PRPD Seeks Entries for ACE Awards

Now is the time to begin sorting through your best work over the past year, and deciding which ones to enter in this year's contest for PRPD's Awards for Creative Excellence (ACE). The call for entries has been emailed and entrusted to the US Postal Service.

The deadline for entries is June 27.

PRPD is seeking examples of the best programming in six categories that aired since July 1, 2007. The categories include:

• Triple A music programming


• News programming


• On air fundraising


• Classical music programming


• Jazz programming


• And promotion/station imaging.

The competition is open to all PRPD station members. Audio entries may be no longer than 10 minutes long (telescoping allowed) and be accompanied by a written narrative. Stations may submit one entry per category.

Winners receive an award and free registration at the 2009 PRPD conference in Cleveland. Every entrant will receive a copy of the judges' comments about their submission.

There is no entry fee.

For more details and to enter, visit the PRPD website.

Game Over for Fair Game May 30

It appears that Public Radio International is pulling the plug on Fair Game, the news/talk/comedy/music program hosted by Faith Salie. PDs have received a heads up that the game is over as of Friday, May 30.

Fair Game bowed with considerable press about Salie, a Rhodes scholar who, after Oxford, went on to be quite possibly the only public radio host to have appeared in both Sex and the City and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Aside from being the show's host, Salie was credited as Fair Game's co-creator and writer-producer.

Traffic Reports Terminated on KUOW 949 Seattle

KUOW concluded two years of planning and research this month with the termination of regular traffic reports as of May 9. The decision was based both on the findings of last years LNI sponsored research – “Localism and Morning Edition”, and our own market specific research here in Seattle which supported the findings of the national research.

“The problem with traffic is that regardless of how it is produced, traffic is simply not useful to the majority of Morning Edition listeners…traffic is not the reason why they tune to the NPR station.” - Localism and Morning Edition (2007)

The listener response seems to validate that finding. After 20 years of regular traffic reports and with a weekly cume (5a-7p) of 290,600 we have received 8 listener emails and one phone message. That is less than two listener contacts per day to date.

Higher value break content like forward promotion will replace about two thirds of the time gained. Additional underwriting will take the place of the other third for a potential net of up to $214,000 in increased revenues.

And, when the tanker truck overturns and I-5 is backed up for 10 miles, we will report it, using the same standards for coverage as we use for any other news.

Jeff Hansen
Program Director
KUOW 949 Seattle

Third Coast Competition Open

The Third Coast Audio International Festival is accepting entries in their annual audio competition. Cash prizes of up to $6,000 will be awarded in several categories, including a new $2,000 prize for Best News Feature. Entry deadline is July 18.


Winners are announced at the annual Third Coast conference which will be held October 9th - 11th, in Evanston, IL.

Satellite Broadcasters Report Losses

Both XM and Sirius satellite radio companies have reported losses in the first quarter.

XM Radio's net loss expanded to $129.3 million from $122.4 million a year ago. The company said sales rose 17 percent, to $308.5 million

Sirius lost $104.1 million in the same period, compared with a $144.7 million last year. Revenue rose 33 percent, to $270.4 million.

The two continue pursuing merger talks.

KUOW Soars to Top of Market

Seattle's all-news public radio station, KUOW-FM, was #1 in the market (12+ Metro Share) in the just released Winter 2008 Arbitron survey. Their 6.1 Share is a new record for the station and well ahead of the second place station, KUBE (Clear Channel, Rhythmic format) which had a 5.2 share.


Also notable was the performance of KQED-FM in San Francisco whose 5.5 Share was #2 in the market, second to AM news-talker KGO-AM(5.9 share).

Congratulations to both stations!

NPR Creates Digital Farm Team

National Public Radio is using two programs to help answer the looming question: "Where will the next generation of public radio personnel come from?"

Mark Glaser, on his Mediashift blog, talks about two sources. Glaser writes about Next Generation Radio and the Intern Edition. Participants in both programs learn both radio and and online basics.

Doug Mitchell oversees the two in-house training program for NPR. He told Glaser that youth must be served. Glaser writes:

"Mitchell noted that the online audience for NPR.org skews younger than the over-the-air listening audience, and that the staffers who do digital work also are younger than their radio counterparts."

Arbitron & RRC Sign Agreement

Just received the following release. Good news for Public Radio!

