The 20th Annual Public Radio Programming Conference Agenda
Minneapolis Marriot City Center Hotel
September 26-29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26
9:00am - Noon – Jazz Station Consortium Meeting – Scott Hanley, moderator
Spring Park Bay - 8th floor
This annual gathering of Jazz stations and producers is always a lively and productive discussion. A unique opportunity to network and address the opportunities and challenges of jazz programming with your colleagues.
10:00am - Noon – Classical Station Meeting – Robin Gehl & Frank Dominguez, moderators
Lake Calhoun – 8th floor
Get a preview of the PRPD Classical Music Testing project and view and listen to the entire real-time videographs of listener’s responses to the music tested. This meeting is also the opportunity for classical music stations to share what they’ve been doing over the past year and seek feedback from peers.
Noon – 2:00pm – News/Talk Format Station Group – Jeff Hansen moderator
Excelsior/Lafayette – 8th floor
This year's meeting focuses on key parts of the standard News/Talk Station schedule - Morning Drive, and Mid-days.
- New Morning Program Research
Mercury Research, commissioned by PRI, has new research results on what listeners want in morning programming, including presentation style, content preferences, local vs. national content, other media use, etc. This research is designed to assist in the development of alternate morning programming that would expand listening and to provide stations with tools for stations. Presenter: Mark Ramsey of Mercury Research
- Public Radio Talk Shows - Progress Report
How well are midday local and national talk shows meeting the needs of public radio listeners? Given the continuing decline in radio listening, do they tend to strengthen carrying stations' audience service? We look at trends from 2003 -- the year overall public radio listening stopped growing -- to the present. Presenter: Leslie Peters – ARA
2:00-4:00pm - Arrival Lounge
Back by Popular Demand! The Arrival Lounge featuring “A Taste of Minnesota!” Start re-connecting with colleagues as you sample an array of Minnesota treats: provided by Public Radio International, National Public Radio and American Public Media. We’ll also be handing out prizes to those who have survived the trials and tribulations of being a PD and get a sense of the issues and ideas you’ve been thinking about since our last conference.
4:00-5:00pm – Newcomers’ session
Our annual session for conference first-timers - a memorable and entertaining start for those new to our conference. As we get to know each other you'll learn a little bit about PRPD and the conference agenda. Along the way we’ll have sodas, snacks and some off-the-wall contests featuring cheesy – and we do mean cheesy – prizes.
7:00-9:00pm – Opening Reception at Minnesota Public Radio Headquarters, St. Paul
(Buses leave from conference hotel starting at 6:30pm)
Join us at Minnesota Public Radio's broadcast headquarters in downtown St. Paul for fun, food and festivities as we celebrate PRPD’s 20th anniversary and MPR’s 40th. Connect with your colleagues, show off your karaoke and air guitar skills, sample the diverse flavors of the vibrant Twin Cities community and enjoy the state-of-the-art UBS Forum. Explore Minnesota beyond Lake Wobegon and see what lies past the shores of the state’s most famous public radio export.
Thursday, September 27
7:30 – 8:45am – Breakfast with Morning Edition
From the Arctic to Afghanistan to Anoka, MN, Morning Edition from NPR News has it covered. Join the hosts of Morning Edition for the inside track on the program that works with you to deliver all the news to listeners coast to coast to kick off the day right.
9:00 – 10:30am – Welcome and Opening Session: Keynote by Robert Stephens, founder of the Geek Squad
We kick off our 20th Annual Conference with a keynote speech designed to inspire and challenge. Robert Stephens is an entrepreneur who founded The Geek Squad in 1994 as one-man operation and developed it into an international brand with a focus on creative thinking, understanding the customer, rapid response, adaptability and unique, inexpensive and diversified marketing practices. An avid public radio listener, Stephens will discuss how public radio can thrive and remain relevant in these days of rapid media change.
10:30-10:55 am – Election Break with PRI
Hear a different voice on election '08 coverage. Get a preview of PRI programs’ unique plans for the 2008 elections. Have coffee with “the likes of” Lisa Mullins, Tavis Smiley, Melinda Wittstock, Steve Curwood, Robin Lustig and others.
11:00 – 12:15pm – Breakouts
1) State of Public Radio
A look at audience trends for public radio listening in 2007 from the perspective of the top researchers of the three networks - National Public Radio, American Public Media and Public Radio International. What’s happened to public radio’s audience since the Audience 2010 study? What questions are they hearing from stations and from their management? What’s the future for public radio? You’ll also learn more about Arbitron’s new PPM system. This session is designed to raise the questions that can be addressed in later conference discussions.
* Craig Oliver, Research Consultant, Public Radio International
* Ben Robins, Research Manager, National Public Radio
* Joe Eskola, Senior Research Analyst, American Public Media
2) Social Networking as the New Localism
Blogs, social networks, podcasts, You Tube, Flickr. Are they a friend, enemy or frenemy of public radio? We're seeing promising experiments in online community building around stations. How are some stations using social networking to increase connections with audience, serve the public, and extend station brands? What's working, what's being tried that you can use and what pitfalls can you avoid? Can the impact of social networking be measured and sustained on the local level? And, are there signs of emerging business models?
