Wyoming Public Radio

Academic Plan 2004-2009

1 December 2003

 

Executive Summary

We define learning broadly in the Outreach School, as is appropriate for the various distribution methods and the content used and created by the five divisions of the School. We believe the outcome of public radio broadcasting has been the fostering of the learning community for Wyoming and beyond, in the area of informal life-long learning. We believe public radio fundamentally contributes to the strengthening of the American system of self-government by helping to create an informed electorate, as well as nourishing our spirits through knowledge of the world, history, culture, and the arts.  The implementation of the action items identified in this document will serve to strengthen and extend this outcome.

Wyoming Public Radio (WPR) is a 21 station statewide network listened to by over 60,000 citizens (unduplicated) each week. On average, nearly one out of every three adults in the coverage area is served by WPR.  Established more than 36 years ago, WPR is the third largest state network in the United States. The geographic size of Wyoming and the dispersion of our sparse population require a large number of stations to cover the population and highway routes.

 

Progress on Action Items from Academic Plan 1999-2004

No action items in Academic Plan 1999-2004 included Wyoming Public Radio.

 

Areas of Distinction

Professions and issues critical to the region AND statewide leadership in cultural endeavors, the arts, and the humanities.   Both of these areas are clearly areas of distinction to which Wyoming Public Radio contributes daily. Recognized for excellence every year for more than a decade by the Wyoming Press Association, WPR consistently raises and explores the critical issues facing Wyoming, its Legislature, businesses, schools, and citizens. Increasingly, WPR brings these issues to the nation through placement of these stories on National Public Radio. NPR is heard by nearly 30 million Americans each week. WPR broadcasts performances such as the Teton Music Festival regionally and nationally, via NPR’s “Performance Today.” As the single largest aggregator of Wyoming citizens in the state, WPR plays a crucial role in knitting together the state’s diverse and far-flung citizens, each and every day, focusing their attention on critical issues as well as the arts.

 

 

Institutional and Outreach School Issues 

Learning and Access.  In the words of Southwest Missouri State University President John Kaiser, the university strives to develop the critical thinking capacity of students. Using public radio, the university provides content for lifelong learning, upon which its graduates may apply their critical thinking skills. This process is vital to the American democracy, which requires its citizens to be informed participants.  In the United States today, adults learn primarily via informal learning, and public radio is one of the premier ways for college-educated adults to continue their lifelong learning. No other radio source of information is as respected, credible, in-depth, and broad as National Public Radio.

In the case of Wyoming Public Radio, our curriculum can be viewed as the rich variety of programming distributed throughout Wyoming 24 hours each day, 8,736 hours each year. WPR supplements NPR content with Wyoming statewide news gathered by four reporters and the Associated Press. Additional content is available in the form of cultural programming. By far the largest amount of programming is dedicated to classical music, headlined by NPR’s Performance Today. That program often features Wyoming performances. Folk, jazz, and contemporary music with knowledgeable hosts round out the performance component.

 

Assessment.  Wyoming Public Radio purchases external, objective assessment surveys twice each year from Arbitron, Inc.  Arbitron is the industry standard measurement for American radio audiences. WPR has longitudinal data in this standard format for at least the past ten years, including weekly total unduplicated listenership, “instantaneous” average quarter hour audience, and average time spent listening.

The second category of assessment is the degree to which listeners value WPR content. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting commissioned Audience 98: Public Service, Public Support, a landmark study released in 1998. The study was based on interviews with 15,000 Americans. Through this research, the CPB learned that Americans express the value of public radio content via their financial contributions. Therefore, WPR uses its consistent record of listener and corporate contributions as additional measures of the value citizens place on its programming and public service.

 

Partnerships & Synergisms.  WPR News has and will continue to work weekly, if not daily, with nearly all UW departments to bring the most newsworthy developments in the institution to the public through credible journalism. This is a synergistic advantage of being part of UW, while not competing for resources as an academic entity. Partnerships are developing with UW units statewide for basing equipment and interview locations for remote, quality broadcast access. Business partnerships across the state are vital for a variety of WPR enterprises, including site access for broadcast towers and transmitters, corporate financial support, and other infrastructure and services. Formal partnership with the NPR Foundation to create and develop deeper relationships with important donors is in its second year. Other national partnerships with regional associations, member stations, NPR, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and national professional organizations extend and strengthen WPR effectiveness in serving the university, our citizens, and the state.

