Changes At BYU Radio

[David]

BYU Radio has a new head honcho, whose focus will be a "podcast first" strategy.

www.insideradio.com/free/byu-radio-names-sam-payne-as-its-new-head-and-shifts-focus-to-a-podcast/article_8f6f5b96-1876-11ed-8541-9b541a251000.html

[amanuensis]

It seems that the writer of the article started with a press release and then added some content, but is unaware that BYU has two radio stations. "BYU Broadcasting, the parent of “Classical 89” KBYU-FM Salt Lake City, has named air personality Sam Payne as Director of Audio Content and General Manager for BYU Radio." You would think an article about BYU Radio would at least mention KUMT.

[kenglish]

Yeah, I think there is confusion about which "station" they are talking about.
BYU has two. KBYU-FM (89.1), a classic Classical Music station, and KUMT-FM (107.9), which broadcasts church-related programming locally and via satellite radio nationally, as "BYU Radio".
Which one does the podcasts...or, do they run on one, then roll over to the other afterwards?

[CAwasinNJ]

Just to confuse things more, BYU Radio is also on 89.1 HD2 where a substantial percentage of their OTA listenership is from (and curiously I couldn't find mentioned in a quick perusal of their website.)

I don't know that Classical 89 has any podcasts of their own work. Some of the programming they air have a podcast version (eg Performance Today) but that's a different animal. Reading the article (to spite my intense dislike for Inside Radio) it's pretty clear that they're talking about BYU Radio/KUMT/KBYUHD2 and not Classical 89. All of the shows mentioned are already podcasts that also air on 107.9/89.1HD2. That makes me wonder what the heck this "podcast first" strategy could mean. Publish the podcast first and delay the broadcast by some number of days? That doesn't make sense. Making a subscription service for first access to the podcasts? That doesn't make a lot of sense either. The only thing I can think of that makes any sense at all is dropping the broadcast signals completely and just publishing the podcasts. Could that mean that 107.9 is up for sale? If it weren't for that article I would say the chances of that were slim. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I couldn't find any press release about the change. Anybody see one?

(I also have a problem calling them a "public broadcaster" since in my mind it isn't.)

[fmdj1]

I suspect the "podcast first" strategy is similar to what Bonneville has been doing at KSL for awhile now: developing content with the intent to market it to podcast-only audiences with on-air programming providing support for the podcast. They did that with both seasons of Cold and with some of their other podcasts, where they would bring the hosts of the podcasts onto their on-air programs and use it to promote the podcasts, but the podcasts never went over-the-air. Having worked in the environment, it creates a different feeling when an organization shifts from viewing podcasts as a way to get more mileage out of programming developed for on-air to developing programming that will only be heard by a podcast audience.

[henry]

I worked with Sam Payne when I was at BYUR. He's great and likable with the staff. A good pick.

Ten years ago, talking with Don -- we agreed we had "five years" (by 2016) to figure out how to get onto people's phones and eventually their dashboards. The KUMT move was exciting (just as I left) but I never saw it as being a big central function of BYUR. Like Sirius XM 143, the FM signal acted as our bridge to justify creating good content. The podcast download figures were always far more exciting than the mediocre FM/HD2 ratings.

Great to see them double down on a more forward-thinking game plan -- while maintaining the old.

I wish I knew the download figures today, but 4 years ago I think "BYU Sports Nation" saw close to 20,000 downloads per day. "Top of Mind" was about half that, which ain't bad.

(Fun aside, I was cruising on the I-5 through the Tejon Pass north of LA and heard some LPFM station on 93.3 broadcasting "Top of Mind." I guess BYUR syndicates it to small broadcasters now.)

Aug 10, 2022 14:11:23 GMT -6 amanuensis said:

It seems that the writer of the article started with a press release and then added some content, but is unaware that BYU has two radio stations. "BYU Broadcasting, the parent of “Classical 89” KBYU-FM Salt Lake City, has named air personality Sam Payne as Director of Audio Content and General Manager for BYU Radio." You would think an article about BYU Radio would at least mention KUMT.

When All Access picked up that BYU Radio was going to be on Sirius XM (in 2011), another classical programmer called Eric Glissmeyer (the PD of 89.1) to congratulate him. And Eric had to explain how it was the talk station. Very common problem. Partly why KBYU-TV (when it was PBS) rebranded as "Eleven" to avoid confusion with BYUtv.

Aug 10, 2022 20:38:22 GMT -6 fmdj1 said:

I suspect the "podcast first" strategy is similar to what Bonneville has been doing at KSL for awhile now: developing content with the intent to market it to podcast-only audiences

The gravy train was when somebody invented on-the-fly ad insertion technology. I listened to KSL's "COLD" in 2019 here in California, and it ran spots (embedded in the MP3!) for "Your helpful SoCal Honda dealers!" That's when I think a lot of places got excited with podcasting. Local ad buys in the listener's home market!

As for BYUR monetization, the word from the Board of Trustees (basically, church apostles) was that BYUtv and BYUR were simply a "gift to the world." The church has plenty of money and they don't mind spending it on media. So, that's why underwriting really cut way back in a lot of programming on Classical 89 and BYUtv. And why BYUR really never bothered to monetize at all.