Measuring Rural Audiences

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Measuring Rural Audiences

• Dennis Hamilton
• April 3, 2009
• NFCB Conference Portland, OR

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About PRC

• PRCs mission secure and expand public radio in
  communities nationwide. Projects completed
  already have secured public radio programming for
  nearly 30M people.
• Goal Create greater program choices for in-depth
  information, unbiased news, diverse music, and
  cultural programming.
• Nonprofit organization supported by grants from
  Ford Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and others.
• Leading advisor in planning, securing and
  financing new public radio channels.
• www.publicradiocapital.org

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• PRC provides
• Business modeling and planning
• Station assessments
• Station appraisals
• Brokerage representation
• Acquisition services
• Financial advisory services

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New Horizons?

• What is it?
• Where did it come from?
• Project Objectives
• Methodology
• Timeline
• Evaluation

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What is New Horizons?

• Partnership Project with Native Public Media
• Funded by Annenberg Foundation
• Project aimed helping Native Stations improve
• Through developing impact metrics to
• Empirically measure station impact
• Provide information for stations to improve
  performance
• Demonstrate value to funders

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Where did the project come from?

• NPM/PRC business modeling
• Shared objectives of adding capacity and
  improving service
• Needed measures to understand rural service
  business model and to tell the rural/Native
  Station story effectively to funders
• Stations need feedback to adjust their services
  to be most effective
• Arbitron doesnt work for this universe of
  stations
• New Stations coming online compounds the need

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Project Objectives

• Determine how Native stations contribute to the
  well being of their communities
• Create metrics and benchmarks to measure,
  implement and sustain best practices for maximum
  community service across the spectrum of Native
  stations.
• Disseminate learning across the NPM sector
• Align future station strategies with new metrics
  for public service
• Generate business plans for NPM and stations to
  develop in depth and replicable strategies for
  Native stations
• Create opportunities for greater impact

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Methodology

• Ascertainment team
• NPM
• PRC
• Harvest Moon Consulting
• KIDE KWSO staff and communities
• Site visits
• KIDE, Hoopa, CA
• KWSO, Warm Springs, OR

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Methodology

• Business modeling
• Organizational Assessment
• Story telling
• Listening

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• Time Line
• Now through August 31, 2009
• Site Visits First May June
• Second July August
• Final Report Due November 31, 2009
• Results through NPM on a regular basis
• Design and apply for phase two - soon