READER COMMENTS • MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND THE “COLLEGE MEDIA MEGA WORKSHOP”

COMMENT ONE: KCPW’S SURVIVAL IN SALT LAKE CITY

We have been covering Brigham Young University’s decision to keep its successful and beloved Classical music format on KBYU rather than replace it with their nutty “Up With Mormon” 24/7 infomercial. The LDS-oriented programming will appear on another FM frequency recently purchase by BYU.

When KBYU’s plan to drop Classical was first announced, we and other observers speculated whether independent noncom KCPW [link] should have claimed the format.  That is a moot point now.

Spark News reader “Mark j” is concerned about the future of KCPW and he sent this comment:

“The question is: How long is KCPW going to continue with this futile attempt to do news-talk without NPR? Either rejoin NPR or flip to a music format that is cheaper to run.”

KEN SAYS: We are fans of KCPW’s GM Lauren Colucci. We published an article last September [link] praising her work to get KCPW’s financial house in order.

Then the March 2018 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings for Salt Lake City arrived and KCPW was a no-show. KCPW failed to reach Nielsen’s minimum listening criteria. Moving forward, we see these options for KCPW:

Lauren Colucci

1.) Stick to the current plan

Lauren Colucci is good operator who rallied various forces, including the Public Media Company, to save KCPW from financial ruin. 

The last time we spoke with Colucci she felt confident her plan is working, so give her the space to do it.

2. Look for situations where a news station without NPR programming is successfully competing with an established NPR News/Talk station

Wisconsin Public Radio’s (WPR) Ideas Network successful competes in Milwaukee with WUWM, a respected station that is similar to KUER in Salt Lake City. WPR’s Ideas Network in Madison on WHA-AM sometimes has more estimated weekly listeners than WPR’s News & Classical format on WERN.

The Ideas Network mixes locally produced talk programs with 1A, On Point and BBC World Service overnight. If KPCW can afford programs such as these, consider progressive talk shows like Stephanie Miller and Tom Hartmann.  Noncommercial stations can access these programs for almost nothing. In a super-conservative area such as Utah, these contrarian programs would likely get attention.

3. Find the weak spots of competing noncom stations and fill the void.

Triple A KRCL is doing a nice job of reaching boomers with vintage rock tunes. This might leave an opening for a current-based Alternative Rock approach.  Does commercial alt rocker KXRK need a noncom, community based competitor?

Also, there is no full-time Jazz music station in SLC.

COMMENT TWO: DEFINING “COLLEGE RADIO”

We continue to receive reader comments about our assertion that WERS, Boston is the “top performing” college station in the nation [link]. This brings up the question: Is WERS actually a college station.

An anonymous reader sent this comment:

"Is WERS really college radio"? I think it's a valid question. "College radio" is more of a format and a management structure than anything else. WERS is different. They have a LOT of full-time staff [link to the WERS staff page] for a "college radio" station, eight, including a full-time morning show host.

[WERS doesn’t] really play the "underground alternative rock" or "freeform" formats typical to "college radio." They're pretty much formatted as triple-A with a handful of specialty shows. I don't think it's really fair to just call WERS "college radio." They sound nothing like several other stations, even in Boston, that everyone agrees are "college radio"[such as] WMBR, WZBC and WBRS.

WERS is a gigantic fish in a very small pond. To say they're the "best college radio station" is a little unfair to all the other stations.

KEN SAYS: Wow, I am glad you got that off your chest. First, I have clarify that I did not say WERS is the “best college radio station.” I said WERS is the “best performing college station” in an article about Nielsen Audio PPM ratings.  I can’t think of another college station that is doing better in the ratings.

I disagree with you about whether WERS is “college radio” for three reasons:

1. WERS is closely aligned with Emerson College’s media curriculum and most of the people who work at WERS are Emerson students.

2. Anecdotally, I have worked with quite a few WERS/Emerson graduates and they are impressive. Every WERS/Emerson alumnus I can think of actually graduated from college.

3. More college-based stations should emulate WERS. Most college radio stations are in life’s slow lane and aspire to nothing more than staying on the air. College radio needs to aspire to greatness, to be consequential.  That is what WERS does and I praise them for lifting the light high.

CBI COLLEGE MEDIA MEGA WORKSHOP SET FOR JULY

In our opinion, College Broadcasters, Incorporated [link] is the leading organization of college stations. CBI is participating in the College Media Mega Workshop at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis July 12 - 15.

This is intensive workshop is intended for top-level student managers and media advisers. It offers 11 different study tracks that examine the basics of operating a college station.

