To Current's home pageAdapted from Current, April 8, 1996
By Jacqueline Conciatore
PRI launched its daily international news program, The World, on April 1 with carriage at about 40 stations, including outlets in six top markets. The show is produced with the BBC and WGBH, Boston.
PRI has concentrated on winning stations in large markets, and has netted 6 of the top 10: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas and Boston. The World is not on the air in Chicago, Detroit, Houston, or Washington, D.C.
Other large markets where The World is broadcast include Seattle and the Twin Cities.
Observers say the response is good, given that stations are averse to risk because of federal funding cutbacks, and they're still recovering from recent schedule disruptions surrounding the expansion of All Things Considered.
"We didn't want to make another change,'' says Scott Williams, whose Phoenix-area station KJZZ recently dropped daytime music for news, and had to field the usual calls and letters from unhappy listeners.
Williams, like some other p.d.'s, says he wants to see what kind of ratings The World brings in, especially because the show will carry a significant fee. PRI is offering The World free for a year; after that the cost burden will gradually be shifted to stations. When fees are first assessed, stations will carry 15 percent of World's $7 million budget, according to PRI programming chief Melinda Ward. After five years, they will carry about 40 percent of the cost, she said.
Williams will also be looking to ratings to see where the show works best in the daytime news schedule. "The real question for most stations is whether to run it before ATC or after,'' he says.
Right now, stations are doing some of each. The show feeds at 3, 4, 5 and 6 p.m., Eastern, and stations are required to carry it at one of those times. PRI appears to have relaxed those requirements somewhat, however. WHYY, Philadelphia will air it at 9 p.m., and WAMU, Washington, had the option to carry it at 8 p.m., though it has decided not to. Program Director Steve Martin says that he wants to see how audiences respond to the show in terms of ratings and pledges.
PRI naturally would want stations to carry the show when it will reach the largest available audiences, to help attract underwriters. A recent Arbitron ratings analysis from the Radio Research Consortium, showed that its member stations draw only one-quarter as many listeners at 9 p.m. as at 5.
The World has already signed on one underwriter--Merck & Co., Inc., a New Jersey-based pharmaceuticals company.
Since debuting The World in a limited launch Jan. 1, producers have refined the program, sharpening newscasts and features, says Ward. They have also trimmed out some chat between Boston host Tony Kahn and London hosts Eddie Mair and Mary Ambrose. "In the first few weeks, we pushed it to the edge in terms of crosstalk,'' Ward says. "It was an issue--how much do you take advantage of one being in London and one being in the U.S.?''
The show has also added to its music library, and polished its presentation of other elements such as the daily music quiz, she says.
One seemingly ubiquitous criticism about The World is that it sounds too much like the BBC World Service--a turn-off to American audiences, some p.d.'s believe. The criticism stems partly from the fact many World stringers have British accents, although Executive Producer Neil Curry has said only a minority of the reporters have BBC backgrounds. The perception of a BBC sound may also be due to stylistic factors. The British news tends to have "a dry sound, meaning more talk, voices, and less sound and music,'' says Steve Olson, who heads Public Radio Program Directors Association. Olson says p.d.'s are split as to whether The World sounds too much like the Beeb.
Others in the system criticize the news program for giving too much time to soft news. Says one manager: "Given the time period PRI is requiring stations to run it, it has to be more newsy. It has some of the problems Morning Edition had in the first couple of years: 'We'll go to some fine moment in some small town in Tennessee, draw back, and give you that experience.' But people demand [news]. People's time is precious and they need to be motivated.''
Many p.d.'s and managers say it's too soon to make conclusive judgments about The World. Others commend the program for sounding as professional as it did from the start. "People were impressed by a show right out of the box sounding so good,'' says Olson.
The World is "too young to critique it moment by moment and take it apart,'' says JoAnne Wallace, KQED g.m. "It has to find its feet and its base.'' Wallace says the show's strengths include its pacing, "lively'' music segues, and handling of breaking news. Her station, which competed with WGBH and Minnesota Public Radio to be the domestic production site for The World, will air the program at 2 p.m.
Earlier news: PRI's new program launches in five test markets.
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