Arbitron & RRC Sign Agreement

It's finally in place! Arbitron and RRC have signed a multi-year contract for non-commercial radio ratings data, including estimates from the Portable People Meter (PPM).or the complete text of Arbitron's announcement, go to www.Arbitron.com and click on "Newsroom."

Thanks to the Public Radio PPM Team Members for all their hard work:Vincent Gardino, (Spokesperson), WNYC; Dave Edwards, Milwaukee Public Radio; Jennifer Ferro, KCRW; Debra Fraser, KUHF; Roger LaMay, WXPN; Corey Lewis, WBUR; Tim Roesler, MPR/American Public Media; Kimberly Sparrow, KQED; and Scott Williams, KJZZ/KBAQ, Jeff Luchsinger and Greg Schnirring, CPB; Terry Clifford and Tom Thomas, SRG.

Arbitron and The Radio Research Consortium Sign Multi-Year Agreement for Radio Rating Services Agreement - includes both Diary and Portable People Meter (TM) Ratings Services

NEW YORK, May 6, 2008 -

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) today announced that The Radio Research Consortium (RRC, Inc.) has signed a multi-year contract for syndicated radio ratings services in all radio markets that Arbitron measures in the United States. The agreement covers both diary and Portable People MeterTM measured markets, and is effective immediately. Under the agreement, Arbitron will provide Portable People Meter based ratings in each of the top 50 US local markets as and when it commercializes the service in such market.

The Radio Research Consortium will sublicense Arbitron radio ratings data to Non-commercial radio stations and their supporting organizations. "The Radio Research Consortium is pleased to continue its history of providing Arbitron estimates to non-commercial radio stations nationwide," said Joanne Church, President, RRC, Inc. "We are excited about exploring the potential of the PPM methodology, especially its utility in measuring the public service component of non-commercial media programming."

"Public radio provides unique programming to a large audience," said Vincent A. Gardino, Executive Director of Underwriting/Radio & Digital Media, WNYC-AM/FM. "As an industry, we are accountable to our underwriters and sponsors. Having ratings data broadly available to all non-commercial radio stations will allow us to demonstrate the value of these stations as well as help us develop better programming to reach our communities."

Over the next three years, Arbitron is scheduled to deploy the Portable People Meter in the top 50 markets in place of the paper diary method that the company has used to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.

BPP's Host Delivers

This just in from NPR's The Bryant Park Project's (BPP) blog:

"Alison Stewart and Bill Wolff are the extremely proud parents of the world's newest Cardinals fan, 8 lb-6 oz Isaac Stewart Wolff. Everyone's healthy and happy."

Stewart is the host of the BPP and Wolff is an exec at MSNBC and regular sports contributor to the show.

Tighter Belts at NPR

An internal memo by news Vice President Ellen Weiss circulated at National Public radio and obtained by mediabistro.com says the service is facing a two-edged financial sword: more expenses and less income.

Weiss' memo said expenses are over the current budget by about 2 percent and that "... NPR is also seeing a serious slowdown in the sponsorship market (underwriting) and this year we reduced the prime time program license fees for Member stations so the revenue side of NPR is also projected to be far less optimistic than it was last year."

Weiss' memo also outline some course corrections:

• Limiting discretionary travel.
• Limiting overtime.
• Not filling some non-essential open positions.

NEW RULES --- for Quoting Arbitron Data

A recent update in the Radio Research Consortium's (RRC) Arbitron contract allows public radio subscribers greater flexibility in their use of their audience estimates. The new rules now allow public stations to quote estimates for other stations in the market, commercial and non-commercial, in their "a one-on-one pitch to an advertiser" and in print ads:

... you may quote any estimate in your reports, commercial or non-commercial. You may share any estimates for your station or any other station in the market. Every estimate you cite in a report must be properly sourced as listed above and must include a copyright notice.

This new flexibility also allows public radio stations to talk publicly about their market ranking for the first time.

Plucking Ducks & the Art of the Interview

Elizabeth Arnold is one of public radio's most capable interviewers. On Transom.org Arnold offers her thoughts on interviewing, which prove that asking the right questions is just part of the process of getting the story.

She describes a trip to a small, remote village in the Arctic to interview a woman:

"Long story short, three days later, after I had plucked her ducks (the tedious part of cleaning waterfowl before cooking it), split her wood, and helped butcher her brother's caribou, she told me she was ready. Ready to talk. And it was good."