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[chron] Shakeup planned at KPFT

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Faos, Mar 19, 2005.

  1. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    I wonder what they'll do?

    http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3092337

    Manager says all possibilities 'are on the table'

    By ALLAN TURNER
    Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

    Faced with a "stupendous drop" in listenership and a troubling inability to meet fund-raising goals, Houston's listener-supported KPFT-FM (90.1) — long an iconoclastic voice in a radio market dominated by corporate giants — is planning a series of programming and scheduling changes that could dramatically reshape its offerings.


    "There's a possibility we could shake this whole thing up," General Manager Duane Bradley said this week. "I think that right now all programming considerations are on the table. I don't think we have any options that we're not willing to discuss."

    Bradley, 50, stressed that despite the expected changes, the station, which celebrated its 35th anniversary March 1, will remain true to the peace-and-justice philosophy of its parent, Pacifica Foundation. The left-leaning network, founded in 1949 by pacifist Lewis Hill, also operates stations in Berkeley, Calif., Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.

    Second broadcast added
    Bradley's first change, which became effective March 10, was to add a second weekday broadcast of commentator Amy Goodman's news and opinion program Democracy Now! at 7 a.m. The previous 9 a.m. airing, which brought the station a fourth of its listener-generated income, will be retained for the immediate future, Bradley said.

    The general manager also announced the departure of program director Otis Maclay, who will become national technology director for the network. Maclay, who had held his position since 2002, will be replaced by news co-director Ernest Aguilar.

    Bradley said the changes, which will be put in place during the next several months, were prompted by Arbitron figures showing KPFT's weekly cumulative listenership had plunged to about 110,000, from 150,000, in the past year. By comparison, KODA-FM, the most popular of broadcast giant Clear Channel Radio's eight Houston stations, routinely draws a weekly listenership in excess of 500,000.

    Fund raising falls short
    Also worrisome were shortfalls in recent fund-raising efforts. Spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez-Miller said 94 percent of the 30,000-watt station's annual income comes from listeners. The balance comes from a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant. The station gets no money from Pacifica.

    During last fall's fund-raising campaign, Bradley said, the station fell 7 percent short of its $390,000 goal; earlier this year, it fell 20 percent short of a $360,000 goal. The station has an annual budget of about $1.4 million and a paid staff of 13.

    The general manager suggested the Arbitron figures simply might reflect a falling-off of listenership after the heady days of listener anger generated by the invasion of Iraq. The decline in contributions may be a result of listener disappointment in the re-election of President Bush or "donor fatigue."

    Bradley said the number of the station's financial supporters has remained steady at about 9,000.

    Vital role praised
    Despite the setbacks, University of Houston communications professor Fred Schiff argued that KPFT fills a vital role in the Houston radio world. No other station, he said, provides similar views on news issues or is so finely attuned to Houston culture. He predicted that the station is "on the cusp of gaining a whole new audience."

    Historically, the station has been tough. It's survived two Ku Klux Klan attacks on its transmitter and uncounted internecine wrangles. Yet the current problems, which Bradley rated at "a 6 or 6.5 on a scale of 10" are daunting.

    Despite the Pacifica goal to engage young and ethnically diverse listeners, the typical KPFT fan is a 51-year-old, college-educated white male, Bradley said.

    "This was a youth-oriented station that every young person in Houston knew about," Bradley said. "Asked about KPFT now, most kids don't know who we are. We have this generation gap. It's very disconcerting. It does not bode well for the future."

    Christopher Sterling, a broadcast expert with George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, noted Pacifica is not alone in facing such problems.

    "The larger picture is that much of public radio is trying to find a stable place," he said in an e-mail. "The local (Washington, D.C.) NPR member station, WETA, just dumped all its classical music for an all-talk format — in a city not short of talk. There's a (Pacifica) outlet here, but I virtually never hear anyone talk about it."

    All FM stations, he said, face competition from satellite radio, low-power FM and other entertainment alternatives eroding their audience.

    "While I'm sympathetic to the concerns about homogenization of radio, I don't see Pacifica playing a huge part in balancing the problem," said Sterling, who is writing a history of FM broadcasting. " ... A small audience for KPFT is not bad if there are enough of them to keep the station going. But one may well ask, what's the point if it is only talking to the choir?"

    Smallest Pacifica station
    KPFT is the smallest of the Pacifica stations, most of which have listenership approaching or exceeding 200,000, said Phil Osegueda, the network's director of special projects and administration. Houston-Galveston is the nation's seventh-largest radio market.