 

The Environment

The environment in which Wyoming Public Radio operates is characterized by a number of factors:

  1. Demand for Wyoming Public Radio and National Public Radio programming content is growing.
  2. WPR faces increased competition for radio listeners.
  3. Access to WPR is a constraint, and the major demand on capital.
  4. More media content than ever is available and citizens’ choices have increased remarkably.
  5. Over the past ten-year period, the financial environment and capacity of WPR has strengthened.

 

Wyoming Public Radio Goals for Academic Plan 2004-2009

  1. Additional coverage of Wyoming issues, people, and events.

 

  1. Stronger signals and better reception for several Wyoming cities.

 

  1. Redundancy in the broadcast chain, ensuring fewer service interruptions.

 

  1. Extension of the original WPR network to several more Wyoming cities.

 

  1. A second public service broadcasting network for Wyoming residents, planned to deliver primarily classical music and provide choice for Wyoming citizens. 

 

Rationale for goals:   Increased and improved content focused on Wyoming issues, people, and events (Goal 1) addresses Moving Forward III Areas of Distinction.   Improving the quality of radio reception (Goals 2 and 3) is a response to complaints from many listeners who, due to the sheer scale of Wyoming geography, often live in fringe areas of existing transmitters. Redundancy and backup improvements (Goal 3) address complaints from listeners whose service is interrupted at inopportune times. In general, broadcast service, like classes, should never be interrupted.  More critically, WPR is part of the Federal Emergency Alert System and should not fail in emergencies.  Extension of public radio to more of Wyoming’s citizens (Goals 4 & 5), wherever financially feasible, fulfills the mandate given WPR by the UW administration more than ten years ago.  This mandate has been supported several times by the state legislature with specific appropriations. This goal also recognizes the realities of a segmented medium and citizens’ innate desire for choice.

 

Challenges to the implementation of the Plan include:

  1. Time.  Some efforts do not include financial outlays or investments. But they do require staff time, which is a limited resource. In all cases, required time must come from redirected staff effort. Choices, sometimes difficult, must be made to eliminate or reduce the priority of various existing efforts that consume staff attention.
  2. Money.  Several of the action items represent significant capital investments. Price estimates have been calculated, but are not included in the action items. A number of the expense items will come from existing budgets for equipment, as they have in the past. Several of the intermediate cost items will come from annual retained revenues, based on estimates supported by ten-year financial data. The largest items will require capital drives, several within targeted cities.  Grants will also be available to public service broadcasters for some of the action items.  Digital broadcast conversion is in an entirely different league, and will require a combination of federal and state funding, as has been the case for public television.
  3. Return on Investment.  Key to successful outcomes in the future, as in the past, will be positive return on investment. This critical measure is calculated in a different environment in the for-profit world. It may not be entirely in its strictest technical formulation the sole measure in our public service decision-making. Nevertheless, the concept has serious implications for WPR’s continued ability to deliver successful outcomes. Action items in the mid- and long-term include several “assess the value and cost” prior to a decision on related major capital investments. Even if funding were available for all items, some may not provide a positive return in the form of more service to more citizens, and/or increased revenues. Carried to an extreme, success in implementing action items could lead to failure to achieve the mission due to financial losses and static or shrinking listenership. Therefore, items will be evaluated not only for their intrinsic worth, but also for their contribution to increased audience or fund-raising capacity.
  4. Space.  As one of the university’s strongest statewide assets, WPR needs sufficient, effective, and appropriately designed and constructed space in which to carry out its mission. Currently, WPR is housed in the basement of the aging Knight Hall building, which has seen several prior uses.  Space assigned to WPR was neither designed nor constructed as a radio broadcast and production center. Contrary to standards for professional audio production and broadcasting, loud sewage and heating pipes create unacceptable noise.  No space in the entire complex is soundproof.  No space remains for any staff growth, which will be necessary to accommodate the WPR plan over the next five years.  At 37 years of age, it is fair to say that WPR has outgrown its home.  As a major institutional asset, WPR deserves better. 

