Terry Green Blogs About KUSP

As I reported here a month or so ago KUSP is making a change in programming strategy on weekdays, from early in the morning through the end of the afternoon commute. KUSP’s new schedule in those times focuses on what we believe are public radio’s most significant news and information programs. We think the KUSP audience will come to appreciate our new programs: The Story with Dick Gordon; our new collaborative project with station KALW in San Francisco, Your Call; Day to Day from NPR News, The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU in Washington; and Marketplace.

Several programs in this schedule now air twice – either twice the same day for two weekday programs, or on two different days for some weekend programs. This idea has disconcerted a number of people, but the reasons for doing it are fairly straightforward.

We are repeating several programs we know can serve large and loyal audiences. Not many people can be tuned in to KUSP all day, every day… so by strategically repeating what we think will be among our most-listened-to shows, we increase the chances that a potential listener will have a chance to tune them in. Experience at other stations indicates that more people benefit from having a second chance to catch the show, than are put at a disadvantage by running into a show they’ve already heard once.

Another reason is more long-term. KUSP’s programmers are working on several new projects, which might meet listener needs and desires better than anything we’ve done before. We’ve seen in the past few weeks how hard it can be for a station to end programs that a number of listeners care about (even if, compared to other programs on the station, the shows that are ending reach relatively few listeners). But sometimes a station needs to create time for something new — as we’re doing now for our collaborative project with KALW, “Your Call.”

When our program development projects bear fruit (and I definitely believe they will, though I can’t say for sure when), it will be less disruptive, we hope, to adjust the schedule to make room if some of our daily content before the switch includes repeats. This also includes looking carefully at programs airing on KUSP as well as on another station in the area.

Not every popular program is practical to repeat. We thought long and hard about repeating Democracy Now! which currently attracts the most loyal audience of any of KUSP’s weekday shows. The problem is, by the time we air Democracy Now, the program is already three hours old; since DN! is a topical news program, a repeat broadcast later in the day runs the risk of bringing listeners news that is out of date. Other news programs where our content repeats (Morning Edition, for example, or Marketplace) have personnel in place all morning and afternoon so that, if news events warrant, stories can be updated.

As we go along I’ll write more about the new shows on the schedule, and look forward to seeing your comments.

Today we were able to release the full schedule of KUSP programs beginning Monday, September 1. It’s linked here on the site. We’ll be updating all the relevant site pages as soon as we can.

The new schedule took a while to finalize and release because the negotiation process involved in scheduling our KUSP-produced music programs was complex. From the outset we wanted to offer our very best music programming at the times our listener research indicated we had the most receptive audience for music.

Because our hosts are volunteers, and all have other life commitments besides volunteering at KUSP, in many cases it was hard to match up the best program host with what felt like the best air time. In that “the best air time” for a show is also influenced by the programs that precede and follow it, there was a lot of give and take between our programming managers and our hosts as we sought out the best available combination. We also listened to much feedback from station people and our listeners, and incorporated some of that advice into the final schedule.

As we begin this schedule, 32 different KUSP music programmers will be sharing with you the music they love, and music is on our air every day of the week. Our music programming schedule increases the amount of jazz on the air, and continues our commitment to classical music as well as to music with a global reach. We have a rockin’, soulful Saturday night lineup with Charlie Lange, J.T., Louise, and Seth, and we’re looking forward to building a late night lineup of interesting, eclectic music to keep listeners who tune in after midnight engaged and entertained. Many late night programmers our listeners enjoy continue in those slots now, while we continue working on long-term plans for those hours.

In another post I’ll write more about our new weekday lineup of what we think are outstanding news and information programs, most of them unavailable from any other station on the Central Coast.

Overall, we have high aspirations for KUSP’s new programming. This is what our Board of Directors wrote this week and wanted me to share with you:

KUSP remains committed to original, locally produced content, both in music programming and news and information. In an effort to regain audience loyalty and increase public service to a region that has been dramatically affected by recent media consolidations, KUSP will shift to news and information programming during the weekday hours. This content will feature independently produced local news running in tandem with the best in nationally available content. In the evenings and weekends, KUSP will build upon its 36 years of eclectic programing by highlighting the best in volunteer produced programming in underserved musical genres, with particular emphasis on jazz, classical and world music. Our late night service will continue the ‘pataphysical tradition of offering up our airwaves for creative programming that might not other find a broadcast outlet. We
hope that this schedule will lead to increased listenership and loyalty as well as increased public participation in community radio.

In short, we hope this plan brings more Central Coast listeners the kind of public radio they’re seeking. While we know that change is hard, and that many program hosts that are loved by our listeners leave the KUSP schedule for now, we’re committed to keeping doors open for volunteers new and old, and to working to the best of our ability to expand our capacity to broadcast. That way, you’ll have even more and better listening options from KUSP in the months and years to come.