Date sent: 22 Jul 96 09:18:33 EDT From: John Whiting <100707.731@CompuServe.COM> To: "\"Lyn Gerry\"" Subject: Christian: Brave New Pacifica A STRATEGY FOR NATIONAL PROGRAMMING PREPARED BY: Gail Christian, Director of National Programming September 1, 1992 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Programming Vision 2 Programming Strategy 5 Program Descriptions 8 Program Schedules 11 Sales & Marketing 14 Station Challenge 16 Programming Procedures 17 Structure 19 Revenue Sources 23 Budget Summary 27 Appendices 32 Page 1: A STRATEGY FOR NATIONAL PROGRAMMING INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE - The objective of this report is to put forth a blueprint for defining Pacifica national programming and developing a distinct unit to create a community radio network. The resulting service would provide the Pacifica stations with audience-enhancing programs while at the same time distinguishing Pacifica as the primary network for programming that is a positive alternative to "mainstream" opinion. Thus the goals of national programming are twofold. The broadcasting goal is to provide programming support to stations to increase their listening audiences and their financial contributions. The social goal is to provide a national voice that forwards Pacificals mission of encouraging peace with social and economic justice. The test of the units success will be its proven ability to provide programs that bring in greater audiences and revenues than those being generated on the local level. BACKGROUND - Pacifica took its first step toward national programming in the late 70's when the Pacifica stations decided to pool their money and open a news bureau in Washington D.C. Its purpose was to cut down on the cost and duplication involved with each station covering national and international news on its own. The stations became further involved in national programming when they began sharing coverage of special events like the Iran/Contra Hearings. By the time Pacifica completed six weeks of coverage of the Iraq War in 1991, special events programs were routinely bringing large audiences and increased revenue to the Pacifica stations while the national news substantively enhanced local news programs. National programming reached beyond the five Pacifica stations and today 45~50 other community stations regularly use Pacifica news and special events programs. >From its humble beginning as the provider of a 15 minute news feed, Pacifica National Programming has grown to a service, that in 1992, provided nearly 400 hours of programming. In order to better manage this mini-network, the Pacifica stations created the job of Director of National Programming. This person was charged with developing a plan and leading national programming in a direction that would result in financial savings, audience growth, additional revenues and a consistency in carrying out Pacifica's mission. NEED - Pacifica is in a unique position as the only community broadcaster with the resources and experience to sustain a national programming schedule. Because of this and because of the importance of its mission, Pacifica must begin to see itself as a significant player. Page 2: As Pacifica Radio moves towards its 50th year, there is a need to reevaluate its relationship to the marketplace. Pacifica stations must reach out to larger audiences both within and beyond their own markets in order to experience the kind of growth that will assure their survival into the next century. Most community stations current market share, including Pacifica's, is too small to provide the financial basis needed to operate soundly. A national production center will enhance station schedules with programming that will draw new subscribers. This can be done most effectively at the national level because programming decisions will be streamlined and costs will be reduced by pooling resources. Page 3: PROGRAMMING VISION What will the Pacifica network look like over the next five years? This report sees Pacifica in the next few years becoming a small distinct network that is best known for its unique and nontraditional approach. At the end of five years it will regularly distribute about a hundred hours of programming a month that is aired by more than 100 stations. The network will provide programming and leadership to that segment of public radio that shares the Pacifica mission and values material that challenges the status quo. Most of the programs distributed will be produced by Pacifica stations and, will draw large audiences and generous subscribers. In the future the centerpieces of the national schedule will be two one-hour news oriented programs, one in the morning and one in the evening. The anchors and contributors will be well known and the programs respected for their thoughtfulness and integrity. The shows mostly address issues of equality, justice and peace and have a provocative cutting edge that accounts for their popularity. It is this quality that makes Pacifica programs stand out. As part of the five year plan each Pacifica station will develop a national production team of correspondents and producers who are linked by satellite and computers to a national production center in Washington. Together they will provide the material for the programs distributed from Washington. In addition to the news programs there will be syndicated series that represent the best of local programming. The series will be produced by station broadcasters and distributed out of Washington as part of the national schedule. The programs include both public affairs and culture and encompass everything from feminist poetry to African/Caribbean News. Their purpose is to provide exposure for issues and artists often under reported by the mainstream media. There will be a late night two hour talk show that relies on muckraking and citizen outrage to explore the day-to- day activities of the power brokers and politicians. It's a progressive talk show in a sea of conservative shows with the same format. There is live coverage of special events and listeners have come to rely on Pacifica to bring them a different and in-depth perspective on the story. Pacifica has earned a reputation as providing quality coverage of this type of programming. On Sunday mornings Pacifica audiences can hear one to three hours of programming that reviews the weeks events in politics, talks about trends, listens to what's new in music, interviews provocative people, reads from books and debates solutions to social problems. Page 4: This is an eclectic but mission driven program that sums up the week from all perspectives and let's the audience call and share their views. Occasionally there are specials that cover everything from live performances to international conferences. They bring some surprises and high points to the schedule. This scenario represents a brief look at a five year plan that expands national programming from one half-hour nightly news program in 1993 to 28-30 hours by 1997. Page 5: PROGRAMMING STRATEGY THE NATIONAL PROGRAMMING CHALLENGE - The challenge facing national programming is to give stations programs that will make a difference to their schedules --- programming they want and find useful in attracting an audience and generating revenue. It is the assumption of this report that any audience enhancement