CBI says it is inexpensive to attend and, take it from someone who lives here, Minnesota is groovy the summer. We highly recommend this workshop.

More information is available here.

NEW NFCB SURVEY CAPTURES “COMMUNITY RADIO TODAY”

It has been said that “community radio” is in the mind of the beholder. Perceptions are hard to measure but facts are universal. The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) just released the results of a member survey [link]. It is an eye-opener because is dispels some of the stereotypes of community stations.

NFCB [link] currently has around 180 members, up over 20% in the past three years. Member stations are a mix of old-timers like KBOO in Portland or WORT in Madison, and new voices such as LPFM stations and newer, format-driven, shops.

NFCB's membership is primarily made up of stations in medium and smaller markets. NFCB classifies 64% of it's stations as “rural.” Though NFCB membership doesn’t include every station that considers itself a “community” operation, it does include most of the most consequential voices. 

NFCB’s member survey is important because it helps quantify community radio for outsiders and policy makers. Plus, the study provides facts that dispel some of the myths and stereotypes about community media, and confirms a few.

Sally Kane and Ernesto Aquilar from NFCB have kindly provided Spark News with background data from the study. We found what we consider to be 11 takeaways from the research.

COMMUNITY RADIO TODAY: FACTS & MYTHS

Question #1: How many full-time and part-time paid staff positions does your station have?

It is a fact that most NFCB stations operate with few paid employees. We were surprised at the percentage of community stations with four or fewer employees.  Community radio comes in three sizes: Small, Medium and Large. We assume that the largest shops are CPB-qualified. Many of the very small shops are likely to be LPFM stations.

Note: NFCB’s survey is based on responses from approximately one-third of its membership.  We are assuming that the in-tab data is representative of the organization as a whole and community radio in general.

Question #2: What is the size of your annual operating budget?

Budget is often tied to the number of paid employees.  In this chart we see the “two words” of NFCB stations. Approximately 75% of the stations have annual budgets under $500,000.  The average annual budget of a free-standing NPR News/Talk stations is around $1.8 million. Again, we are assuming that the larger stations are CPB funded.

Question #3: How many pledge drives does your station have per year?

We were surprised that roughly 30% of stations only have one pledge drive per year. There may good reasons for this at the local level. But the facts are that some community stations do a poor job of branding and selling their unique service to listeners.

Question #4: Has your station’s membership grown in the last 5 years?

We were pleased to see that over half of NFCB stations have added new members in the past five years. Every year it seems there are more competitors searching for a share of the ear.  If an organization is increasing member base, it is going against the prevailing tide. That is a good thing.

Question #5: Does your station own or rent tower(s)?

Good question!  Recently Spark News has done several stories about stations that own their own towers and count on it as a dependable revenue source. More stations should consider this as a capital campaign.

Question #6: Does your station have a local news program service?

We were surprised that over half (55%) of NFCB stations do not have a local news program service. Perhaps this is due to the lack of clarity of the question. What is the definition of a “local news program service?” Is it a newscast? Is it a talk show? Do PSA’s count as “local news?”

Question #7: Does your station carry nationally syndicated program(s)?

This question might be re-worded to say …nationally syndicated program(s) other than Democracy Now! Carriage of Democracy Now! is ubiquitous. There are no equivalents of All Things Considered or World Cafe in community radio. The lack of marquee programs makes it more difficult to define community radio.

Question #8: How many volunteers does your station have?

Volunteer participation is core characteristic of community radio. Make the volunteers part of a station station promotion.

Question #9: Does your station produce programs that other stations air?

It is a fact that most community stations play few nationally syndicated programs. It also appears that approximately 43% of NFCB stations want other stations to carry their shows.  This seems to be a disconnect between scheduling and expecting outside carriage.

Question #10: Does your station produce a podcast?

This topic is bigger than one question.  It is useful to know how many stations produce podcasts but how do stations handle staff and volunteer based podcasts.  Start with the basics: Who owns these podcasts? What is the station policy toward someone promoting their own podcast on-air?

Finally, a bonus question: Does your station have a workplace harassment policy?

This is the most surprising finding in the NFCB survey. If your station does not have a workplace harassment policy you may be one step away from a scratch-and-win lawyer. Please take action now to limit harassment and liability.

ALMOST PUBLIC RADIO: WMLB WAS “THE VOICE OF THE ARTS” • K-SQUID RISES IN SANTA CRUZ

WMLB-AM, Atlanta [link] subscribes to the “chaos theory” of radio programming. On WMLB you could hear Bob Dylan segued into Rumble by Link Wray, followed by readings from books by Flannery O’Connor. You might think this is a noncom community station or maybe a new LPFM. But actually WMLB is/was an unusual commercial AM station.