    For Bradley and his staff, crafting a new programming format — one that will satisfy the station's fervent backers — could be explosive.

    Six years ago, accusations that network management had abandoned topical programming in favor of music led to a months-long dispute at KPFA, Pacifica's Berkeley flagship station. As thousands picketed the station, management padlocked the doors and broadcast taped Marxist analyses of the 1960s. The Houston station, which had dramatically increased listenership by adding musical programming, was excoriated as a Pacifica apostate and a "jukebox" — a model not to be followed.

    'Still a need for KPFT'
    Bradley became general manager in Houston in February 2002 as dissidents assumed control of the network. Today, KPFT's weekday programming features a 50-50 talk-music mix. Weekend programming leans heavily to music shows.

    "There is still a need for KPFT," Bradley said. "If Pacifica's mission had been achieved, we wouldn't be in places like Iraq, we wouldn't be basing the largest part of our global economy on weapons manufacture, people wouldn't be starving to death in the Congo, they would be fed.

    "There's still an awful need for peace and social justice."
     
  2. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    Just add the Phil Hendrie Show and everything will be fine.
     
  3. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    I'm good with that.
     
  4. Dubious

    Dubious Contributing Member

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    Gosh who'd have thought they couldn't support a station with Prison Polka, Veganism for Lesbians and the Togo Noseharp hour?

    There is no money in diversity, and there's no money in programming to poor folks. Sad but True. I would have still listened to KPFT for the music (and left my monthly donation active) if they didn't insist on changing the schedule every week.
     
  5. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    It is a sad commentary on Houston that the 4th largest city in the nation still cannot find a way to have a legit indie radio station that caters to music. Our only college stations are either all classical (KUHF), all noise (KTRU) or all jazz (KTSU). KPFT used to AT THE VERY LEAST carry some legit musical programming like World Cafe and bluegrass Saturdays or Milestones.

    There are great independent radio stations out there that still break bands and help to shape the indie music industry. We are one of the few big cities that doesn't have one.
     
  6. Vengeance

    Vengeance Contributing Member

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    KPFT has gone downhill drastically. About a year or so ago, they changed quite a bit with the format and the programming and what not. IMO, it was a fatal misstep. The music is much more diverse than it used to be, but it is so tremendously directed that it doesn't cater to a large enough audience to be viable. It's not really reflected on the program guide very well, but it seems that whenever I turn on KPFT any more, if there's music, it's something that so completely doesn't appeal to me (or anyone I know, for that matter), that I'll change the station. Sometimes it's Asian hip-hop, sometimes it's Indian music, but whatever it is, it's not something I am interested in listening to. I've discovered quite a few great musicians, some of my very favorites, listening to KPFT, but not so much any more. KPFT used to be the kind of station that I would even listen to stuff I wasn't interested in (like the Vegan show, or Nuestra Palabra) because it was still good, but I just don't think so any more.

    They put a tremendous amount of emphasis on electing a Listener board and having this whole democratic process for it and everything, but I think it's gone very badly for KPFT. They've become even more of a niche station than they were already, and they want to focus on so many small interests that they lose out on the larger audience. There also seems to be an attitude of whining about problems and talking about things when KPFT used to actually mobilize listeners to take more action towards the progressive cause. Now I just feel like it's a bunch of holier-than-thou folks complaining about how much the world sucks and how good they are for thinking that. I dunno, that's probably too harsh. I've just been really frustrated with KPFT over the past year. I used to listen to 90.1 ALL THE TIME, but hardly ever now. I try to listen, but I just can't usually bring myself to not change back to SR610. I used to listen to "Rastaman Vibrations" religiously every Saturday, but that was gone, then World Cafe was gone, then several other people and programs were gone, and now I usually will check out the BBC News, Prison show, Technology bytes, and some of the Saturday blues music, and nothing else.
     
  7. cagey veteran

    cagey veteran Member

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    I like the uncastrated classic rock that they have on Friday and if they still have that Grateful Dead show, that was good, but I can't remember when they had that. I wish they played more music. I like some of the talk and news every now and then, but its always bad news and there's nothing I can do about it, so I'd rather just listen to music.
     
  8. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    I cannot keep up with its programming ..

    I try to check it every one more again

    Is there a ALL DAY NPR station
    KtSU use to carry it in the morning
    [they may still do .. . . but since Tavis went off. . . ]

    Rocket RIver
     

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