MTPR, in financial pinch, stakes hopes on listeners
By Ashley Roness
J494: Critical Thinking About Design and Disruption
University of Montana School of Journalism
Radio was once the quickest way to hear the news, the latest music and much more. But with more people going online for audio and video — turning to Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, Netflix and Hulu — radio has had to adapt dramatically. Montana Public Radio (MTPR) is no exception.
THE BEGINNING OF MTPR
MTPR was begun in 1965 by University of Montana journalism professor Phil Hess. KUFM-FM started with a small student facility as a part-time operation, depending on availability of students and other volunteers. The station was begun with only 10 watts of power, broadcasting barely past campus boundaries. Today MTPR serves all of western and central Montana with eight transmitters, five translators and digital content.
They broadcast to about 500,000 Montanans, with an estimated audience of 65,000–70,000 listeners weekly. About 7,600 members financially support the station, providing around 62 percent of annual operating funds. An estimated 77 shows offer music, poems, comedy sketches and news, with an entire show dedicated to reading children’s stories over the radio.
MTPR WELCOMES THE FUTURE OF RADIO
The station has a history of change that has accelerated recently, culminating in 2013 with a full redesign of the MTPR website. The goal was to create a digital first strategy with a responsive new design. This was step one of their new outlook of the new non-traditional world of radio.
The second phase consisted of another website redesign but this time, the focus was just on the front end or layout. The plan was to adapt the site for mobile, tablet and desktop view, making each even more readable and easy to use. The goal was to come up with new ways to keep their current audience interested while luring even new listeners and supporters.
So instead of having two links to a news story, one for web and another for mobile/tablet, there will only be one. They are receiving help from NPR with this.
The expansion of online source alternatives have cut into MTPR’s audience. According to Eric Whitney, MTPR news director:
“Before the internet, public radio was a unique and distinct service among a limited range of media choices. Now, there are limitless media choices and public radio needs to figure out how to stay relevant so people keep sending us money and becoming members of their local stations. Local stations are also having to deal with the fact that lots of national programs that people used to come to them for exclusively are now available on demand on the internet.
“So even if you’re an NPR fan, why do you need your local station if you can get what you want on your computer, tablet or phone?” Whitney continued. “MTPR is struggling to both maintain our current core audience of mostly older people who want the same radio product they’ve always supported and at the same time pulling in a new demographic who may not even be aware we exist, let alone that our funding model requires them to send us money and become members.”
The change to a web-based, digital first operation didn’t come without repercussions. Its created problems with staffing. The staff was unsure on how to organize the new and old tasks among themselves, complicating the work flow. MTPR hired Josh Burnham primarily to manage MTPR's online elections/legislative coverage in collaboration with MontanaPBS, UM J-School and Yellowstone Public Radio. But digital strategy issues and social media became a secondary role for him.
Social media has become a very important strategy for the new MTPR. Currently, MTPR is on three social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Facebook: The page is updated 3–5 times a day with content ranging from top news stories and fun facts about Montana. It had a steady increase of followers until recently, going from 5,710 to 5,660, a 50 follower decrease in the past month. This decrease was not a group of people deciding to not follow MTPR but due to a Facebook update. Facebook purged inactive, duplicate or unauthorized accounts. (Link here to the MTPR Facebook page.)
Twitter: This is also updated 3–5 times a day but focuses on hard news, the Montana legislature and other Montana politics. They do a lot of retweeting, especially posts about the recent legislative session in Helena. The page has gone from 5,868 to 6,302 followers within the last month. (Link here to the MTPR Twitter page.)
Instagram: This page gets barely any attention. While both Facebook and Twitter are run by Burnham, the Instagram page is run by the development and fundraising staff. It has increased from 74 to 84 likes, a 10 person increase. The last post was over 3 weeks ago giving them a total 28 posts.
MTPR only publishes one printed piece: Every month they send a printed copy of the radio schedule to all of their multiple donors.
Events: Radio and social media aren’t the only things Montana Public Radio is involved in. They co-sponsor and support local music festivals through free publicity, stage announcing and more, in exchange for a presence at the festivals and their logo in the materials. Partners have included Montana Folk Festival, Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival, Montana Baroque Music Festival, Festival Amadeus, St. Timothy’s Summer Music Festival and others.
“When it comes to media disruption the truth is we’re not the disruptors, we’re just a traditional outlet trying to deal with disruption. We’re heavily invested in old media or what people call old media. We have a lot of money going into infrastructure. Our challenge is getting up to speed with the new media environment. We want to be a digital media source and not just a radio station. You just have to remember that we (MTPR) aren’t the disruptors,” said Burnham.
MTPR HITS FINANCIAL WOES
MTPR has hit a few bumps in the road this past year, encountering some financial challenges.
In an April 12th article in the Missoulian, MTPR’s station manager William Marcus explained the need for listener support as their steady flow of funding has diminished. State and federal funding has decreased, leaving only one funding option available, the listening public.
In the 2015 fiscal year, MTPR brought in $1.2 million in local funding, resulting in a budget deficit of about $125,000. MTPR will end the fiscal year in June in deficit. To balance the budget for the upcoming year, donor support must increase by $300,000 moving them from $1.2 million to $1.5 million according to the Missoulian.
The $300,000 increase resulting in the $1.5 million projection breaks out as follows:
- $75,000 increase to basic operations
- $70,000 increase in payroll and benefits including making the part-time stratgic and digital content position full-time and creating a marketing position
- $130,000 to replace 1 of 5 most aged transmitters
- $25,000 increase in communications, program fees, basic supplies and fundraising expense.
This all adds up to $300,000 bringing MTPR to a break even point for the 2016 fiscal year.
The need for increased funding has become particularly dire for the 2016 fiscal year, since the 2015 fiscal year’s revenue did not meet the station’s basic needs. Starting in 2016 they will also ask for local support to replace the transmitter and help with infrastructure upkeep. The federal telecommunications grant program that used to fund 75 percent of the infrastructure projects was canceled a few years ago.
MTPR FUNDING: WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?
This chart breaks down sources of funding for MTPR. 60 percent of annual revenue comes from listeners and sponsors.
The state money is from the University of Montana with a cash portion (17%) going towards personnel and in-kind (11%), covering the studios and offices on the UM campus plus utilities and maintenance. This also covers the upkeep of the utilities at their transmitter sites.
The federal funding (10%) is granted by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and is determined by the size of the audience non-federal revenue. This means success in listener support leads to larger grants from CPB.
Contributions from the dedicated listeners of MTPR is the largest source of funding.
In 2016 the station will need $1.5 million from listeners and sponsors to meet the every day operation of the station. The chart above shows how that money is spent. A more detailed breakdown is listed below:
- Equipment: replace one of the aging transmitters.
- Operations: programs purchased, communication costs, broadcast costs and ongoing maintenance, travel, leases for our transmitter sites and fundraising expenses.
- Personnel: the technical staff, fundraising/communications staff and the station management.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Many are asking what does MTPR plan to do now. What happens if they don’t get enough listeners and sponsors to contribute? Well, radio will do what it does best, adapt. MTPR knows how to ride the waves of disruption and plan to do so for many years to come.
This report was produced for the final thesis in “J494: Critical Thinking About Design and Disruption,” the Spring 2015 Pollner Seminar at the University of Montana. Link here to review the rest of the reports from our class. Link here to review our syllabus for the course.
To contact the reporter, ronessa@yahoo.com. To visit my personal website, for photography, essays and more, Twitter: @ashley_roness
