Timeless Advice from the Future

"Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many would outweigh the needs of the few" - Captain Spock

"Or the one." - Admiral Kirk

Who would of thought that an old Star Trek script could provide NPR and its member stations with guidance on navigating the complexities of the current economy and the new media marketplace?

It's Not Just for FM Anymore

The survey of listeners and donors to the Best of Public Radio 2008 special showed that the more ways listeners accessed public radio content -- multiple stations, the web, podcasts -- the more likely they were to donate to their favorite station.*

This is an important lesson. Using more public radio content, even if not on their favorite station, has a positive impact on giving to that station.

This shouldn't be a surprise. Past studies have shown that the more listeners use public radio, even when using more than one station, the more likely they are to donate.

Listeners' conception of what public radio is today has changed. It's much broader than the industry's conception of itself.

Public radio is radio plus podcasts plus streaming plus printed information on the web. It is a local station plus NPR.org plus the This American Life site plus whatever.

Live in Baltimore and want to hear All Thing Considered at 8pm? Stream KPBS. You still wake up and drive to work listening to Morning Edition on WYPR and catch Diane Rehm during the day. If you miss Wait Wait Don't Tell Me at 11a on Saturday, you can still hear it over the weekend at your convenience on your computer or iPod. And you still donate to WYPR.

A public radio station's path to better audience service and greater financial security doesn't begin with hoping listeners won't use public radio on the web or through a podcast. It begins with great programming and an understanding of how listeners now conceive public radio.

It's not just for FM anymore.


* You can see some of the survey results beginning on page 24 of the BOPR 2008 project report.

EOY Fundraising Update

Listeners continue to support their stations through the GiveToPublicRadio.org website. As of 1p today:

2,038 gifts totaling $166,729

It looks as though more than $35,000 was given through local station sites and phone numbers so the total is likely to exceed $200,000. We'll know more in a few days.

Best of Public Radio 2008 Update

The Best of 2008 fundraising special aired on more than 70 stations today. The overall response was good.

As of 6p (et), the special, hosted by Wait Wait Don't Tell Me's Peter Sagal and Performance Today's Fred Child, has generated 1,597 contributions and $130,006 for stations through a special website, www.givetopublicradio.org.

Many stations reported increased contributions at their local websites and some stations were receiving pledges over the phone. We do not yet know how much came in through other sources in response to the special, though it appears to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The special was part of a larger end of year campaign that included direct mail, eblasts, and on-air spots promoting web giving. Some stations reported increases in YTD end of year giving of up to $10,000 through these channels.

We didn't know what to expect from this experiment. The on-air fundraising special was very different from most pledge drives.

• All but 6 minutes of each hour was national content, with Peter and Fred doing most of the asking.
• The special preempted regular programming with "best of" moments from 2008.
• It's a holiday weekend.
• It was a web-based fundraiser, promoting on-line giving. On-line giving represents about 1/3 of revenues received during regular fund drives.
• The website was new to listeners.
• All gifts had to be made with a credit card. No invoice pledges were accepted. Today's totals represent money in the bank.
• There were no premiums, challenge grants, hourly goals, or sweepstakes.

Some stations did exceptionally well. Others received very little response at all from the same programming and fundraising messages.

The average gift, from the same on-air appeals, ranged from around $40 to $127. The overall average was just over $80, which is what we typically see at stations that don't use premiums.

Technically, the day went extremely well. There were very few glitches.

There's a lot to review and a lot to learn from today's special. We'll report back to you as we have more information.

I believe we can build on today's success to create better fundraising for stations in the future. Thanks to NPR, PRI, APM, Public Interactive, DEI, Peter Sagal, Fred Child, Ira Glass, the Car Guys, Matt Martinez (our producer), Jay Clayton, and Sonja Lee for their help.

And many thanks to the more than 70 stations willing to try something new.