Primary Investigator:

Graciela Orozco, San Francisco State University

Partnering Organizations:

National Federation of Community Broadcasters; WMMT-FM Community Radio, Whitesburg, KY

Public radio is mission-driven and the mission of every public radio station includes providing service to its geographic community. For WMMT-FM in Whitesburg, Kentucky, the mission is to document, disseminate, and revitalize the lasting traditions and contemporary creativity of Appalachia, by providing local people with the means to tell their own stories, and to hear each others stories—stories the commercial cultural industries do not tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian voices and visions. 

Public radio stations generally have two ways to measure their impact. First, stations use Arbitron ratings to measure audience size and demographics of listening. Second, stations use fundraising metrics, most particularly their ability to raise the majority of their budgets from their listeners. For a number of reasons, these metrics frequently do not work for rural radio stations, leaving them poorly equipped to justify their work (in competitive funding environments) or improve their programming. This study works to develop a new type of audience measurement instrument more appropriate to rural environments.

By interviewing over 200 community members in the heart of Appalachia—Pike and Letcher Counties (Kentucky) and Wise County (West Virginia)—the team was able both to identify the size of the radio audience and to understand their needs and preferences. The research enables WMMT-FM, a local community radio station in Whitesburg, Kentucky, to produce and broadcast programs that address these concerns, and to make a stronger case for its value to the community. Via the partnership with the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the resulting methodology can be replicated in other rural areas and help strengthen the public radio system. 

Fieldwork at the Hillbilly Days Festival 2008 in Pike County
(photo: Graciela Orozco)

Graciela Orozco's full report, "The Democratic Potential for Non-Commercial Radio in Rural Communities: A Case Study of WMMT-FM in Appalachia," is available online via the Media Research Hub.

This project builds on an earlier Small Collaborative Grant, which explored the relationship between Radio Bilingüe and the May 2006 immigrant mobilization.