Originally published on June 01, 2009

Ken Mills

Ken Mills Agency
Owner

Noncommercial veteran sees growth ahead in that arena for news/talk programming

Ken Mills is an entrepreneur, producer, teacher and innovator with more than 35 years experience in all aspects of commercial and public radio broadcasting. Prior to the 1977 launch of the Ken Mills Agency, which consults noncommercial public radio stations, he was director of news at Public Radio International for more than five years and was also responsible for station clearances, product development and research. Previously he was GM at noncomm KCSN-FM/Los Angeles; he oversaw station clearances and network affiliations for Format 41, the Oldies Channel and CNN Headline News on Radio at Transtar Radio Network; and he managed and programmed public and commercial stations in Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota. He also built and owned commercial KSKY in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

What was your first radio job?
I started in radio in the late 1960s at KISD-AM, a great CHR station in Sioux Falls, S.D. In addition to playing the hits, I hosted a late-night progressive rock show called “Underground.”

Why did you transition from commercial to noncomm radio?
I made the jump for good in 1989 when I was working for Gary Fries at Transtar Radio Network in Colorado Springs. [Fries later went on to serve as president/CEO of the RAB.] When Transtar was sold to United Stations, a lot of us wondered about our future. My boss Neal Sargent told me, “Since you like to listen to NPR so much, you should go work there.” So I got a job as GM at KCSN-FM, then a small NPR station at California State University Northridge in Los Angeles. I love being in noncommercial radio because ideas matter.

What’s the role of noncomm radio in today’s highly competitive world of advertising, marketing and consumerism?
In many ways noncommercial radio is an antidote to commercial consumerism. Public radio listeners tend to resist sales messages. They want to know that the water is pure—that they can trust a radio source. On the other hand, basic business rules apply because it costs money to operate a competitive noncommercial station. I like being an entrepreneur in noncommercial radio because I can bring my energy and perspective to the nonprofit world.

What’s the typical target audience of noncomm outlets?
It’s not about age, sex or race. Noncommercial radio stations want to attract listeners who will join our club and become contributing members. These folks typically have higher-than-average education and embody public radio core values: global connections, authenticity and insatiable curiosity. [Research about the public radio audience is available at prpd.org/knowledgebase.aspx.]

Is there an effort to attract a younger demographic?
Public radio has had mixed success playing to younger demos. The lesson we learned from NPR’s expensive failure with “Bryant Park” [a weekday morning show designed to draw a younger audience to public radio] is that we need to pursue great radio and not specific age groups. One of the best cross-generational stations is [American Public Media Group’s] KCMP (the Current) here in Minneapolis. [PD] Jim McGuinn has created a wonderful music mix that reaches many folks in their 20s and 30s while connecting with boomers like me.

How many noncomm stations are in the United States, and what percentage are exclusively talk?
There are more than 2,700 noncommercial radio stations, plus around 600 low-power FM noncomms, currently licensed in the U.S. This number is misleading, however, because several hundred noncommercial educational stations are totally repeat satellite-canned religious programming. Plus, there are far too many underdeveloped stations taking up noncomm spectrum.

In my opinion, there are around 1,100 local noncommercial stations that are seriously in the business of broadcasting. Approximately 40% of them are public stations, mainly NPR. Another 40% are religious—often Christian AC or Christian CHR. About 10% are community stations, such as those owned by Pacifica, and the remaining 10% are college stations playing music from the CMJ charts.

What is the breakdown in the number of stations that focus on music vs. talk?
About a third of the large-budget noncommercial stations are completely, or mostly, news/talk. These stations are responsible for most of the growth in public-radio listening. News/talk is still the most successful format on NPR stations nationwide. There are about three dozen major noncommercial triple A stations and maybe 200 more in the format part-time. Noncomm triple A ratings are flat, but pledging seems to be growing. Since we count our listeners one at a time, more tune-ins and increasing TSL are usually more important than cume. Noncommercial triple A is in good shape, but we need a few more stations to jump aboard. Classical and jazz stations are holding in there. The classical music demos look like the Titanic to me. In 2007 Arbitron estimated that over 46% of public-radio classical listeners were over the age of 65. It’s hard to see what the future is for classical as a radio format.

What is the position of noncomms on the Performance Rights Act?
Noncommercial folks are hopeful that there will be a blanket deal by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting similar to arrangements now in place with ASCAP and BMI.

Do you specialize in a particular kind of programming?
My bread and butter right now is news and talk programming but I'd like to be creating new signature national programming for noncommercial Triple A stations.

Discuss your Talk Radio Initiative.
The Talk Radio Initiative is designed to get some respect for noncommercial station-based talk programs. The public-radio talk world is a lot like the noncommercial triple A scene: a few big “haves” and many “have nots,” scarcity of time and resources, lots of shops doing their own thing and dedicated people who make it all happen.

What’s the reaction to the PPM in the noncomm world?
There is a lot of interest in PPM. Like everyone, we are learning how to use the new data. The Radio Research Consortium [http://rrconline.org] is now distributing Arbitron PPM results, so more noncommercial programmers are seeing how it works.

Is there an intersection in the worlds of commercial and noncommercial radio where people or companies can work together?
The best intersection is the annual Noncommvention, which provides a tremendous service. Some noncomm folks also attend the R&R Triple A Summit and rub shoulders with the commercial folks. This visibility is important to our emerging part of the industry.

Quote
I like being an entrepreneur in noncommercial radio because I can bring my energy and perspective to the nonprofit world.’—Ken Mills