KRCB Television And Radio: The Canary In The Coal Mine
RE: Midterm- Case 15 Strategic Analysis: “KRCB Television and Radio: The Canary in the Coal Mine”
Executive Summary
Business Model
We believe that KRCB’s current business model resembles PBS’ which is shown in Figure 1. KRCB’s business model has many gaps in it from community anchors to universal access and connectivity. KRCB isn’t able to afford the new technologies in the TV and radio segments, and they cannot hold on to board members within the community long enough to have strong anchors from the community within the company.
Current Mission, Values, Goals and Objectives
Figure [ 1 ]: Interpreted KRCB Business Model
KRCB’s mission statement had not been changed since its inception and is as follows: “In order to encourage …show more content…
full participation in society and community, KRCB provides educational, informational, and cultural telecommunication services in partnership with our community.” The company also held three specific goals which focused on programming, education, and finances. KRCB’s values include:
* Promote community awareness of cultural richness and human diversity * Serve students in various diverse settings * Retain current members * Extend Public TV to 250,000 people in the region who cannot receive PBS * Extend educational TV signal to the many schools outside existing range of other stations * Provide as much local programming as possible
Their financial objective was to remain a stable and enduring institution by exercising sound financial management.
KRCB was also reaching towards two goals: To strengthen the quality, quantity, visibility, and support of KRCB’s local programs and services, and to enhance KRCB’s options in providing and responding to new technologies.
Analysis of Current Strategy
After Nancy Dobbs, president and CEO, of KRCB Television and Radio, realized that her company was facing many challenges that could ultimately bring her company down, she decided that it was time to implement a new strategy. Some of the challenges that the company was facing were not being able to reach a broad range of customers and that technology kept changing. At a Board of Directors meeting back in 1996, the members of the board began developing a strategic plan that would help change the organization and turn around declining revenues over the next couple of years. The two strategies that were agreed upon were to “strengthen the quality, quantity, visibility, and support of KRCB’s local programs and services,” and “Enhance KRCB’s options in providing and responding to new …show more content…
technologies.”
These two strategies paved the way for KRCB to start revamping their organization, they had a plan and it was time to take action. Over the next couple of years KRCB TV and Radio began enhancing their technological equipment and their facilities as well as serving the needs and interests of their diverse audience base. Also, they developed a way to increase fundraising as well as, a way audiences could become members of the organization which achieved more financial consistency. Lastly, they strengthened their image and expanded their influences on serving their community.
Not only did KRCB have to change their strategic plan, but they also had to benchmark their company against their competitors. They made sure that the technology they were using for broadcasting was the most up to date and that they obtained the permits they needed to run the equipment. As well as marketing their television and radio programs to meet the needs of children and adult viewers. Next, they had to make sure that their company was going to outperform their competitors in both television and radio ratings. By implementing these new strategies KRCB was able to boost their ratings, revenues, and stay competitive with their fellow competitors.
Core Competencies, Cost Competitiveness, and SWOT Analysis
It is important to determine internal activities within KRCB that are well-performed and central to their strategy, competitive edge, and profitability. The company’s core competence is its volunteer system. “Coordinating volunteers was vital to the station’s operations.” Volunteers assist in all areas including programming, filing, writing public service announcements, acting as program hosts, landscaping, facilities work, mailing, fielding phone calls, working special events and pledge drives, operating cameras, and various other activities. Although the hours had declined, KRCB logged 12,000 volunteer hours. This competence is in danger due to the war in Iraq and there being a decrease in recruiting more volunteers.
In determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of KRCB, we are able to create new strategies and ways to implement them. KRCB’s SWOT Analysis is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: KRCB SWOT Analysis |
Internal Factors (IFAS)ExternalFactors(EFAS) | Strengths (S)S1: Affiliate with PBSS2: Carried with popular cable and satellite TV, ex: ComcastS3: Differentiation: different local programs and a variety of musicS4: Audience mirrors the audiences of PBS and NPRS5:Targets the elite and highly educated making culture and education more accessible S6: Meeting the unique needs of the North Bay community: Spanish, quality children, college course, and adult literacy programsS7: No fixed level of personal contribution from board membersS8: Provides nonmonetary benefits to donors | Weaknesses (W)W1: Missed goal in pledge driveW2:No cash reservesW3: Low operating budgetW4: FCC pending license in order to broadcast to the entire North BayW5: Weak signal on second radio stationW6: Cannot afford to buy rating reportsW7: Old and unwelcoming office buildingsW8: High turnover of paid staffW9: Lack of diversity: makeup of board a hindrance on receiving grantsW10: Total expenses increasing over 3 years and Net assets decreasing
