THE LOCAL NEWS PROJECT INATIONAL RESEARCH REPORT
Presented by
Peter Dominowski
Market Trends Research Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTSMARKET TRENDS - AN INTRODUCTION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE LOCAL NEWS PROJECT
THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
About the Report
Definitions
THE SAMPLE
THE DATA IN PERSPECTIVE
PART TWO: THE NATIONAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS
NEWS SOURCES OF PUBLIC RADIO LISTENERS
Public Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Public and Commercial Television
Commercial Radio
The Internet
NEWS SOURCES CONCLUSION
DEFINING LOCAL NEWS
THE IMPORTANCE, PERCEPTIONS, AND QUALITY OF NEWS ON KQED
How Do Listeners Know When the News is Local
Local and National Reporting in Network News Programming
Newscasts
PRODUCING A LOCAL NEWS PROGRAM
THE QUALITY AND PLACEMENT OF LOCAL NEWS
How Much Local News, Where & When?
The Financial Value of Locally-Produced News
Opportunities for Local News Programming
INTERESTING SUBJECTS FOR LOCAL NEWS REPORTING
PART THREE: RESEARCH SUMMARY
LISTENERS VALUE LOCAL NEWS
HOW LISTENERS PERCEIVE NETWORK NEWS PROGRAMS
THE MIX OF NATIONALLY AND LOCALLY PRODUCED NEWS
THE QUALITY OF LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWS
PRODUCING LOCAL NEWS REPORTS
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS OF LISTENERS
THE FINANCIAL VALUE OF LOCAL NEWS
SUMMARY
HOW DO LISTENERS PERCEIVE NATIONAL NETWORK NEWS PROGRAMS?
WHAT TRAITS DO NEWS LISTENERS HAVE IN COMMON THAT INFLUENCES THEIR ATTITUDES AND LISTENING HABITS?
WHY DO LISTENERS TUNE INTO PUBLIC RADIO NEWS?
ARE LISTENERS MORE INTERESTED IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS THAN STATE AND LOCAL NEWS?
WHAT IS THE BEST TIME TO BROADCAST LOCAL NEWS PROGRAMMING?
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME FOR A STATION TO "COVER" A NETWORK REPORT WITH LOCAL NEWS?
IS IT IMPORTANT THAT LOCAL REPORTS BE HEARD AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY?
HOW OFTEN SHOULD STATIONS AIR LOCAL NEWSCASTS?
WHAT FINANCIAL VALUE DO LISTENERS PLACE ON LOCAL NEWS PROGRAMMING?
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS STATIONS CAN DO TO INCREASE THE APPEAL AND VALUE OF THEIR LOCAL NEWS PROGRAMMING?
Quality
Scope
WHAT CAN STATIONS DO TO RAISE LISTENER AWARENESS OF LOCAL NEWS REPORTING?
Identity
Consistency
Multi-part features
Promotion and Branding
PART FOUR: CONCLUSION
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
AREAS FOR FUTURE STUDY
MARKET TRENDS - AN INTRODUCTION
Market Trends Research is a full service research and consulting company serving public radio and private industry. Market Trends has provided qualitative research [focus groups], and quantitative research [surveys], for clients in twenty-nine states and abroad. The company is a member of the Qualitative Research Consultant's Association [QRCA], the national organization for focus group professionals. Market Trends also consults for public radio stations on issues involving programming, audience research, and fund raising.
Peter Dominowski, President of Market Trends Research, has been involved in public radio since 1975, in programming, fund raising, and management capacities. He was an award-winning programmer at WFMT, Chicago [NAB Marconi Award], and WMFE, Orlando [Ralph Award]. Dominowski was a founder of the Public Radio Program Director's Association [PRPD], and of the original "PD Bee" programming workshops. He served on the Board of Directors of the Radio Research Consortium for eleven years, and has been a panelist for both the PRPD Announcer Flo and Fundraising Flo Awards. Working with Doug Eichten and John Sutton, he was one of the creators of the Public Radio Underwriting Partnership [PRUP].
This is Dominowski's fifth publication on public radio programming and research. Previously writings were: Audience Ratings, A Primer [with Tom and Joanne Church], The PRPD Program Director's Handbook [with Craig Oliver and Marcia Alvar], Extended Focus Group Research [with Al Bartholet], and The Listener Survey Toolkit [with Al Bartholet]. He also contributed two segments of the AUDIENCE '98 report, Underwriting Anxiety [with John Sutton], and The Old Folks At Home; Public Radio's Older Audience.
Dominowski is also a partner with Scott Williams and Tim Emmons in Strategic Programming Partners, a programming consulting company working with public radio stations and New Media.
He received his M.A. in Telecommunications from Kent State University and his B.S. in Communications from Illinois State University.
A project of this magnitude requires the cooperation of many people.
This research would not have been possible without the support of the twenty-two participating stations. They financially supported the study and generously shared this information in the hope that it will contribute to the collective knowledge about listeners and their reactions to news programming. Each station has my thanks, and all the stations that benefit from these results should also thank them.
Support from Public Radio International made possible in part national dissemination of the research results. PRI demonstrated their belief in the project from the start, and their understanding of the importance of both national and local reporting. Dale Spear of PRI was particularly instrumental in helping The Local News Project get off the ground.
Peter Iglinski and Public Radio News Directors [PRNDI] deserve a great deal of credit for encouraging The Local News Project research. Many professional organizations would not have had the fortitude to support research that could potentially have reflected poorly on their mission and members. PRINDI should be commended for its foresight, and for being such a helpful and objective partner in the research process.
Ken Mills of the Ken Mills Agency [formerly of PRI] provided many ideas and much encouragement that was crucial in the early stages of this project.