However, WMLB won’t be around much longer. Station owner Joe Weber says he is pulling the plug at the end of May and is moving to California. Weber told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution [link], WMLB was never profitable.  Perhaps the station could be called a not-for-profit venture.

Joe Weber

WMLB was Weber’s passion project. Back in the 1980s Weber made big bucks in the bakery supply business.  In 1997 he took his baking dough and started WMLB.  At first WMLB was heard on AM 1190 AM. Then in 2006, Weber’s company, JW Broadcasting, bought  the license for AM 1690 for $12 million. Weber quickly learned he paid a lot of money for a station very few people could even receive.

In 1993 the FCC expanded the AM dial in an attempt to “save AM.” New frequencies were added between 1610 kHz and 1790 kHz, including AM 1690 in Atlanta. At the time AM radio tuners could not tune in stations that were broadcasting above 1600 kHz. Also in 1993, the FCC required manufacturers to only sell radio sets that could receive stations in the expanded AM band.

Stations like AM 1690 never had a chance. At the time, very few new radio tuners were being built. There were well over a billion old sets still in use. These older sets couldn’t receive WMLB.

WMLB called itself The Voice of the Arts and reflected the tastes of one listener: Joe Weber. During his handcrafted programs, Weber would infuse bird calls, poetry and famous speeches into the music mix.

An employee of WMLB, Mike Rose, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that was the way Weber liked to operate:

“It was never about appealing to a certain demographic or target audience. This was just stuff he liked and his friends liked. He wanted a venue for it. He didn’t want to lose money but money wasn’t the primary motivator.”

Weber looks at the failure of WMLB as an unpleasant experience. He told the Journal-Constitution:

“I went in with my eyes wide open but I didn’t expect to take such a beating. I knew I could afford to lose whatever I invested. But it was not a good feeling to take such a bath financially. I really felt stupid.”

In a humble moment, Weber said:

“Just because you did great in one business doesn’t mean you can repeat it in another. I went in fairly deeply with very little understanding of the significance of how AM worked and how the world was changing. If I was maybe 30 years younger, I wouldn’t have made the move.”

The failure of WMLB was a double loss for Weber. Three years ago his wife of many years (and his assistant at the station) passed away.  Weber described the impact of her loss this way:

 “After she died I didn’t have much appetite to do a show anymore or invest emotion or energy into the station.”

Weber intends to keep the license for AM 1690 and lease it to another operator. AM 1690's tower site sits on a valuable piece of property. Several stations lease tower space from Weber and site is profitable.

THE SQUID IN SANTA CRUZ MOVES FORWARD

Last week on Wednesday (5/2) we featured the plan by Santa Cruz residents to start a new station [link] with the same sensibility and programming as KUSP, a station that was sold out of bankruptcy to Educational Media Foundation (EMF) in 2016. In that article we express skepticism that the new venture will fly. 

This week we saw the news in Tom Taylor’s excellent newsletter TomTaylorNOW [link], that the deal to buy the station was filed Monday (5/7) with the FCC. The station, now KSRI 90.7 FM, was sold by EMF to Natural Bridges Media, a new California non-profit corporation, for $265,000. The Board Chair of Natural Bridges is former KUSP employee Rachel Goodman.

According to various news sources, the new 90.7 will have the call letters KSQD a/k/a K-Squid. The deal will be final when the FCC approves it in early summer 2018.

Natural Bridges raised the $265,000 to purchase the station using a crowd funding site. Now the task of raising funds to buy equipment, build the studios, pay the tower rent and operate K-Squid begins. Natural Bridges says they need at least $80,000 for the basics.

KEN SAYS: This is a personal and professional victory for Rachel Goodman and we congratulate her and her associates for buying the station. Now we will see if Goodman and company can successfully run the station. Though we remain skeptical, let’s hope Goodman proves us and other nay-sayers wrong.

MEET YOUR NEW BEST FRIENDS: THE “P-1’s”

Edison Research and Triton Digital have released a custom report of their recent Infinite Dial study that focuses on respondents who are “heavy listeners” to radio and other audio sources. These folks are the super-fans and many are “P-1’s” in Nielsen lingo – people who listen/hear one station more any other stations.

A standard rule of marketing is that 30% of your customers provide 70% of your business.  These numbers vary a bit for each industry, but the basic principle is the same.

