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RADIO: A dozen stations in Fairbanks are jockeying for listener quotas in a competitive market(Continued from Page B-l)Other stations have changed call letters, formats or owners in the past 10 years, most to make the best of a marginal situation.Most recently, KQRZ FM be came KIAK FM, and switched from “easy listening” to contemporary country.Van Nort, who also manages KIAK-AM and FM, had to do it.“The trend was all over the country, where dominant AM stations were being blown out of the water by Young Turks playing country music on FM,” he said. “A longtime, well-established AM station in the market wakes up one morning and has no listeners.KIAK-AM still plays country, but is skewing toward more talk, as evidenced by the addition of two syndicated talk shows on weekday mornings. That also helps to compete with KFAR AM, a top contender during that time period.Just as KIAK has set its sights on certain tastes, other stations pitch formats ranging from album rock to contemporary Christian. Each hopes to garner a lion’s share of listeners.Frugal tacticsLocal stations are surviving. Van Nort insists. That includes his two, even while their parent company, Olympia Broadcasting Corp., has filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.“We continue to do well in themarket although we certainly have to watch our nickels and dimes, justas I assume everybody else has to, ’' Van Nort said.There is money to be made in radio, he said, but it doesn't comeeasy.“There are perceptions that radio and TV stations are money machines generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash flow a year, he added. “That’s totally unrealistic in this market.”“It’s hard to make money when everybody is scrambling for limited advertising dollars, Northern Television’s Hiebert said. For his part, he wonders how radio stations make it without television to back them up.But KXLR’s Byford maintains that strictly speaking, not all local stations are “in competition.Public and religious stations have specialized purposes. By ford said, and aren't “fighting for the almighty dollar like other sta tions.I %Generally, that’s true.For example, KJNP, which broadcasts on both bands, is funded primarily by donations, about half from Outside.‘‘Only about one-fourth or one-fifth of our budget is advertising,” according to station president Don Nelson. By comparison, general manager Jay Lewis said KAYY-FM’s is closer to 90 percent advertising, up to three-fourths of that generated locally.At 50,000 watts, KJNP-AM broadcasts the most powerful signal in the Interior. It is heard throughout the state—including Bush villages—in the Soviet Union, in Canada, even as far away as New Zealand.Still, many businesses wouldn’t even think of buying time from him. Nelson said, to avoid aligning themselves with a religious mission. No matter, since he gets bottom line support from churches, civic groups and individuals listeners, who consider the ministry essential.All those dollars go for program ming and other costs; Nelson and his staff are all volunteer missionaries. They get compensation from their churches, but no paychecks.Non commercial KUAC-FM relies on federal funds, money from the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission and the University ofwAlaska Fairbanks, corporation grants and individual donations to build its $400,000 budget. It sells no ads.“We don’t want to have a commercial sound,’’ according to acting program director Jim Schneider.But while non-profit stations may not be hounding advertisers to buy air time, thev do affect the market.For one thing, they take listeners awav from other stations. In fact, weekday programming on KUAC is No. 1 among adults 25 and up, according to the latest Wilhight Radio Research survey.wThat’s unusual for public radio. Some theorize it’s because of thelarge university community. Another hypothesis is that KUAC— around since 1962—has simply hadFairbanks Clinic PhysiciansJoseph Ribar, M.D.den Straatsma M.DKendrick Blais, D.O Joan Jelinek, M.D.Edwin Lindig, M.D. Ralph Marx, M.D.more time to build a following.Others guess it's because Fairbanks is less “TV oriented than average; KUAC radio reaches manv cabin-dwellers.It is generally accepted that non commercial, educational stations have better educated audiences. If “better educated signifies “more affluent,” and KUAC listeners fit the mold, then the station is also drawing away extra spending power.Non-profits also make it tougher for their counterparts because grants they receive usually come from the same pot that money for commercial ads does.Negotiating limitsFighting the forces of a growing, ever-more-competitive market has taken some of the fun out of radio, according to at least one veteran.“You can’t really experiment. You don’t take chances,’’ said KAYY’s Lewis. ‘ There’s a lot of experimental programming you’d like to lay out there that can’t be done.”That’s why KUAC does so well, he said.