with 35 to 44 year olds and 55 to 64 year olds.
°  We have increased forward promotion and news checks from 4 to 5pm weekdays to try to increase listening.

We expect that we will be ready to set more goals designed to increase listenership and loyalty after we see the next survey, which will be a winter survey for us. This project has been invaluable for us. In addition to being able to see data for our station for the first time ever, we have benefited enormously from the opportunity to share ideas and concerns with colleagues at other rural stations, and to have access to knowledgeable experts. We very much appreciate the opportunity to participate in this project, and look forward to the next survey. Data and understanding gained from this project will greatly benefit all rural stations, and will lead to greater understanding of public radio listening throughout the system.