Lessons Learned in Programming

Stations used many different programming formats for their Sound Partners projects, including call-in shows, news features, PSAs, regular news stories, mini-dramas, weekly discussion programs, live or taped broadcasts of town meetings, and documentaries. Usually stations chose to use only one or two formats consistently during their project, such as pairing PSAs with a weekly round-table discussion program. But some stations decided to take a progressive approach, starting with short news stories, then going into more lengthy features and finally into an hour-long documentary. Regardless of the stations' methods, most advised to keep programming simple. As one station reported, "Simplicity of the project and goals is key."

Stations found some formats to be more successful at carrying the topic message than others. Call-ins were popular with the children's health and end-of-life projects since they addressed more universal issues and could connect listeners directly with professionals who could assist them with questions. News and feature stories were most often chosen to explore welfare reform and its effect on health care, a narrower and more timely topic.

Stations and community partners discovered that they needed to define early on in the project exactly who they were trying to reach via their programming and make decisions on format from there. In West Virginia, for instance, they knew their listening audience was primarily policymakers, not welfare recipients. Their campaign was carried out primarily via weekly news reports, telling the stories of welfare recipients who were having trouble accessing health care. KDNA in Washington was able to address welfare recipients more directly and carried programming and PSAs with very basic messages on how to access the system. One station copied the sound of Mexican radio programming to create a show, La Placita Bilingue, that would reach its target audience, Spanish-speaking Americans in California.

While, for the most part, stations and partners felt their programming efforts succeeded in reaching the intended audience and conveying the project's message, there were some valuable lessons learned. Finding the right time slot for youth substance abuse programming and end-of-life issues was a problem for some projects. Some stations thought they should have done focus groups with listeners at the outset of their project to assess the audience's interest and knowledge of the issue. Other stations felt they should have run call-in programs later in the project, when listeners might be more informed on the topic. One station realized that in order to get good end-of-life interviews, it needed to give the terminally ill patients total veto power over what went into the final story. Stations working with teens found they needed extra patience and continued reminders to trust the abilities of young people.

When asked about the effect of their project on the station's newsroom, participants unanimously praised Sound Partners for enabling them to focus resources on a single issue. Many stations were, for the first time, able to hire or designate a reporter to cover one area over a significant period of time, leading to more comprehensive reporting.

Summary of Lessons Learned

• Keep your programming goals simple and specific.
• Determine target audiences early in the project.
• Use focus groups at the outset of the project to more effectively assess the audience's interest and knowledge of an issue.
• Run call-in programs later in the project, after the audience is informed on the issue.
• Cover an issue over a longer period of time for more comprehensive reporting.