CHART 1: Edison defines a “heavy radio consumer” as someone who listens to radio an hour or more past 24 hours. According to the study, 30% of the respondents are “heavy” (nothing personal lol) and another 33% reported that they listened to no radio at all. The majority of respondents, 37%, listen to radio but for shorter amounts of time.

CHART 2: Heavy radio consumers can be of any age but they tend to be concentrated in people ages 35 – 64.

CHART 3:  Heavy radio consumers are slightly more likely to be men.

CHART 4:  While there is not a strong difference by ethnicity, African-Americans and Hispanics are slightly more likely to be heavy radio consumers than their share of the population.

CHART 5: Folks who have a college degree are most often heavy consumers of radio. An unusual finding, according to the Edison study, is that radio listeners with more education than a four-year degree, such as graduate degree, consume less radio.  Common wisdom is that public radio listeners, on average, tend to have higher levels of education than the general public.  Keep in mind this is a survey of the general public of which public radio folks are subset.

CHART 6: It is not surprising that heavy radio listeners consume more broadcast radio than the general population, but they also consume more audio from other devices too. Note the higher numbers for Satellite Radio and online streaming.

CHART SEVEN 7: Heavy radio consumers are just a tad more likely to have listened to a podcast than the population overall. There is consistent evidence that while there is overlap between podcasting and ‘radio’ listening, they are not a perfect overlay.

SUMMARY & TAKEAWAYS

It is important to keep in mind that Edison’s Infinite Dial is studying consumer behavior and not consumer perceptions.  In other words, it provides the "what" and "when" but not the "why" things are happening.

Though a very large proportion of the population is listening to radio, competition from other audio sources is chipping away the time-spent-listening to radio. Though it is a stretch to say radio is now at significant risk of loosing its heaviest listeners, more competition will mean there will be a shrinking share for radio versus other media. So things will continue to be in transition.

This means it is essential for radio programming to be as good as possible to hold consumption levels. If you are responsible for creating radio programming, don't settle for canned, automated and boring content.  Now is the time for radio to be bold, bright and consequential.  It is the slackers in the biz who hurt everyone.

who make radio boring hurt everyone in the biz.

NEW KCRW PODCAST “LOST TAPES” DEMONSTRATES THE LINK BETWEEN PODCASTS AND PUBLIC RADIO

Lost Tapes [link] is a new podcast series from KCRW that looks at untold stories from contemporary music history. It is a success on many levels and it perfectly marries the best of both platforms.

KCRW provides the promotional outreach to thousands of folks who already like podcasts. 

Lost Tapes provides the sass, sensibility and loose style that fits within KCRW’s aura. This all works because it is a damn good show.

Lost Tapes is an eight-part anthology that is hosted by comedian Solomon Georgio. It tells stories that are true but have never been fully told. For instance, Lost Tapes covers the FBI investigation of the party hit Louie, Louie, a critical examination of New Edition’s basketball connection and a true story of a songwriter plucked from obscurity at Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash.

David Weinberg

Producer David Weinberg [link] is a master of both audio forms. 

You may know Weinberg from the dozens of stories he has produced for Marketplace, The World, 99% Invisible, Wiretap, Love + Radio and several of KCRW’s best shows. 

Lost Tapes began in the KCRW Independent Producer Project. 

Ken's 45 rpm of Louie, Louie

The deep examination of Louie, Louie shows how Weinberg works. 

Most people know the song from the movie Animal House but its muddy lyrics have been a source of curiosity since it was originally released in the 1960s. 

Lost Tapes explores the alleged dirty words and attitude in a way that can’t be aired on broadcast radio. 

Weinberg played PG-rated excerpts from the podcast when he was interviewed by David Brancaccio on the Marketplace Morning Report [link].

Weinberg has more great stuff in the pipeline. Later in May KCRW will release Weinberg’s Welcome to LA, a follow up series to his much praised series Welcome to Below the Ten, an examination of life today in South Central LA.

MORE ABOUT THE TIES BETWEEN RADIO & PODCASTS

The chart on the left shows the symmetry between five public radio programs and podcasting. Three of the shows began as radio shows and moved early into podcasting.

This American Life (TAL) was a smash hit on radio for a decade before they began podcasting. Then TAL used its presence on over 600 stations to promote Serial.  Millions of people learned about Serial from this free promotion.

Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me was my favorite podcast before I ever had heard of podcasting.  Back then, you could hear archived shows on their website. Now I realize that a replay can be a podcast too.

The Daily happened in the opposite way.  It was a successful podcast from almost its first day. Now the partnership with APM has increased its visibility and reach.

Up First is a classic case of second use of content. The news is first heard on radio, then sliced, diced and curated for the podcast.