plan should initially concentrate on the periods when stations have the potential to attract the largest number of listeners, namely morning and evening drive time or those hours in the early morning and late afternoon. NFCB SURVEYS - This report used two surveys conducted by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) to determine what programming Pacifica stations and other community stations need to enhance their schedules during drive time. One survey was of 25 community stations that were asked about their need for morning programming. The second survey, commissioned by Pacifica, asked 45 users of Pacifica nightly news about their need for news and public affairs material across the day, but particularly in evening drive. Of the 70 respondents, 11 were a part of both surveys, including all the Pacifica stations. SURVEY #1 - In the first survey of 25 stations, which does not appear in the Appendix because it has not yet been officially released, Program Directors were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most positive response, their need for the following national programming in the morning: Q.#1 2-5 minutes modules for use in existing programs. Q.#2 Morning magazine program with host. Q.#3 News and information call-in/talk show. Q.#4 5 minute newscast on the half-hour break. The Pacifica stations rated each question as follows: QUESTION#1 #2 #3 #4 KPFT 4 3 1 2 WBAI 5 1 1 4 WPFW 5 5 3 4 KPFA 1 4 4 5 KPFK 5 4 1 3 Page 6: The most desired programming from the point of view of most of the Pacifica stations was #1 a feed of short segments to augment existing morning programs. The least desired was #3 a call-in/talk show. Most stations liked the idea of morning headlines ranking it second overall. Stations gave #2 a national morning magazine show a positive response but ranked it third. The other 21 stations in the survey ranked the programming in the same order as Pacifica. However, the questions about a talk show or a magazine show are assumed to be "soft" since the responses could totally change in favor or against depending on other information like the name of the host or the quality of the production. SURVEY #2 - This second survey asked Program Directors at 45 stations that air the Pacifica news, including the Pacifica stations, several questions to further clarify the need for additional national programming in the morning and late afternoon. (The survey in its entirety appears as Appendix #1.) Here are the questions and responses that are pertinent to this discussion of programming preferences. . Would you use a separate feed service in addition to the nightly news program? Four of the Pacifica stations said yes, except KPFA which already uses the program as a feed service. 53% of those surveyed said they would use a nightly feed while another 31% said they might. Only 7 stations said they had no need for an evening feed service. . Should the Pacifica nightly news program be expanded to an hour? Three of the Pacifica stations said "yes" with WBAI and WPFW dissenting. overall the other stations surveyed were about evenly divided on the expansion. . Would you use five minute headlines? When? KPFA would not use them at all which is contrary to their ranking them as very valuable in the first survey . KPFT would use them both in the morning and the evening. WBAI was undecided. KPFK said they might use them in the morning and WPFW would use them throughout the day. 69% of the stations surveyed said they would use morning headlines. only 7 of the 45 stations said they would not. Page 7: Most stations had no interest in headlines in the middle of the day but about half said they would use them in the evening. .What sort or programming would you like in the morning? (These were one sentence responses.) All of the stations including the Pacifica stations expressed a desire for morning news in some form or another but had different opinions on the length and whether they needed a program or a feed service. SURVEY ANALYSIS - What appears to be needed is a few well placed programs that stimulate audiences at peak times of day or around particular events. Stations also want feed services and modules to use as they choose. Feed services, while good for existing local programs, do not necessarily result in an increased audience. A show may be improved with additional material but it will not drastically change the audience numbers or subscriptions. It is new programs not new segments that are going to make the difference. News feeds and modules are appealing because they leave the local schedules intact but they cannot be expected to perform as well as programs. Simply producing new programming, however, does not guarantee success. In this competitive marketplace, it is not enough to offer subject matter that is important: the material must be produced and packaged in a manner that is interesting and entertaining. Boring programs do not redeem themselves by taking on heady topics. Since Pacifica has little to lose and everything to gain, it should position itself in the marketplace as the innovative, brash and irreverent network with programs that are on the cutting edge in format and political analysis. The Pacifica stations and the community stations have labored too long under the weight of programs that are somewhat like castor oil, good for you but not necessarily easy to take. Page 8: PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS The following are descriptions of proposed programs and programming services for the national schedule over the next five years. These descriptions, however, cannot cover the texture and depth of a program that comes with a quality production and good ideas. 1) PACIFICA NATIONAL NEWS (:30). This is the anchor of the national schedule. It should have the most resources and command the most attention. In return, it should be among the highest rated programs in a station's schedule. It should eventually be expanded to an hour. In order to position itself as an alternative to other national news programs, Pacifica's news program should focus on covering peace and social and economic justice in America. It should concentrate on being a voice for the concerns of the disenfranchised. The news bureau should be guided by the Pacifica mission and should reject following the mainstream media's coverage. In its international coverage, it should rid itself of Eurocentric tendencies. It should strive to put people of color within the context of "normalcy" and not always as stigmatized by crisis and failure. The nightly news should expand beyond its white suburban West Coast audience and become more urban oriented in its approach. It should be the newscast of people who live in America's big cities with the race, age and ethnic diversity that is implied. Stories with a direct relevance to one's ability to live a decent life should be emphasized. The "October surprise" should take a back seat to the October unemployment figures. 2) NIGHTLY NEWS FEED (:30) . The nightly news should be accompanied by a nightly half hour news feed that would pull together the sounds of Capitol Hill, the State Dept., Pentagon, etc. and give stations a chance to get the news of the day as dispensed by the government. It will also include reports from international freelance reporters plus the other Pacifica stations and affiliates. These are breaking domestic and international stories that are found on the front pages of any mainstream paper. They are designed to supplement existing newscast. 