| Opportunities (O)O1: Stream audio onlineO2: TV and radio broadcasting on the internet O3: 21% of the adult population watch/listen to video/audio onlineO4: Radio digital conversion: broadcast several streamsO5: Emersion of digital transmission technologyO6: Banding together with other local public broadcasters | O6: Help California with some of the projects on the statewide agenda in return for fundsO3&S3/O4&S3: Reaching different audiences with different programs online | W3&O5: Could incur higher fixed operating costsO3&W6: Cannot assess KRCB’s specific demographicsO6&W8: May hinder any partnerships/strategic alliances | Threats (T)T1: A lot of local competitionT2: Emersion of satellite radioT3: Use of digital transmission technology could incur higher fixed operating costsT4: FCC rules and licenses aim to protect KCSM-FM’s signalT5: Deadline to convert to HDTVT6: KQED broadcasts in to a very large area in the region T7: Noncommercial /commercial television stations in danger of losing their audiences since the model of distribution was changing | T1&S1,2,3,4,5,6: Meets the needs of a variety of audiences | W2&T5: Fees for not meeting conversion to HDTV may incur high debt for KRCBW5&T4: Cannot increase signal strength and broadcasting range if FCC refuses to approve new license W5&T6: May lose customers to this station |
Implementation
The competitive capabilities that need to be strengthened immediately are KRCB’s technology as well as their marketing to the right demographics. In order to learn about their audience, KRCB has to purchase the correct reports that give necessary information about their listeners. Once they have a correct understanding about their market segment KRCB can then make the necessary arrangements in marketing and advertising to certain demographics, as well as which types of programs and technology are most popular among them. KRCB needs to be changing with the industry and their audience. They need to develop strengths in being able to adapt quickly to new technologies and programs that are most popular and will produce the largest amount of profit for the company. KRCB needs to take advantage of the new technology available and the growing percentage of online television and radio services. This is growing 20% among Americans alone, and KRCB needs to act on this opportunity immediately. We also believe the KRCB should begin partnering with other local broadcasters in the common good of the state in order to receive necessary funds to make up for budget shortages and the need to purchase informational reports.
Mission, Vision, and Values Revisited
KRCB’s mission statement to this day has remained yet to be changed. Their goals have been updated to: * Establish KRCB as a highly visible local arts, cultural, educational, news, and community information media hub, offering a unique service to the North Bay in order to encourage full participation in community and society. * Expand KRCB's options in providing and responding to new technologies through enhancement of technological functions and equipment. * Expand KRCB's sphere of influence through community alliances and collaborations. * Pursue financial growth to support mission statement and strategic plan goals
The problems that stemmed from the prior goals and values were they were far-reached, hypocritical, and were old. KRCB only changed their strategy once, they worked towards diversity, yet were undiversified, and they were looking to provide PBS to 250,000 people in the region who didn’t receive that program, when other stations in the area offered PBS before KRCB.
We recommend KRCB’s new vision look like the following:
We want to inspire and encourage all of our customers to fully participate in the community and society by offering a variety of unique services that help them partner with one another culturally, educationally, and informationally, as well as pursue financial growth, and be known as one of North Bay’s greatest radio and television stations.
Executive Summary
Business Model
We believe that KRCB’s current business model resembles PBS’ which is shown in Figure 1. KRCB’s business model has many gaps in it from community anchors to universal access and connectivity. KRCB isn’t able to afford the new technologies in the TV and radio segments, and they cannot hold on to board members within the community long enough to have strong anchors from the community within the company.
Current Mission, Values, Goals and Objectives
Figure [ 1 ]: Interpreted KRCB Business Model
KRCB’s mission statement had not been changed since its inception and is as follows: “In order to encourage …show more content…
full participation in society and community, KRCB provides educational, informational, and cultural telecommunication services in partnership with our community.” The company also held three specific goals which focused on programming, education, and finances. KRCB’s values include:
* Promote community awareness of cultural richness and human diversity * Serve students in various diverse settings * Retain current members * Extend Public TV to 250,000 people in the region who cannot receive PBS * Extend educational TV signal to the many schools outside existing range of other stations * Provide as much local programming as possible
Their financial objective was to remain a stable and enduring institution by exercising sound financial management.
KRCB was also reaching towards two goals: To strengthen the quality, quantity, visibility, and support of KRCB’s local programs and services, and to enhance KRCB’s options in providing and responding to new technologies.
Analysis of Current Strategy
After Nancy Dobbs, president and CEO, of KRCB Television and Radio, realized that her company was facing many challenges that could ultimately bring her company down, she decided that it was time to implement a new strategy. Some of the challenges that the company was facing were not being able to reach a broad range of customers and that technology kept changing. At a Board of Directors meeting back in 1996, the members of the board began developing a strategic plan that would help change the organization and turn around declining revenues over the next couple of years. The two strategies that were agreed upon were to “strengthen the quality, quantity, visibility, and support of KRCB’s local programs and services,” and “Enhance KRCB’s options in providing and responding to new …show more content…
technologies.”
These two strategies paved the way for KRCB to start revamping their organization, they had a plan and it was time to take action. Over the next couple of years KRCB TV and Radio began enhancing their technological equipment and their facilities as well as serving the needs and interests of their diverse audience base. Also, they developed a way to increase fundraising as well as, a way audiences could become members of the organization which achieved more financial consistency. Lastly, they strengthened their image and expanded their influences on serving their community.
