By Tom Morphet

Except for emphasizing and trying to air more local programming, public radio station KHNS won’t make any changes in response to a recent listener survey conducted on the Internet, said program director Mary Giovanini.

"If people have ideas for local programs they’d like to have aired, a big part of our mandate is local access. If people have something they want to do – a talk show or a feature – we can do that. We just need to have the initiative and the idea and a syllabus," Giovanini said.

The station would try to provide more local forum shows, she said, and also is seeking participation in a grant to train students to produce local news and programming. However, her biggest challenge is just finding volunteers to man existing shows during winter months, she said.

"In terms of locally-produced programs, it’s one thing to have an idea and it’s another to have somebody actually do the work to host the program, do the research and that kind of thing," Giovanini said.

Conducted last fall, the 40-question, unscientific survey drew 125 respondents, including 102 who said they were members, about a fifth of the station’s membership. The station provided results to only some survey questions that asked for written responses.

Sixty percent of respondents were age 45 or older, listened to the station three or more hours per day and have been listening at least 10 years.

The survey found prime listening hours were between 5 and 10 a.m. The station’s ten most listened-to programs, in order of rank, were NPR Morning Edition, KHNS local news, NPR Weekend Edition, Alaska News Nightly, Weekend All Things Considered, PRI’s The World, Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk, BBC News and news quiz show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.

Write-in questions included, "Do you feel KHNS programming is balanced?" "What would you change about the program schedule?" and "How can KHNS strengthen its relationship with members and listeners?"

Asked how much weight the station was giving the survey, Giovanini said she didn’t see it as a vote. "If there were 100 comments that said, ‘Air this and don’t air this,’ that would be pretty telling to me. There were issues that received more attention (than others), but I don’t think any of them reached a majority."

While a significant number of survey respondents called for more left-of-center and alternative news programs, others fewer in number said station programming already leaned too far left.

"I feel the programming reflects the more liberal leanings of the (KHNS) board. For every hour of Democracy Now," there should be an hour of a more right-leaning counterview," said one respondent.

Giovanini was asked whether she thought the station offered news programming that appealed to political conservatives. "We try to air programs that are balanced and interesting," she said. "I don’t feel KHNS caters to any particular political interest."

Asked if the station had a program that counter-balanced Democracy Now, Giovanini said, "There’s not a lot out there in terms of network programming that’s available readily. To a certain degree, we’re limited by our technology. If a program was available that I thought had value that we were able to get that addressed that need, I’m not philosophically opposed to airing anything."

Giovanini said the station had unsuccessfully looked for public affairs programming that would appeal to conservatives but that it didn’t come with public radio programming packages and would likely cost the station money.

Giovanini said she has the entire community in mind when making programming decisions. "My biggest concern is to try to have a little bit of something for everybody. We have high school baseketball. Some people only listen for that. Some people only listen for the news."

What kind of weight is given to members versus listeners in programming decisions? "I guess we’re concerned about serving our membership and responding to their concerns (but) membership doesn’t guarantee anyone authority over programming."

Balancing competing concerns between, for example, basketball fans who want games broadcast live, and listeners who’ve said no programs should pre-empt news "is a challenge every minute of my life," Giovanini said. The station recently decided to run games live, except those that would pre-empt local and statewide news.

Giovanini said the survey was a response to listeners who have been seeking such a poll for years, and a way to hear from listeners other than ones who regularly comment. "We wanted to find out how much of the community those voices represent and also to get other voices speaking about the radio."

The survey brought in some new comments, but not as many as she was hoping for, Giovanini recently told the KHNS board of directors. Conducting a scientific survey of listeners wasn’t considered, she said. "That may be something that could be done in the future, but that’s not my decision." Survey questions were modeled after ones used by other public stations, she said.

While the station offers some exclusive programs like "Watershed Weekly" and "Tlingit Time," increasing media sources available locally since the inception of KHNS – including satellite radio, the Internet, a stronger signal broadcast by Juneau’s KINY and Christian station KRSA – challenge the station to maintain high standards to keep its listenership, Giovanini said.

"Not being able to be all things to all people, my hope is to be the best we can for the most people. People have access to sources. If somebody wants a show we don’t have on KHNS, they can download it off the Internet or maybe they tune in to KINY or KRSA for it."