3) HEADLINES (:05X5). A headline service should be initiated for morning drive. There would be five headline feeds. Headlines can be particularly useful to stations that have music formats and want to keep their listeners informed about the day's events. A headline service can also provide a savings to stations that are currently producing their own morning headlines because the national service can be purchased more cheaply than producing in- house. Page 9: Other types of headline that could be put into the mix are those that look only at mission issues and headlines that are designed for a multicultural audience. 4) SYNDICATED PROGRAMS (various). Limited weekly series. These are programs that represent the best work of the Pacifica Stations. Every station has a handful of programs that attract the most listeners and ' subscribers. Some of these programs will translate into national programs with the same potential. audience impact. These programs should be treated as acquisitions and packaged into weekly series. This is an opportunity for station broadcasters and independents to garner greater exposure and for Pacifica to offer additional quality programs to stations. 5) SPECIALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS (various) This is coverage of events that stations deem worthwhile and audience enhancing. This is everything from congressional hearing to marches on Washington. This might also include a documentary or short documentary series on a current issue. Specials could be cultural events as well as news events. 6) STATION ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMMING- SEP (various). This is occasional programming that will be distributed to the stations by national programming for specific use during pledge periods. This could include single programs or limited series. There could be joint promotion and advertising dollars to help stations attract an audience, providing there was "common carriage" of the programs. This programming would feature highly visible personalities whose popularity would have the ability to attract large audiences. For instance one program currently being discussed as a SEP program is the 20th anniversary concert of the a cappella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1993. Sweet Honey in the Rock is one of the most popular groups of movement/folk singers in the country. In all probability, they will attract a very large audience. If stations carried this program live at the same time, there would be an opportunity to generate national interest in the program and excite people about tuning in. SEP programming must be excellent programming, highly promoted and advertised and carried commonly for maximum effect. These are not breaking news stories because of the promotion and advertising lead time needed. 7) MORNING PRESENCE. There are two possible formats for consideration in the morning. A short format that will eventually grow into an hour and a format that begins as a full hour show. The short format, called the AIM News, allows a morning program to get off the ground without having to raise the million dollars needed to launch an hour program. A strong morning show of any length should help jump start the day's schedule at a local station and be a strong companion to existing local shows. Page 10: a) AM News (:30). This would be a half-hour show similar in format and content to the nightly news show. Because of the general lack of news activity overnight, it would use recut pieces from the evening news and feed service, and update the stories with the most current angle. Live interviews, reports on breaking stories and international stringers would generate new material in the morning. It should be hosted by someone with a track record of attracting listeners. Segments could easily be lifted from the program for use in existing morning shows. The value of this program, however, lies with it being -used as a new program to bring in new listeners in the morning. b) Morning Show (1:00) This is a one hour highly produced show that is comprised of feature segments and investigative reports along with news, overseas coverage, interviews and live guests. It includes many of the elements of the AM News. It also reports on cultural stories, reviews books, discusses films and art and has a flexible format that can accommodate various ways to explore the Pacifica mission. It relies heavily on the host or hosts to bring in the audience. It can be used as segments or as an entire program but a station looking for audience growth should look toward the show in its entirety. This program will inevitably be compared with Morning Edition and therefore must exhibit comparable technical quality and production skills. 8) LATE NIGHT TALK - A simple but effective and inexpensive format. An engaging host talks to people about those issues in the world that reflect the Pacifica mission. Its about politics, life, work, expectations, etc. and it is totally personality driven and succeeds or fails on the strength of the host. It exists to bring some progressive talk into the marketplace that is dominated by conservatives and right-wing shock jocks. 9) SUNDAY STRIP - This is an extension of the one-hour daily morning show. It can be expanded to cover 1 to 3 hours of news and public affairs programming on Sunday mornings. It can originate from one place or several, for instance one hour could come from New York, another from Washington and the third from California. Page 11: PROGRAM SCHEDULES (1993-1997) 1993 In the coming year it is suggested that national programming develop a schedule with two main objectives: 1) To strengthen and enhance the nightly news program and 2) To develop a new program that addresses the need for a strong national presence in the morning. The proposed daily schedule for 1993 is as follows: Nightly News :30 Nightly News Feed :30 AM News :30 Headlines :05 (x 5) Specials/Special Events/SEP (varied) Syndication 1:00 The nightly news should be considered a "must carry" program for all Pacifica stations. All users should air the program in its entirety between the hours of 4 and 7 pm. Individual segments should not be lifted from this program until after it has run as a complete program. A second updated feed should be arranged, if needed, to accommodate everyone getting timely up-to-date material within this time period. Since this program already has about 50 subscribers it should provide the first test of the impact of national programming on local schedules. A quality nightly news program should result in more audience and more subscribers. The nightly news feed should take the pressure off the nightly news show to provide segments to supplement existing local programs. There should be ample material from a variety of sources to satisfy the need for national and international stories in local programs. Six months into the fiscal year the half-hour AM news program should go into production as the first step toward a one-hour morning program. The production of this program is dependent on enough stations being satisfied with the evening show to buy into a similar show in the morning. Page 12: The AM news should run through the rest of the year while resources are being gathered to expand to a hour. It will be similar in format and style to the nightly news program with a different anchor. 