GB: The short version is that when KPBS had a huge budget hole in 2007, they canceled a TV show and A Way with Words, and a dozen people or so lost their jobs.
In just a couple of days after that, we came to an agreement to take over the show.
At the time, the show was heard in just four states and KPBS did not have the staff who could try to pitch the show to other stations, nor to solicit national underwriting of the kind needed to fund a national show.
So we took that on. It's been a looooong slog but we've learned what we had to about fundraising, sponsors, pitching the show to stations, keeping our listeners engaged, and so forth.
Now the show is on in 30 states, we added 14 broadcasters last year, and we've just seen a 41% increase in our podcast download numbers, our seventh consecutive year of big growth. In terms of audience, we're in the top 30 of all public radio shows nationwide, despite the fact that we get no funding from any station, nor from NPR (in fact, most public radio shows are not funded by NPR).
MB: Unconventional is right: Although our expertise is in language, we had to learn to do LOTS of other things over the past 7 years, such as build a nonprofit organization from scratch, to make cold calls to potential underwriters, and develop a major gifts campaign like other nonprofits. I don't know any other public radio hosts who have a Certificate in Fundraising Management -- or at least who got one after they started working in radio-- but I earned one over the course of this past year from Indiana University's philanthropy school -- all the better to make sure we're using best practices and making the most of the generosity of our supporters, and ensuring that our nonprofit becomes self-sustaining so we can continue to serve our listeners.
JB: So, clearly you've made tremendous progress since you struck out on your own. How're you doing financially? Is this an auspicious moment to make your pitch?
GB: The show does just fine financially and has seen year-over-year growth since we took it over in 2007. That said, we are working on a plan to take it to the next level, which means hiring a professional fundraising person who is better equipped professionally than we are to do what needs to be done.
Fortunately, public radio listeners are a kind, caring, and giving bunch. They have such big hearts. They not only make donations, but they often tell us a story about themselves that helps us understand who they are and why they listen. That's important.
JB: I like that! Did I hear on your podcast that your show is free to stations? That also sounds unconventional. Did I misunderstand? If not, why did you choose to go that route? It seems much more challenging.
GB: Actually, a lot of shows are free to stations. NPR, of which are not a part, offers a number of shows at no cost to stations. The idea is that a show will get picked up by more stations -- as long as the show is high-quality -- and then the producing organization can then sell more sponsorships, which then fund the show. If your sales team is good, you can definitely fund the show more completely and more consistently through your own sponsorships than you can by getting carriage fees from stations.
JB: I didn't know that. Thanks for explaining. Who makes up your audience? Demographically? Geographically? What're your numbers? Do you have to be a word nerd to enjoy your show?
GB: Just like you don't have to be a gearhead to like Car Talk, you don't have to be a word nerd to enjoy our show. We try to keep it light and avoid a lot of the kind of carping and peeving that comes about in most other places when people discuss language, which makes it much more listenable than it might otherwise be. It's too easy to lord your knowledge over others and then alienate almost everyone, so we do our best to avoid that.
Our listenership is a bit more female than male, about 40% of it is in the 18-34 range, and it's heard throughout the United States on radio, and all over the world online. We estimate that we have about 300,000 listeners a week, which is very strong for a show that's not in some of the country's biggest markets.
JB: Do you have plans to expand to bigger markets? And if so, how would you go about that?
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