No acknowledgement can be complete without thanking John Perry and Dennis Miller, for whom I began working in public radio at WKSU, and Tom Church, without whose help I would have never had the opportunity to make research my life's work.
And finally to my business and life partner Patty Dominowski, who not only struggled valiantly with several unruly computer programs to create twenty-three different news research reports, but who also endured, without complaint, my near-obsession with this research for the past eighteen months. She has my deepest appreciation and thanks.
Peter Dominowski
Palm Harbor, Florida
September 1999
"If the story is interesting, I don't care if it's national or local, or international, or galactical!" The Local News Project is the first national research study to concentrate on locally produced information programming, its interaction with network news programming, and its value to listeners. It is also the largest station funded research study in public radio history. The generous support of Public Radio International helped to make possible national dissemination of the research information.
The Local News Project research consisted of thirty-five focus groups in eighteen markets, and telephone surveys conducted in nineteen different markets. The project was developed by Peter Dominowski of Market Trends Research with the cooperation of the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. [PRNDI] and the assistance of the participating stations.Stations sponsoring both surveys and focus groups in The Local News Project:
KJZZ, Phoenix, KPBS, San Diego, KPLU, Seattle/Tacoma, KQED, San Francisco, KUER, Salt Lake City, WCPN, Cleveland, WEMU, Ypsilanti, WKNO, Memphis, WKSU, Akron/Cleveland, WNYC, New York, WUAL, Tuscaloosa, WUSF, Tampa/St. Petersburg, and Wyoming Public Radio.
Stations sponsoring focus groups only:
KCUR, Kansas City, WVPE, Elkhart, and Minnesota Public Radio.
Stations sponsoring surveys only:
KWMU, St. Louis, WBHM, Birmingham, WDET, Detroit, WUOT, Knoxville, Maine Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Radio.
The focus groups were conducted primarily in the summer and fall of 1998. The surveys were administered beginning in December 1998 and completed in March of 1999. The research agenda for each were designed to accommodate a core group of national questions presented identically in each market, and several local questions tailored specifically to each station.
The overall goal of this research is to provide an evaluation of local news and information programming from a national and local station perspective, to determine how useful and valuable this programming is for listeners, and how it might provide a greater audience service.
About the ReportThis report has four sections. Following this introduction, Part Two contains information from listeners in the focus groups and national survey questions. Part Three provides a summary and some recommendations based on the results of the national research. Part Four offers some ideas for future consideration and study.
All survey data used in the report are the cumulative results from each station participating in the national sample. Listener comments are verbatims taken from The Local News Project focus groups.
Terms and DefinitionsThe term "local news" in this report represents all non-national information programming, regardless of whether the origination or subject is local, state, or regional.
The terms "national and international news," "national news," and "network news" represent information programming produced by NPR or PRI that is aired in or adjacent to morning or afternoon drivetimes. These include programs such as Morning Edition, The World, Marketplace, and All Things Considered.
Additionally, when the term "listeners" appears in this report, it represents the listeners who participated in the focus group or survey research. It is not intended to represent all listeners to public radio or an individual station.
In research, as in programming, it is crucial to identify and understand the target audience. This research was designed to measure the opinions of current public radio news listeners. It was not designed to be representative of the general population, of all current public radio listeners, or potential new listeners.
To be included in the focus groups or the survey, an individual had to listen to their local public radio station, and when listening, use news programming more than or equal to any other type of programming available on that station. In other words, this research represents the opinions of news imperatives and dual imperatives only.
Respondents in the focus groups were recruited from current member, former member, and prospect lists provided by each station. Survey respondents were recruited from current member, former member, and prospect lists provided by each station, and from random lists using education and five-digit zip codes as selection variables. The national survey sample totaled 2,908 and represents a variety of age groups, listening histories, and giving status. This sample size puts the maximum standard error for survey data from the national sample is plus or minus less than 3%.
As a comparison, the typical nationwide public opinion poll generally has between 700 and 1,200 total respondents.
These are the characteristics of the national sample.
NATIONAL SAMPLE COMPOSITION
LISTS
Current member
49%
Former member
26%
Never member
12%
Random list
13%
FORMAT PREFERENCE
News imperative
51%
Dual imperative
49%
YEARS LISTENING
1 or less
3%
2-3 years
9%
4-5 years
12%
6-7 years
7%
8-9 years
7%
10 years or more
62%
Not sure
1%
IDENTIFIED AS A CURRENT GIVER
73%
AGE
24 or less
5%
25-34
8%
35-44
23%
45-54
28%
55-64
17%
65-74
12%
75+
6%
GENDER
Men
45%
Women
55%
RACE
Caucasian
92%
African-American
2%
Asian-American
1%
Hispanic
1%
Native American
<1%
Other/Refused
4%
[Due to rounding, all categories may not add precisely to 100%]
As the research results are examined and analyzed, it is important to view them in the proper perspective.
In discussing the preferences of their audiences, musicians have a saying, "people know what they like and they like what they know." In other words, the audience's familiarity with the music being played enhances their enjoyment of it. Most people are generally happiest hearing music they have heard before.
The same holds true for most core and heavy public radio listeners. They tend to be satisfied with most of the current programming heard on their station. If they were not already pleased with the programming as it is, they would probably not be core or heavy listeners!
This is a useful perspective to keep in mind when considering the results of this research. The listeners included in the focus groups and survey listen to public radio news programming and most like it as it is now!
Listeners are more adequately equipped to evaluate programming that is already familiar to them. They find speculating about what they might like to hear instead of a current program or responding to potential changes in a program a much more difficult task. The status quo will be the point of reference for most listeners.
Local News Project I - The Research Objectives
Part Two: The National Research Questions
Market Trends Research Incorporated
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