* Moderator: John Barth, Managing Director, PRX
* Mark Urycki, Director of Programming and Operations, WKSU/Folk Alley
* Jake Shapiro, Executive Director, PRX
* Bruce Warren, Program Director, WXPN
3) Sense of Place Applied
In the year since we first presented PRPD’s groundbreaking Sense of Place Project, participating stations have applied what they learned. PD’s from three of those stations discuss what they’ve done differently and how it is working. Are there any models of success and what challenges have they discovered. Benefit from their experiences as they demonstrate how they have addressed their audiences’ Sense of Place.
* Moderator: Carl Watanabe, Station Manager, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento
* Jackie Sauter – Program Director, North Country Public Radio
* Geoff Norcross – Program Director, KNAU, Flagstaff
* George Boosey – Program Director, North Carolina Public Radio
4) Setting the Program Makers’ Table: The Sound of a New Generation
This exciting time of change and innovation calls on us to reexamine the criteria for what we consider “success” in programming and provides us a new opportunity to experiment with sound and craft, from the basement DAW to the sound booth of the gleaming new station studio. This session brings together some of our most compelling program-makers from all walks of the industry to begin new dialogue for what’s possible….what we need to keep, and what we can perhaps leave behind… as we redefine a new generation of programming.
* Moderator: Sue Schardt, Executive Director, Association of Independents in Radio (AIR)
* Barrett Golding, Executive Producer, Hearing Voices
* Chana Joffe-Walt, Independent Producer, Seattle
* Sean Cole, Producer, American Public Media
* Torey Malatia, President and General Manager, Chicago Public Radio
5) Programming Scenarios for New Triple-A Stations
Triple-A stations are most often homegrown endeavors. Given the lack of a
universal national format model, how have new Triple-A station programmers
crafted their sound and built their community presence, particularly with
limited budgets? How is new media being used to enhance service? Four
programmers and managers share their start-up experiences.
* Moderator: Ken Mills, Director, Ken Mills Agency
* Chris Wienk, Vice President, Radio, WMHT-FM & WEXT-FM “The Exit”, Albany
* John Hart, Program Coordinator, KTBG “The Bridge”, Kansas City
* Steve Nelson, Program Director, "The Current", St. Paul
* Steve Yasko, General Manager, WTMD, Baltimore
12:30 – 1:45pm – Lunch with PRI
New audiences, new platforms, new alternatives. Join PRI and partners for lunch, and hear the latest program developments from the BBC World Service. Meet the new morning hosts and discover public radio’s new morning choice.
2:00 - 3:30pm - General Session - Classical Music for 21st Century Audiences – PRPD’s 2007 Classical Music Testing Project
To better understand the musical tastes of 21st century classical listeners PRPD recently conducted classical music dial testing in four cities around the county. With funding from CPB, this first publicly available music testing in over 20 years was also designed, to understand their listening habits, probed their use of new media and tested some of the conclusions of the Classical Core Values. PD’s and Music Directors form twelve stations have been involved in the choice of music and evaluating the results. Join us as we present the initial conclusions and their implications.
* Arthur Cohen, President, PRPD
* Peter Dominowski, Market Trends Research (Project Manager)
* Frank Dominguez, Program Director, WDAV (Music & Station Coordinator)
3:30-3:55pm – Entertainment Break with PRI
Hear a different voice on PRI programming that entertains and retains your audiences. Our afternoon break is all about the weekends. Have a snack with “the likes of” Bob Edwards, Kurt Andersen, Jonathan Goldstein, Michael Feldman, Ira Glass and more.
4:00 – 5:15pm Breakouts
6) Classical Music Testing – A Deeper Look (Working Session)
Get a deeper look at study’s findings and help shape the conversation. We’ll examine the details of which music appeals most and least to listeners, how that appeal groups, and reactions of subsets of listeners. This session will also the discussion about the application of the results to midday classical programming.
* Peter Dominowski, Market Trends Research (Project Manager)
* Frank Dominguez, Program Director, WDAV (Music & Station Coordinator)
* Arthur Cohen, President, PRPD
7) Beyond “Hit or Miss” - Building Better Talk Shows
In last year’s Sense of Place research, core listeners consistently used the phrase “hit or miss” to describe their local talk shows. In this session we’ll share an assessment done on the current strengths and weaknesses of both local and national talk shows and share newly developed “best practices” and tools designed to help you produce better talk shows on a daily deadline.
* Jeff Hansen, Program Director, KUOW
* Marcia Alvar, Manager, Station-Based Projects, NPR Local News Initiative
8) Letting in the Listeners -Programming 2.0 and Beyond
The Internet has made it easier than ever to include listeners in our programming, moving beyond simple interaction into using listeners to develop news coverage. Minnesota Public Radio’s “Public Insight Journalism,” is the best-known effort in public radio, and we’ll cover it in this session, including the rollout of the PIJ process to additional stations. We’ll also hear about “Citizen Journalism” efforts in other media, and the effort to apply the same principles at a small station from Cape Cod. You’ll learn how these ideas might be implemented at your station.
