It's been a year of analyzing listenership data, hosting listener feedback events, surveying our audience, and, ultimately, making difficult decisions. Through it all, we have been motivated by two questions, "How does Siouxland Public Media remain an important resource to our community?" and "How do we stay relevant in a radically changing media landscape?" The responses we heard, which aligned with the data we gathered, directed us to provide more of the reliable, unbiased news that public radio is known for. "Great!" we thought, as we also love our brand of news. However, this brings us back to those difficult decisions. To make room in our schedule and in our budget for new programming, we looked at every show we carry. Are people listening at the time we broadcast it? How much does it cost? Did the feedback emphasize need and enthusiasm for it? Most shows will remain on our broadcast. But some will now be made solely available on our free app (iOS or Droid). Notably, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, a show we all love, will be moved off the broadcast schedule. It is, to us, a prime example of a show that many listeners are now consuming as a podcast. At over $14K per year, we just couldn't justify its broadcast cost. Not at a time when we feel it is most important to provide more services demanded by our audience.
What will we do with the time and money we are reallocating? We will be adding more programming! We've been searching the world of programs, trying to find shows that will best serve our audience. Of course, the only way to know if you like the changes will be to listen. We hope you will! And we hope you will keep listening, not just because you like the new programming, but because this is just the beginning. We are developing our own programming that you will soon hear. Programming that will capture the living, breathing life of Siouxland.
Times have changed, and we must change to be vital and sustainable.