5 minute news headlines produced by the AM News team will appear five time on the hour or half-hour beginning at 6 or 6:30am ET. Stations can use them as needed. It is expected that a few special and special events will come into the schedule during this year. This kind of programming will be reserved for only the most extraordinary events that deserve more than regular coverage. It is expected that a better staffed news bureau will be able to contribute toward improved coverage. A close look will be taken at local station schedules to identify those programs that have the potential to attract a sizable national audience. These shows should be considered for syndication and treated as acquisitions. Syndicated programs would not exceed an hour per week the first year. 1994 In 1994 the schedule stays the same unless their is an unexpected windfall of production dollars. It is important to improve on what is already in the schedule and to work on increasing the number of program users and the quality of the programming. In addition to the half- hour morning and evening news programs there is the potential to increase syndicated programming and bring in more specials, special events and station enhancement programs. Headlines should stay or go as should the feed service depending upon the value of the material to the stations. 1995 This is the year the one hour morning show should go into production. This show has taken two years to develop from a simple half-hour AM news that recut stories from the nightly news and the stations to a one hour program that has surpassed the nightly news show in both budget and personnel. This program can also go on the road to accommodate special events happening around the country. This program would have covered the political conventions instead of putting together a special team in 1992. There is the potential of adding a third hour to the syndication package while specials, special events, headlines and the nightly feed service continue as needed. Hopefully by now the concept of common national fund- raising would have proven favorable to the stations and there are at least two to three specials produced specifically to raise money for the stations. Page 13: 1996 Providing there is a sense of success and the morning and evening programs are bringing in new audiences and subscribers then the national schedule could be expanded to possibly include: a) A one-hour nightly news show or b) The morning show should expand to a Sunday edition or c) A two-hour talk show could be added. Special events, specials and fund~raising programs should have become well integrated into the process so that they are routinely being produced for the national schedule with measurable success. The nightly news feed and the headline service may still exist and syndicated programs could potentially by now comprise four to five hours a week. 1997 By now the daily Pacific national schedule could look like this: AM Morning Show 1:00 AM News Headlines :30 (:05 x 5) PM News 1:00 PM Feed :30 Syndicated Weekly Series 1:00 Late Night Talk 2:00 Sunday Strip 3:00 (weekly) Total 33:00 per week With specials and other occasional programs that will come into the schedule this should bring the national schedule to about 135 hours of programming a month. A nice package for a small network. What other programming opportunities lay ahead will have to be evaluated on a year to year basis after the plan is put in motion. Page 14: SALES AND MARKETING OF PROGRAMS AND SERVICES Pacifica has always viewed its foray into National Programming as an internal function designed only to serve the needs of the five Pacifica Stations. As a result, there has been a limited effort to increase revenues through the sales and marketing of Pacifica programs. This has not been true with the sales of Pacifica's technical services which have yielded substantial revenue when compared with program sales. AFFILIATES - This report suggests that Pacifica see itself in a larger framework as a network that not only provides its own stations with national programming but serves other stations that want to broadcast Pacifica's brand of programming. These potential users of Pacifica programs fall into the following categories: Overlap Markets. There are nearly 100 markets in the country where more than one station takes the same network programming from NPR or APR. Some markets have as many as 5 stations carrying the same network programming. Stations in this situation are prime candidates for alternative programming.( See Appendix 2.) Bargain Hunters. Many stations are feeling financially pressed by the high cost of network material from NPR and APR. If Pacifica can offer programs of comparable quality at lower costs, new affiliates could potentially be developed from within this group. Community Stations. Most of the community stations are currently affiliates and users of Pacifica programs. They have, however, often purchased programs at much reduced prices. These prices should be adjusted and increased to reflect the proposed increase in national programming but remain low enough to attract the bargain hunters. Specialty Stations. These are stations with a very specific programming agenda that Pacifica might want to address in order to add these stations to its affiliate list. For instance, ethnic oriented stations might have a particular need for a feed of multicultural material. Music stations on the other hand often have a specific need for short headline modules that don't intrude into their music format. The advantages of actively seeking to expand the number of affiliates is three-fold: a) the revenue base to support national programming is increased. b) it creates a larger audience exposed to Pacifica's view of the world c) it increases the number of' potential Pacifica subscribers. Page 15: The disadvantage of a concerted effort to increase program sales is that it has the potential to create a decrease in the number of stations beyond the Pacifica stations that will agree to an 800 number solicitation. So why [while] sales revenues may go up listener support revenue may go down. TECHNICAL SALES - Pacifica has been successful over the last several years in selling technical services. This money has not been earmarked for national programming and this is not to suggest that it should be. There should be, however, a marketing report to determine the sales life of the current technology and to ascertain the potential for marketing new services that will develop as a result of fiber optic and digital technology. New technology is racing ahead in the broadcast industry and Pacifica has profited from being a part of technical innovation during the dawn of FM technology. It should strive to keep up and be ready to market a brand new batch of bells and whistles. MARKETING THE PACIFICA REPUTATION - Whether you are seeking grants, selling tapes, signing up affiliates or soliciting listener support the most important sales tool is your reputation. Pacifica's reputation is enerated by both local and national programming---but primarily by local programming, since national programming is limited to a few hours a week. Most of the nation's