Not only did KRCB have to change their strategic plan, but they also had to benchmark their company against their competitors. They made sure that the technology they were using for broadcasting was the most up to date and that they obtained the permits they needed to run the equipment. As well as marketing their television and radio programs to meet the needs of children and adult viewers. Next, they had to make sure that their company was going to outperform their competitors in both television and radio ratings. By implementing these new strategies KRCB was able to boost their ratings, revenues, and stay competitive with their fellow competitors.
Core Competencies, Cost Competitiveness, and SWOT Analysis
It is important to determine internal activities within KRCB that are well-performed and central to their strategy, competitive edge, and profitability. The company’s core competence is its volunteer system. “Coordinating volunteers was vital to the station’s operations.” Volunteers assist in all areas including programming, filing, writing public service announcements, acting as program hosts, landscaping, facilities work, mailing, fielding phone calls, working special events and pledge drives, operating cameras, and various other activities. Although the hours had declined, KRCB logged 12,000 volunteer hours. This competence is in danger due to the war in Iraq and there being a decrease in recruiting more volunteers.
In determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of KRCB, we are able to create new strategies and ways to implement them. KRCB’s SWOT Analysis is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: KRCB SWOT Analysis |
Internal Factors (IFAS)ExternalFactors(EFAS) | Strengths (S)S1: Affiliate with PBSS2: Carried with popular cable and satellite TV, ex: ComcastS3: Differentiation: different local programs and a variety of musicS4: Audience mirrors the audiences of PBS and NPRS5:Targets the elite and highly educated making culture and education more accessible S6: Meeting the unique needs of the North Bay community: Spanish, quality children, college course, and adult literacy programsS7: No fixed level of personal contribution from board membersS8: Provides nonmonetary benefits to donors | Weaknesses (W)W1: Missed goal in pledge driveW2:No cash reservesW3: Low operating budgetW4: FCC pending license in order to broadcast to the entire North BayW5: Weak signal on second radio stationW6: Cannot afford to buy rating reportsW7: Old and unwelcoming office buildingsW8: High turnover of paid staffW9: Lack of diversity: makeup of board a hindrance on receiving grantsW10: Total expenses increasing over 3 years and Net assets decreasing
| Opportunities (O)O1: Stream audio onlineO2: TV and radio broadcasting on the internet O3: 21% of the adult population watch/listen to video/audio onlineO4: Radio digital conversion: broadcast several streamsO5: Emersion of digital transmission technologyO6: Banding together with other local public broadcasters | O6: Help California with some of the projects on the statewide agenda in return for fundsO3&S3/O4&S3: Reaching different audiences with different programs online | W3&O5: Could incur higher fixed operating costsO3&W6: Cannot assess KRCB’s specific demographicsO6&W8: May hinder any partnerships/strategic alliances | Threats (T)T1: A lot of local competitionT2: Emersion of satellite radioT3: Use of digital transmission technology could incur higher fixed operating costsT4: FCC rules and licenses aim to protect KCSM-FM’s signalT5: Deadline to convert to HDTVT6: KQED broadcasts in to a very large area in the region T7: Noncommercial /commercial television stations in danger of losing their audiences since the model of distribution was changing | T1&S1,2,3,4,5,6: Meets the needs of a variety of audiences | W2&T5: Fees for not meeting conversion to HDTV may incur high debt for KRCBW5&T4: Cannot increase signal strength and broadcasting range if FCC refuses to approve new license W5&T6: May lose customers to this station |
Implementation
The competitive capabilities that need to be strengthened immediately are KRCB’s technology as well as their marketing to the right demographics. In order to learn about their audience, KRCB has to purchase the correct reports that give necessary information about their listeners. Once they have a correct understanding about their market segment KRCB can then make the necessary arrangements in marketing and advertising to certain demographics, as well as which types of programs and technology are most popular among them. KRCB needs to be changing with the industry and their audience. They need to develop strengths in being able to adapt quickly to new technologies and programs that are most popular and will produce the largest amount of profit for the company. KRCB needs to take advantage of the new technology available and the growing percentage of online television and radio services. This is growing 20% among Americans alone, and KRCB needs to act on this opportunity immediately. We also believe the KRCB should begin partnering with other local broadcasters in the common good of the state in order to receive necessary funds to make up for budget shortages and the need to purchase informational reports.
Mission, Vision, and Values Revisited
KRCB’s mission statement to this day has remained yet to be changed. Their goals have been updated to: * Establish KRCB as a highly visible local arts, cultural, educational, news, and community information media hub, offering a unique service to the North Bay in order to encourage full participation in community and society. * Expand KRCB's options in providing and responding to new technologies through enhancement of technological functions and equipment. * Expand KRCB's sphere of influence through community alliances and collaborations. * Pursue financial growth to support mission statement and strategic plan goals
The problems that stemmed from the prior goals and values were they were far-reached, hypocritical, and were old. KRCB only changed their strategy once, they worked towards diversity, yet were undiversified, and they were looking to provide PBS to 250,000 people in the region who didn’t receive that program, when other stations in the area offered PBS before KRCB.
We recommend KRCB’s new vision look like the following:
We want to inspire and encourage all of our customers to fully participate in the community and society by offering a variety of unique services that help them partner with one another culturally, educationally, and informationally, as well as pursue financial growth, and be known as one of North Bay’s greatest radio and television stations.