Wyoming Public Radio

Action Items for Academic Plan 2004-2009

[Note that these action items are not in priority order]

 

Short Term Action Items:  One year

WPR 1.1    WPR will increase statewide content in NPR news magazines.

 

WPR 1.2    WPR will increase programming staff training.

 

WPR 1.3    WPR will develop on-demand archived music programming content.

 

WPR 1.4    WPR will upgrade national programming satellite delivery from National Public Radio.

 

WPR 1.5    WPR will acquire a backup studio power generator.

 

WPR 1.6    WPR will purchase an ATV for all-season access to remote transmitters.

 

WPR 1.7    WPR will upgrade or install translator sites in Evanston, Worland, and Torrington, and investigate a new site for the Jackson STL for improved reliability.

 

WPR 1.8    WPR will investigate creative means for the acquisition of stations to expand its network.

 

WPR 1.9    In cooperation with OTS, WPR will begin the exploration of IP for network site signal distribution to replace statewide satellite distribution.

 

WPR 1.10   WPR will develop processes for data analysis, wider dissemination of data, and cross-strategy, as well as planning to maximize the growth of listeners and corporate support, and improve the identification and solicitation of potential donors.

 

WPR 1.11   In cooperation with other Outreach School units, WPR will develop strategies for a greater direct statewide presence via events and receptions.

 

WPR 1.12   In cooperation with other Outreach School units, WPR will develop branding and logo, and acquire e-marketing tools

 

Medium Term Action Items:  Two to three years

WPR 2.1    WPR will develop applications and funding for classical and primary network expansion and will assess and contract for classical network programming.

WPR 2.2    WPR will assess the costs and benefits of regional bureaus for statewide news coverage, including a new statewide new talk show, and will improve remote capabilities for news.

 

WPR 2.3    In cooperation with OTS, WPR will increase Internet-based interactivity for the public.

 

WPR 2.4    In cooperation with OTS, WPR will assess advances in statewide IP satellite distribution.

 

WPR 2.5    WPR will assess the costs and alternatives for the replacement of its proprietary digital hub and main studio board with next generation technology.

 

WPR 2.6    WPR will assess the costs and benefits of digital broadcasting conversion.

 

WPR 2.7    WPR will implement broadcasting redundancy for the KUWZ transmitter.

 

WPR 2.8    In cooperation with other Outreach School units, WPR will institute a new logo and branding program.

 

WPR 2.9    In cooperation with other Outreach School units and the UW Foundation, WPR will develop and implement capital campaigns for the construction of new network stations.

 

WPR 2.10   In cooperation with other Outreach School units and the university Office of Public Relations, WPR will implement full scale statewide PR presence programs.

 

Long Term Action Items:  Four to five years 

WPR 3.1    In consultation with its Advisory Board and in cooperation with the Outreach School Dean, WPR will decide upon the viability of digital broadcasting conversion.

 

WPR 3.2    WPR will decide upon the viability of a statewide news talk program.

 

WPR 3.3    WPR will replace studio broadcast and production equipment.

 

WPR 3.4    WPR will implement satellite IP delivery, should the concept prove viable.

 

WPR 3.5    WPR will implement new technology for internal file sharing to replace proprietary digital broadcast/production/traffic hub.

 

WPR 3.6    WPR will implement redundant power and delivery systems in critical locations around Wyoming.

 

WPR 3.7    In cooperation with other Outreach School units, WPR will assess the costs and benefits of a marketing/branding position.

 

WPR 3.8    As part of the Outreach School facilities plan, WPR will improve its live music production facilities.

 

WPR 3.9    As part of the Outreach School facilities plan, WPR will plan for and begin implementation of space rehabilitation to accommodate growth. [The current facility is not suited for professional broadcast and production and will not accommodate further staff and workspace.]