major funders are in range of one of the five Pacifica stations. What they hear is more impressive than any presentation that might be made. The program directors must take charge of their schedules and demand that they be free of material that does not support the Pacifica mission. All sales and marketing should be geared towards selling the worth of the Pacifica mission. Page 16: THE STATION CHALLENGE Any strategy for national programming depends not only on producing and distributing dynamic programming but also on the ability of the program managers to put together compelling schedules. AUDIENCE SHARE - Program Directors are often more loyal to individual broadcasters and to the station status quo than to audience growth. Low audience shares often do not justify this kind of programming loyalty (See Appendix #3). The Program Directors should operate in conjunction with national programming by sharing the goal of program accountability and audience growth. National programming should be positioned effectively where it will best enhance local schedules. Program Directors should take an active role in the critique of national programming so that they are getting well produced material that appeals to their audience. National programming should not be viewed as attempting to compete with local schedules. It is there to compliment local schedules, and not to replace local programs. COMMON CARRIAGE - National Programming should be built around the half hour nightly newscast. This should be a program that listeners all over the country can find on their community stations. It should, therefore, be a "common carriage" program that is played as is by all of the Pacifica stations and its other users within a similar time frame. The advantage of "common carriage" is that the listener can track the program from city to city giving Pacifica a common national voice. It also means that a common advertising and promotion campaign can be designed for the program. COMMON PLEDGE PERIODS - If stations adopted one or two common times during the year for fund-raising, special programs could be produced and jointly promoted in a concerted effort to help stations raise money. ATTITUDE - The way national programming is received at the station level depends upon the Program Director and General Manager. It is the station leadership that sets the tone. If the programming is not performing it will not survive. It will also not survive if it is not promoted as a important part of the local schedules by the top staff positions. Page 17: PROGRAMMING PROCEDURES SOURCES- The schedule will include programs developed through ideas put forth by the staff of the National Program Service or from proposals submitted by Pacifica stations or independent producers. The National Program Service will accept programs in various forms: a) ready for air and paid for as an acquisition. b) partially completed programs then can be given technical assistance in exchange for broadcast rights. c) written proposals that can be funded for production. All programs, with the exception of the News, will be produced by independent producers who are treated as subcontractors. National programming can issue requests for proposals. In addition producers can pitch their own ideas. However, if an individual submits a proposal to produce a program already airing on a Pacifica station then that proposal must come from the station. Ownership and licensing fees will be negotiated on a per program basis. CRITERIA FOR PROGRAMS - Programs and proposals will be evaluated for their relevance to the Pacifica mission and their responsiveness to station needs. They also will be judged on the experience on the production team and their potential for attracting large audiences. EVALUATION PROCESS - Proposals for daily programs that the National Director of Programming considers to be of sufficient merit will be passed on to the Program Directors for their,. reaction. Although the Director of National Programming should have the final ward, an advance commitment from most of the Pacifica stations and a substantial number of affiliates would be required before a program is committed to the schedule. REVENUE SOURCES - No program can go into production until most of its budget is guaranteed. Bevond cash in hand guaranteed revenue includes: a) grants that have been approved with the cash forthcoming. b) proven listener support contributions approved by the Development and Station Relations and the Controller. c) pre-sales of the program. d) station guarantees to make-up any short falls. PROGRAM REVIEW - Any regularly scheduled program in the national programming schedule will be reviewed every 13 weeks. Page 18: The Director of National Programming has the option to discontinue or make changes in the format or staff if the program does not meet the expectations of audience appeal and value to the user stations. Page 19: STRUCTURE OF NATIONAL PROGRAMMING NAME - It is recommended that all of national programming be called "The National Program Service" and that the Los Angeles unit, which currently uses this name, be simply called "The Archives." SPACE - All national programming functions, with the exception of maintenance and selling of archival tapes, should operate out of a single national production center in Washington, currently located at station WPFW. However, the WPFW lease is up in 1995. Within the next year, a decision will have to be made as to whether or not WPFW and the National Program service continue together or go their separate ways because of space and production needs. EQUIPMENT - The News Bureau infrastructure is in shambles. Pacifica seems to be following in the steps of New York City. It has had to put all of its money into the day-to-day operation while studios and equipment have foregone maintenance and slowly slipped into a state of disrepair. One of the two studios is totally out of commission and has been raided for parts while the other is held together with gaffer's tape. The editing decks are not reliable and since the reporters do not have computers, there are growing mountains of files that would normally be stored on discs. There is an immediate need to upgrade the News Bureau in order to improve the quality of the programming sound and the efficiency of the operation. STAFF - The National Program Service will be under the direction of the Director of National Programming whose job would be equally divided between managing the National Program Service and fundraising. The Director of National Programming will be charged with translating the Pacifica mission into national programs that will increase audiences and revenue at Pacifica stations and enhance programming for affiliates with the same results. The position should have the following staff support in Washington: .Executive Producer of National Programming - This job entails keeping up with the day-to-day operations of all national productions, including the News. This staff person handles all budgets, submits all bills, maintains equipment and makes sure that programs are progressing as planned and on schedule. Evaluating and maintaining the highest possible technical standards is one of the prime responsibilities of this person. The Executive Producer is also available at the discretion of the Director National Program Director- to fill in where