Connecticut Public Radio
By The Numbers

Connecticut Public Radio is the case study featured in the original 1989 Programming Economics report, an immediate follow-up to AUDIENCE 88. Full details on this economic model can be found in ARAnet’s Research Library.

Table 1

AUDIENCE 88	Listener Income	Underwriter Income	Expense	Return	R.O.I.
Morning Pro Musica	$305,759	$26,000	$147,500	$184,259	2.25
Aft Classics	$96,991	$9,000	$103,400	$2,591	1.03
ATC Weekday	$101,557	$37,000	$63,950	$74,607	2.17
Morn Edition	$69,376	$15,000	$39,000	$45,376	2.16
Eve Concerts	$63,763	$8,000	$125,000	-$53,237	0.57
WeEd	$24,129	$1,000	$25,000	$129	1.01
Interviews (Local)	$32,257	$5,000	$114,000	-$76,743	0.33
APHC	$51,993	$12,000	$20,000	$43,993	3.20
All Else	$124,175	$17,000	$242,950	-$101,775	0.58
Total	$870,000	$130,000	$880,800	$119,200	1.14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2

AUDIENCE 88	% of Listening	% of Listener Support	Return From Listeners (Cents/LH)	Return From Underwriting (Cents/LH)	Total Lsnr Sens Return (Cents/LH)
Morning Pro Musica	40%	33%	1.6	0.1	1.8
Aft Classics	15%	11%	1.4	0.1	1.5
ATC Weekday	9%	14%	2.4	0.9	3.3
Morn Edition	5%	8%	2.9	0.6	3.6
Eve Concerts	8%	7%	1.8	0.2	2.0
WeEd	3%	3%	1.9	0.1	2.0
Interviews (Local)	4%	4%	1.7	0.3	2.0
APHC	4%	6%	2.8	0.7	3.5
All Else	12%	14%	2.2	0.3	2.5
Total	100%	100%	1.9	0.3	2.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What We Saw

At the time of our 1988 programming economics study

• Morning Pro Musica’s net revenue was $184,000.

• Connecticut Public Radio’s overall net gain was $119,000. Local efforts were losing money.

• Open Air New England lost $77,000.

• Evening Concerts (locally recorded classical) lost $53,000.

• All Else (local live folk) lost $102,000.

Everything produced locally that we perceived as a public service was performing poorly. Summer 1989 listener loyalty figures, available to us just before we made the changes, confirmed our suspicions.

What We Changed

In addition to a consistent start time and better cross-promotion, the studios for Open Air New England – which had been reserved solely for its use – were opened to other production, allowing us to spread the studio costs throughout the company.

When we cancelled Evening Concerts, we didn’t give up on locally recorded classical music entirely, but we did re-evaluate it. Now we mainstream local performances into the rest of our locally originated classical music service.

Because our core audience was still solidly classical, we didn’t expand Morning Edition right away. In 1993 it was expanded to two hours and in 1995 to three (until 9 AM).

Table 3

AUDIENCE 98	Listener Income	Underwriter Income	Expense	Return	R.O.I.
Classical (Local)	$464,879	$95,040	$160,000	$399,919	3.50
Morning Edition	$361,990	$368,000	$304,000	$425,990	2.40
ATC Weekday	$307,990	$226,000	$253,000	$280,990	2.11
All Other Acquired	$111,703	$6,000	$90,000	$27,703	1.31
Classical-24	$42,318	$0	$10,000	$32,318	4.23
Interviews	$57,326	$15,080	$90,000	($17,594)	0.80
Perf Today	$46,864	$14,800	$41,000	$20,664	1.50
Weekend Ed. Sat	$20,257	$3,000	$38,000	($14,743)	0.61
APHC	$90,311	$19,600	$34,000	$75,911	3.23
MktPlce	$17,266	$84,800	$41,000	$61,066	2.49
CarTalk	$56,612	$10,800	$37,000	$30,412	1.82
World Of Opera	$11,007	$2,760	$9,000	$4,767	1.53
Mon Radio	$4,422	$6,920	$10,000	$1,342	1.13
Total	$1,592,945	$852,800	$1,117,000	$1,328,745	2.19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4

AUDIENCE 98	% of Listening	% of Listener Support	Return From Listeners (Cents/LH)	Return From Underwriting (Cents/LH)	Total Lsnr Sens Return (Cents/LH)
Classical (Local)	34%	29%	2.0	0.4	2.4
Morning Edition	20%	23%	2.6	2.6	5.2
ATC Weekday	16%	19%	2.8	2.1	4.9
All Other Acquired	5%	7%	3.0	0.2	3.2
Classical-24	5%	3%	1.2	0.0	1.2
Interviews	5%	4%	1.7	0.5	2.2
Perf Today	3%	3%	2.2	0.7	2.9
Weekend Ed. Sat	2%	1%	1.2	0.2	1.4
APHC	2%	6%	5.8	1.3	7.1
MktPlce	2%	1%	1.3	6.6	7.9
CarTalk	2%	4%	4.6	0.9	5.5
World Of Opera	2%	1%	0.9	0.2	1.2
Mon Radio	2%	0%	0.4	0.6	1.0
Total	100%	100%	2.3	1.2	3.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positive Results

• Open Air New England, now The Faith Middleton Show, still loses money – but a lot less at $17,600.

• Local Classical now returns $400,000.

Our public service increased too. For example: We now have local reporters covering major issues in Connecticut - something we couldn’t afford before applying programming economics and making the changes.

 – Kim D. Grehn
Program Director, Connecticut Public Radio
AUDIENCE 98 Associate

Audience Research Analysis
Copyright © ARA and CPB.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 01, 2000 12:38 PM.