Rural Programming Initiative
Final Report, NCPR

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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.

As a rural station that had essentially no access to meaningful audience data prior to participating in this project, our overarching goal was to increase our understanding of our listeners, who they are, when they listen, when they stop listening. This understanding is essential to increasing listenership and membership, and to providing a better overall program service for our region. The project survey results have provided us with much useful information that has helped us make better decisions about program content and scheduling, promotion and other on-air messaging, and fundraising. Some examples:

- To our surprise, early surveys showed low numbers for the repeat of a regional news and arts hour, which was very popular in its first morning airing. In consultation with the project leaders, we considered that the content was being recycled too soon. We replaced it with another program (Fresh Air) and have seen an increase in listening in this daypart in our last survey. And in our 2003 fall fundraiser we saw pledges more than double in this hour and in the following hour as well. We believe this increase is a direct result of this program change.

- Again to our surprise, our surveys consistently showed very few listeners tuning in only on the weekend, so we made the decision to make permanent changes in our fall and spring fundraising schedule, eliminating Sunday as a fundraiser day. The result has been totally positive, with less stress on an already overworked staff, good reaction from listeners, and increased fundraiser dollar and new member numbers.

- The surveys caused us to struggle with some issues relating to our locally hosted late afternoon music programs (blues, r&b, jazz, folk, world, bluegrass.) Numbers for these shows were excellent, but the surveys showed very little bounce up from the entry of ATC at 5pm, and relatively flat listening during ATC. We considered moving ATC to a more standard 4pm beginning, but decided against it because of our commitment to local voices and local content in prime time. We did, however, decide to introduce more short information breaks into the 4pm hour, including short world news updates and forward-promos to ATC in the next hour, hoping to make the 4pm hour more informational without losing the local music host presence, and to encourage listeners to stay tuned for ATC. While we've seen some upward trend in these slots in the most recent book, it may be too soon to evaluate the results, given all the variables including summer versus winter, pre and post 9/11, pre and post Iraq war, etc. However, other recent indicators including fundraiser pledge results show a slight increase in ATC listening, but a good increase in 4 to 5pm listening, so it appears we have at least strengthened the program service of the 4pm hour.

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.

As indicated above, two program changes that came about as a result of this project have resulted in increased listening and increased pledging during these hours. In the weekday 12 to 1pm timeslot, the number of pledgers increased 61% from Fall 2002 to Fall 2003. The weekday 1 to 2pm hour also enjoyed a significant increase as a result of the change, going up 41% in pledges. The weekday 4 to 5pm hour has gone up 21%. While the station overall continues to enjoy increased cume, growth in both renewal and new members, and growth in member dollars, these three hours stand out.

Overall, our underwriting revenues have increased almost 38% since the survey project began in July of 2001. While much of the station's underwriting success relates to the station's overall growth, the ability to demonstrate the station's reach and cume with survey numbers has certainly been a factor in our ability to increase sales and raise rates.

Being able to document and demonstrate the significant impact of the station with real numbers has been an important factor in all aspects of our fundraising, development and outreach. Being able to impress and persuade both typical listeners and people of influence and affluence by sharing legitimate survey results rather than anecdotal information is an important new tool for rural stations such as ours.

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

The project has been a good reminder that the majority of even our most ardent core listeners are often listening elsewhere or are listening much less than station staff tend to think they are. This adjustment in our thinking has helped us fine-tune various parts of our program service, including forward promotion and other key information.

In addition, being able to see our share at any given hour has been an important incentive to find ways to improve weaker hours.

The information I've accessed through this project has reinforced many of the intuitive understandings that rural-based program directors have about their listeners and their communities. It has been most helpful to have these intuitions affirmed and validated. The survey also has confirmed some ideas we were wondering about, so that actions taken (or not taken) are based on fact. It has also been very helpful to be able to compare and contrast information about our station with other rural stations, and rural station surveys with the generally urban-based numbers available in the public radio system. There are indeed ways in which rural stations and rural listeners are like city stations and city listeners, and very important ways in which rural stations are very different and play a different role in their communities. At least one of these differences, the seasonal variations in listening patterns, is clearly demonstrated in our survey results.

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?

Rural stations play a special role in the cultural life of rural communities, and rural station program directors should indeed listen to their instincts and understandings about their communities and their listeners. But survey results can indeed help find problems and lead to improved service. The key is using a survey that measures large enough to offer valid and statistically significant data. The challenge is finding affordable and relevant measurement tools. Group buys and projects like this one make sense. They are efficient, provide shared expertise and the important rural cohort standard for comparison, and can be incredibly helpful.