needed and may be frequently asked to produce special events. Page 20: . News Director - This person is responsible for the content and execution of stories that appear on the nightly news show as well as the overall sound quality and the timely delivery of the show. The News Director should have the ability to produce a program that will become one of the highest rated programs aired on Pacifica stations and its affiliates. Director of Marketing and Promotion - The purpose of this position is to separate the sales and marketing of national programs from the maintenance and sales of archival tapes. The master tapes would remain in Los Angeles together with sufficient staff to maintain them and service the stations needs for archival material. It is recommended that this new position be created and located in Washington. This new Director will be responsible for the marketing and promotion of all national programming. This includes developing promotion campaigns for the stations, designing ads and undertaking a vigorous effort to increase the listeners and users of Pacific programming. .Independent Producers - All national programming outside of the news department will be supplied by independent productions staffed by independent producers. Independent producers and staff are defined as anyone who is not employed by the National Program Service or any other national unit. All staff on an independent production will be treated as contract workers under the supervision of the Director of National Programming and under the day-to-day management of the Executive Producer of National Programs. Independent productions may be solicited or unsolicited. . Development Director and Director of Station Relations- National programming will share the services of the Development Director and Director of Station Relations who are currently located in Berkeley. These two Directors will help develop fund-raising strategies to support national programming. ACCOUNTABILITY - The success of the National Program Service staff is based on accountability. Each position is clearly defined with a definite goal that will be the gauge of competency. The national staff must increase the audience for the Pacifica stations. They can only do that, however, with high quality programs that are better than the ones currently being produced by the local stations. Page 21: ARCHIVES - The Director of National Programming cannot supervise the Archives operation in Los Angeles because it is too far away. Therefore, the operation should be reconfigured. The physical tapes and the activity surrounding them should remain in Los Angeles, while the program sales functions should be moved to Washington. This newly configured Archives should report directly to the Executive Director of Pacifica in Berkeley. COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - The National Program Service should develop a computer network that allows for rapid communication with all stations, affiliates and program users regarding program information and other needs. Although this has been tried before with only partial success it should not be abandoned. Discussions are underway regarding how best to accomplish this goal. The computer network should link the executive offices in Berkeley with national programming in Washington and the various station general managers and program directors. An expanded version of this computer network should be developed to encompass other community stations who use Pacifica programming and national production teams housed at stations. This network should result in information being dispensed more quickly and directly to the person for whom it is intended. It must allow for both confidentiality and mass communication. It must be possible to send programming information knowing it will reach the intended person in a timely manner. SKILLS ENHANCEMENT - Once an efficient and competent production center is up and running, each month a broadcaster from a Pacifica station will be invited to Washington for a four week session of hands-on production to increase their skills as needed. The costs of the month's stay in Washington will be paid for by the National Program Service. A stipend would also be provided to accommodate people who would not be able to come without additional income. The broadcasters who are selected would be recommended by the stations and selected by The Director of National Programming. During the course of a year each station could send two broadcasters for these advanced training sessions. The Director of National Programming would oversee the month-long program to insure that the station broadcaster is not only working on productions but also receiving critiques and advice that will enhance her/his performance. The purpose of this training is twofold; one is to start a process of developing station staff for national productions; the second, to compliment local training efforts at the Pacifica stations. Page 22: SATELLITE USE - It is recommended that the National Program Service book all satellite time from Washington. This would allow for coordination of all programming scheduled for national distribution under Pacifica's name. It also allows the Director- of National Programming to monitor programming- Moving this function from Los Angeles to Washington will allow national programming to develop an active relationship with stations around programs that might be candidates for national syndication. As part of the effort to coordinate satellite. use, The National Program service should buy a 24-hour line. This 24 hour-a-day line costs about $50,000. When compared to the satellite line costs accrued over the year on a ad hoc basis by national programming and the stations it is a measurable savings. The stations will incur fewer costs to distribute a program nationally since most of the charges will be assumed by The National Program Service. PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION - There should be a distinction between programs produced or distributed by the National Program Service and those produced and distributed by a Pacifica station or an independent producer. There should be a common open that identifies a program as a Pacifica National Program. Stations distributing programs should use their call letters only and not identify the program as a Pacifica program. Independent producers should not use any Pacifica or Pacifica Station reference at all. This allows stations, listeners and other interested parties, such as funders, to correctly identify the source of a program. Page 23: REVENUE SOURCES FOR NATIONAL PROGRAMMING Traditionally national programming has been funded from five sources: 1) Pacifica Stations 2) Grants 3) Affiliate fees and program sales 4) Listener support 5) Endowment for national programming Pacifica's ability to find the revenue to launch a much expanded National Program Service and to extract additional funding from the above sources has its strengths and weaknesses. Its strength lies in the fact that Pacifica has name recognition and has the necessary in-house skills to do a major fund-raising effort. The timing is also right. The disadvantages lie in 1) not having a production schedule that has been tested in the funding arena, and 2) the minimum experience in major fund-raising. while this is the opportune time for