‘‘They get grants and they get creative and people like that, according to Lewis.Nor is money a problem at KSUA, where programming caters to students, and disc jockeys are at the controls around the clock.That’s possible because almost all its employees are students working part-time, for low wages. According to general manager Sue LaSalle, the emphasis is on practical experience, not payroll.Until now. KSUA’s only income was from ad sales. Beginning this fall, it will get $8 in activity fees from each full-time university student, up to $30,000 per semester.“We will also still be selling advertising, but not on as large a scale, LaSalle said.She, like most station managers, declined to reveal KSUA’s income. But she said it’s nowhere near the$400,000 $800,000 some affiliated with the industry estimate most local stations get. Those figures have been called “extremely optimistic bv others.“Compared to other stations in this town, we re operating on next to nothing,’ LaSalle said.The average commercial station pays more than minimum wage, but salaries remain comparatively low. State statistics for 1989 show that radio or television announcersearn an average of $10.59 per hour.And though overhead costs in radio are also low compared to other media, station managers are still cutting costs at every opportunity.Automation has been an attractive option, since payroll accounts for easily 50 percent of most radio budgets. Spinning records is almost obsolete; live broadcasts are more the exception than the rule these days.Listeners, apparently, aren't as fond of the automation alternative. Though most local stations use some combination of prerecorded material and automation, managers balk at revealing just how much.“The trouble is they get the wrong impression if you say you’re automated, Lewis said. They may envision a big reel on a timer, with no humans in sight.“We control our own music mix here, he pointed out, even if it is prerecorded. And the station has a live morning team, as well as a local DJ who tapes the afternoon show.Automation is cost-effective because it lets employees be two places at once, and wear a couple of different hats, according to Lewis. Still, the more local personality can be injected into a show, the better, and KAYY has evolved in that direction, he said.“We are much less automatedwe were in 1981,” Lewis said.the toughest rivalry surfaces weekday mornings, when local personalities go live. That’s when the biggest concentration of listeners tunes in-between 6-10 a.m., or “drive time.”But along with catchy programming, such things as promotions, drawings and contests all figure in the ratings game. Likewise, stations host social and civic events, participate in fund-raisers and sponsor community activities.The local public and religious radio stations don’t worry excessively about ratings, but everybody else does. Even at KSUA, where money isn’t the object, ratings count.room and do what you want, she said. “We will be competitive.It’s too soon for KXLR to show up on listener surveys, but manager Byford said it already has a following. He doesn't expect the new station to put anybody else out of busi ness, but expects to give them a run for their money.“The reason is, I think, that we’ve done our homework,” he said. “I think that we’ll have a sub-“That’s how you survive,” KSUA manager LaSalle said. It’s a point she drives home to students.“You can’t just go in the controlstantial impact.”Byford maintains he won’t be unduly influenced by ratings.“I never hang my hat totally on the results of any survey, because there are lots more of things involved than interviewing 1,000 people,” he said. “Any station can pull out pieces of the survey and make a claim. Every station is No. 1 at something.”CRISIS: Up the highway(Continued from Page B-l)Of the rest, one was in Cook Inlet, one in the North Slope’s offshore Endicott Field, and 13 were by Con oco for its new Schrader Bluff de-Measured in dollars, oil has increased 68 percent this month. Measured in marks, it’s up only 23 percent.velopment.The pace of North Slope activity will rely somewhat on events in the Middle East and the Lower 48. Oil prices are up significantly, but we have to keep in mind what’s driving them.Oil is priced in U.S. dollars, and the U.S. dollar has been dropping on world currency markets for the past year. It recently set a post-World War II record low against Germany’s mark.Much of the growth in oil prices before the recent crisis was an adjustment for the falling dollar. The U.S. dollar usually strengthens in crisis, but this time it’s continued to fall over worries about our eco-That’s bad for the U.S. economy and possibly good for Alaska. It simultaneously raises the value of our chief resource and makes foreign investment in Alaska cheaper.The problem, during a U.S. recession, is finding ways the benefit comes to Alaska and doesn’t disappear down the Alaska Highway next fall.and far less pre-programmed than nomy.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Sun, Aug 19, 1990
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 10 May 2021
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