* Michael Skoler, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Journalism
* Vickie Taylor, Editor, Interactivity, BBC News Interactive
* Steve Young, Broadcasting Director, WCAI/WNAN
* Jon Greenberg, Executive Editor, New Hampshire Public Radio
9) Building Audience Beyond Broadcasting – Your Brain In Wireless Mode
HD channels, internet streams, podcasts, vlogs, etc. What are you doing at your station? How do you think about these options? What's the future? How do you grow your service? This session is about how to think strategically about all of your platforms, their contribution to public service and your business plan to sustain them. Skills when you’re overseeing multiple staffs. How to manage formats that you’re not expert in.
* Moderator: Todd Mundt – Director of Content, Iowa Public Radio
* Jon McTaggart, Chief Operating Officer, Minnesota Public Radio
* Robin Gehl, Vice President for Programming, WGUC/WVXU, Cincinnati
* Jennifer Ferro, Assistant General Manager, KCRW, Los Angeles
10) The Importance of News and Information on Triple-A Music Stations
KUT won 2006 PRPD ACE Awards for excellence in news & information and Triple-A programming. But can news and music build audience together in other
markets? David Brown, former Marketplace host -- now a music reporter and producer at KUT -- profiles what works in Austin. David talks with two veteran programmers about the mix of news and music on their stations.
* Moderator: David Brown, Executive Producer/Host, Texas Music Matters, KUT, Austin
* Chuck Singleton, Program Director, WFUV, New York
* Don Hein, Program Director, KLCC, Eugene
5:30 – 6:30pm – Cocktail Reception with The Loh Down
See a live performance by the irrepressible humorist and pub-radio star, Sandra Tsing Loh, as she introduces her new 90-second, funny science modules, "The Loh Down on Science." Sandra can also be heard on Marketplace and This American Life.
6:30 – 7:30pm – NPR Reception with World Cafe
Join NPR, your fellow PDs, and David Dye from World Cafe for an A-list pArtAy. Enjoy the distinctive XPN-born music mix of established, experimental, and emerging artists while you sip a tall cold one on the house.
7:30–8:30pm - PRI Variety Show
Fair Game’s Faith Salie hosts an evening of side-splitting laughter and surprises with special guests Michael Feldman, Kurt Andersen, Jesse Thorn and more.
8:30-11:00pm - 9277 (formerly known as the PRI's Producers Nightcap)
Dearly beloved, on 9.27.07 u are all invited to a PRPD private after-party following the PRI Variety Show. Put on your best club and FUNKADELIC clothes, and join PRI and PRI program hosts and producers for a night of the Minneapolis sound, sexy cocktails and 9277 Party cuisine 2 die for! Xperience a Minneapolis night to remember -- come let the purple rain down on u!
Friday, September 28
7:30-8:45am – Breakfast with Marketplace
Marketplace unveils its International Broadcast. In January 2006, Marketplace broadcast live from China to create two weeks of unforgettable coverage from what many predict will be the world's next economic superpower. Join Kai Ryssdal as he and special guests reveal where in the world they'll be taking public radio listeners next.
9:00 – 10:30am - General Session - Patricia Harrison, President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; The Edward R. Murrow Award
In her first address to the public radio programming community, CPB’s President and CEO will outline the CPB vision for the future of public radio and plans to increase its visibility through the Public Awareness Initiative. CPB will also present the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Radio as part of the ceremony.
10:30 – 10:55am – Break with American Public Media’s Consumed Special
How does what we put in our mouths, garbage bins and cars impact our planet? How sustainable is our current consumer behavior? American Public Media’s upcoming fall Special, Consumed, explores these very issues. Many other APM programs will all examine these questions and bring listeners a multitude of viewpoints on this important topic.
11:00 – 12:15pm – Breakouts
11) The Future of Music on Public Radio
With the tremendous resources directed toward the public radio news format and the emerging new media avenues for music, there's talk about the end of music on public radio. That obituary may be premature. In this discussion of music on public radio, we discuss how music use is changing and how public radio can change with the times.
* Moderator: Bruce Warren, Program Director, WXPN, Philadelphia
* Mark L. Kausch, Manager, Music & Entertainment Programming, Public Radio International
* Gayle Ober, Director of Classical Music Programming, Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media
* Joey Cohn, Assistant General Manager & Director of Content, KPLU Seattle/Tacoma
* Jim Allison, Program Director, WETA, Washington
12) The Daily Interview - The Art of the LIVE Interview
Every day, hosts around the country take on the challenge of making compelling radio from live conversations with a wide variety of citizens, celebrities and experts. What does it take to do great live interviews, to plan and conduct compelling conversations – day in and day out! Some of public radio’s most successful hosts of live, daily interview programs will share their insights and experiences.
* Moderator: Dick Gordon, Host, The Story, WUNC, Chapel Hill
* Diane Rehm, Host, The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU, Washington
* John Schaefer, Host, Soundcheck, WNYC, New York
* Amy Goodman, Host, Democracy Now
13) Technology Boot Camp
Enter and drop your technology inhibitio