Pacifica to expand its national programming in the face of the instability of Monitor Radio and the financial problems facing many NPR subscribers, it is still a venture into uncharted territory. The payoff, however, in growth and reputation is substantially greater than the financial risk. PACIFICA STATIONS - The fiscal strategy over the next five years calls for the Pacifica stations' contributions to The National Program Service to increase slightly in dollars but to decrease sharply in percentage of the national budget. Currently stations fund nearly 90% of national programming through contributions to Central Services and NPPAG grants. Next years fiscal budget calls for stations to contribute about 50% of the costs. This amount will steadily decrease with an expectation that by the end of five years, the stations contribution toward national programming should be about 30%. Increases in revenue from grants, program sales and listener support will shift a larger percentage of the total budget away from the stations and toward other sources of revenue. Consequently the Pacifica stations can support the expansion of National Programming knowing that this growth is not dependent on more than modest increases in their cash contributions. GRANTS - The only grants solicited for national programming since the bureau was put into operations have been grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These grants, however, have gone toward the production of special programs and have not supported the primary schedule or the administration of that schedule. Page 24: In the coming fiscal year, the objective is to raise at least $300 thousand dollars through foundation qrants. This amount will need to increase to $400 thousand the second year and to $750 thousand in three years in order to support the proposed national schedule. Last year the only outside grant money was $150 thousand from CPB toward the Town Hall Series. None of this money, however, went to support other national programming activities. This coming year grants are expected to account for a third of the budget and to increase to 60% of the budget by 1995. The grant strategy is twofold; large grants will be sought from a few major foundations who have already indicated an interest in providing overall support to national programming while smaller grants would be solicited from lesser foundations for specific projects. ( See Appendix #4.) AFFILIATE FEES AND PROGRAM SALES - Pacifica currently has about 50 stations that pay from $1000 to $3600 for Pacifica news. The amount paid is determined by the station's budget. For an additional fee that varies from a few hundred dollars to a thousand dollars, some stations take all programs produced by national programming. These stations are called affiliates. Last year stations outside of Pacifica accounted for about $75 thousand dollars in revenue. As additional programming is planned for the coming fiscal year, additional sums from sales of programs are projected as well as an increase in affiliate fees. Pacifica's rates have traditionally been very low and, even with the proposed increase, remain under the level of other news services. Affiliate fees and program sales are expected to increase from $75 thousand to $257 thousand dollars once the AM show is in place. (The formula for this figure appears as Appendix 5.) If the function of sales and marketing is moved from LA to Washington and a concerted effort is made to increase the number of affiliates and programs sold then sales should go from about 15% of the budget to as high as 20% of the budget over the next five years. LISTENER SUPPORT - Listener support has primarily allowed Pacifica to respond to breaking news stories by producing coverage of special programs that were not included in the budget and then soliciting money from listeners to recoup the production costs. This report recommends that listener support be expanded from special events to also include daily and regularly scheduled programs. Listener support includes not only those amounts raised on-the-air but also donations received off-the-air from the same people. Page 25: a) On-Air Fund-raising. An on-the-air 800 number fund- raising campaign regularly generated to solicit support for the morning show is project to raise $40 thousand dollars a year for the halfhour AM program and a $80 thousand dollars a year for the hour long morning show once they are up and running. This is in addition to what is raised by specials and special -events. However, before the 800 number is used in this manner, there should be a determination that this will not have a negative impact on local fund-raising. b) Off-Air Fund-raising. People who donate money to Pacifica in response to on-air fundraising are resolicited during the year by mail and telemarketing. This off-air solicitation of current donors is expected to yield another $50 thousand over and above the on-the -air fund-raising once a morning program is up and running. (See Appendix 6) c) Major Donors. Here is an area whose potential has not been fully developed. Under a plan worked out by the Development Director a major donor project concentrated on increasing the donations of the 400 donors who last year contributed more than $100, should yield 50 gifts of $250 for a projected first year contribution to national programming of $12,500. This figure is projected to increase over five years to $100 thousand a year. ( See Appendix 7). ENDOWMENT - A national programming endowment of $150 thousand dollars currently adds $12 thousand dollars to the budget. Adding to this endowment will be part of the grant strategy outlined above as major foundations are solicited for support. At least one major foundation has already agreed to accept a proposal for a million dollar endowment over several years. It is projected that the revenue from the endowment will grow from $30 thousand to $100 over the next three years.( See Appendix 8.) ARCHIVAL TAPE SALES - The sale of archival tapes will continue to be handled by the Archives. Since it is proposed that the Archives not be a part of the National Program Service, any revenue generated by this unit should be used to support the unit, not national programming. It should be noted, however, that even though the sale of audio and video tapes has become a thriving industry over the past decade, Pacifica seems reluctant to view the Archives as a profitable business instead of a service. Page 26: A feasibility study should be launched to determine the potential dollars that might be generated from sales of archival tapes. There are certain problems with broadcast rights and licensing fees should the Archives move toward operating like a commercial tape distributor, but those problems should not stop a feasibility study from being prepared regarding the future financial viability of this unit. The services to the stations should continue at the same level and should not be under-mined in an effort to expand sales opportunities. Page 27: BUDGET SUMMARY (See Appendix 9) The proposed yearly budgets for national programming operate on the premise that no program or activity is undertaken unless funds or acceptable guarantees against future revenue are in place to cover most of the costs. In order to get the new national programming schedule off the ground it is proposed that Pacifica provide a loan guarantee of up to $300 thousand to the National Program Service against unproven revenue from grants, sales and listener support. The guarantee should be for 36 months and would be used to cover any shortfalls in expected revenue. If projected revenue for 1993 fell short then the 1994 budget would be revisited before moving ahead. The largest increase in the budget comes in 1995 when the AM news expands to a one-hour morning program. This program would not go into production if the revenue projections for the two previous years were not on track. Any amounts drawn against the guarantee would be repaid by national programming within five years. 1993 This budget calls for a substantial increase in dollars to the news bureau. This will result in a half-hour news feed being added to the schedule and to the bureau being upgraded in order to meet the expectations of a national program. There needs to be additions to the staff as well as upgrades to the physical plant and equipment. Salaries are totally out of portion to the m arketplace and need to be increased. The resources to properly cover a story are sorely lacking. These additions would increase the news budget by $146 thousand dollars. As the nightly news is the program by which Pacifica national programming is most frequently judged, it must be brought up to a higher standard technically and professionally. New programs should not come into the schedule until the nightly news can be consistently used as an example of the standard for new programming. Their is a $178 thousand dollar request to cover the activities of Director of National Programming which is to develop new programming and find outside funding sources to sustain the effort. In addition to the Director's salary the budget includes salaries for an executive producer of national programming and a sales and marketing person. There are funds for sales and marketing material and for the costs associated with selling programs and signing up stations as affiliates. There is also an adequate amount of travel dollars to follow up on grant proposals with visits to potential unders. About 20% of the total budget is for administration. If most of this money has not been raised by then the program start date would be moved back. Page 28: The budget will be constantly monitored and projects will be generated based on reality not projections. The 1993 proposed budget is as follows: BUDGETED COSTS October - March Administration $ 89,145 PM News/Feed Svc. 250,000 New Equipment 30,000 Communications System' 2,500 SEP Programming 20,000 Acquisitions 2,500 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $444,145 April - September Administration $89,145 PM News/Feed Svc. 250,000 Communications System 7,500 AM News (pre-production 1 mo.) 10,000 AM News (production 5 mo.) 94,285 Acquisitions 2,500 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $503,430 TOTAL BUDGET....$947,575 PROJECTED REVENUE Listener Support (special events) $110,000 Stations 429,000 PM News Sales 75,000 Other Program Sales 8,000 Endowment 12,000 AM News Sales 30,000 AM News Listener Support (on-air) 9,600 Major Gifts 12,500 Grants 300,000 Listener Support (off-air) 23,000 TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUE...........$1,019,100 NET REVENUE OVER COSTS $ 71,525 Page 29: 1994 The budget for 1994 calls for the schedule to remain the same. Both the AM news/headline service and the nightly news/feed service being distributed for the entire year increases the budget over last year by $186 thousand dollars. Both programs got a 10% increase in operating costs and administration got a 5% increase. The projected budget for 1994 is as follows: BUDGETED COSTS October - March Administration $94,000 PM News/Feed Svc. 275,000 AM News/Headlines 125,000 Training 10,000 Acquisitions 3,000 SEP Programming 20,000 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $577,000 April - September Administration $ 94,000 PM News/Feed Svc. 275,000 AM News/Headlines 125,000 Training 10,000 Acquisitions 3,000 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $557,000 TOTAL BUDGET..................... $1,134,000 PROJECTED REVENUE Listener Support (special events) $100,000 Stations 440,000 AM/PM Sales 150,00 AM/PM Listener Support (on-air) 30,000 Endowment 75,000 Major Donors 25,000 Grants 400,000 Listener Support (off-air) 25,000 TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUE.......... $1,245,000 NET REVENUE OVER COSTS $111,000 Page 30: 1995 The expansion of the AM News/Headlines to a one-hour program increases the budget by more than $900 thousand dollars. This expansion, however, would not occur unless most of this new money had already been raised. once again the programs got a 10% increase and administration a 5%. The 1995 budget is as follows: BUDGETED COSTS October - March Administration $ 100,000 PM News/Feed Svc. 300,000 AM News/Headlines (3 mos.) 70,000 Morning Show (pre~prod. 3 mos.) 200,000 Morning Show (production 3 mos.) 150,000 Training 10,000 Acquisitions 5,000 SEP Programs 20,000 Capitol Expenditures 20,000 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $ 925,000 April - September Administration $100,000 PM News/Feed Svc. 300,000 Morning Show 350,000 Training 10,000 Acquisitions 5,000 Special Events 50,000 Subtotal $830,000 TOTAL BUDGET............$1,755,000 PROJECTED REVENUE Stations $450,000 All Program Sales 200,000 AM/Morning Listener Support (on-air) 80,000 Endowment 100,000 Major Gifts 50,000 Grants 750,000 Listener Support (off-air) 50,000 Listener Support (special events) 100,000 TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUE................ $1,780,000 NET REVENUE OVER COSTS $25,000 Page 31: Under these projections the budget for national programming should have increased from $500 thousand dollars to. nearly $2 million dollars over the next three years.. During this time station contributions have been projected to increase only $20 thousand dollars. By 1996 a plans for generating new revenue should have been fleshed out and in full operation. From here on as extensive a national program schedule as Pacifica wants can be implemented after evaluating the successes and failures of the previous years. New questions for the future involve whether to remain a limited small network or to look for a larger number of public radio stations that might carry Pacifica programming and become a third public radio network competing with APR and NPR for affiliates and listeners. The No-Frills Budget 1993 : BUDGETED COSTS Administration $ 178,000 PM News/Feed Svc. 500,000 Special Events 100,000 New Equipment 24,000 TOTAL............................ $802,000 PROJECTED REVENUE Stations $ 429,000 PM News Sales 75,000 Other Program Sales 8,000 Endowment 12,000 Major Gifts 12,500 Listener Support (special events) 100,000 Listener Support (off-air) 23,000 Grants 150,000 TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUE.......... $809,000 NET REVENUE OVER COSTS $ 7,000 This budget focuses on two objectives. The first is to put more resources into the nightly news program to improve its overall quality and audience appeal. The second is to set up an administrative framework capable of launching a major fundraising effort. This would be the fall back budget should the revenue projections for next year be less than anticipated. END