Public radio boss likes having her ear to speakers and finger on public’s pulse

Florence Rogers has put together a career as wide-ranging as the programming of the radio stations she oversees.

Rogers came to the United States in 1988 to study communications at San Diego State University. She returned to her native Isle of Wight, in the United Kingdom, to host a radio show after completing her master's degree, but soon moved back to the United States for new opportunities. After working as a rock 'n' roll disc jockey in San Diego and managing a public radio station in southeastern Kansas, Rogers in 2001 took over as program director for Nevada Public Radio, which includes news station KNPR (88.9 FM) and classical-music station KCNV (89.7 FM).

Nevada Public Radio's board tapped Rogers in April to replace retiring President and General Manager Lamar Marchese. She took over full time in September, and has been busy supervising the rollout of four new high-definition radio stations, including BBC Mundo, a Spanish-language news station, and Exponential, which will broadcast eclectic music from the Philadelphia producers of National Public Radio's World Café channel.

Question: Las Vegas has lower nonprofit-giving levels than other cities. How difficult is it to drum up financial support for Nevada Public Radio?

Answer: We have phenomenal support. Our budget is $4.5 million, and we raise more than $2 million from our listeners every year. We're also fortunate to have very strong corporate supporters. We raised $2 million last year from corporate underwriters. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has ranked us in the top 10 percent for fiscal stability and responsible stewardship of funds relative to audience size and efficiency.

Question: Are Las Vegans more generous than studies show?

Answer: We're unusual for a nonprofit, because the listener is the beneficiary. The one thing we know about whether people will give to public radio is the personal importance to their lives of our content. The richer the experience they have with us and the more important public radio is in their lives, the more likely they are to give. Even though our number of donors is about half the average for similar public-radio stations, our average gift is so high people do a double take when they see it. It's 20 percent higher than the average gift in any similar cohort of public-radio stations. That turns on its head the idea that Las Vegans are not generous. When the cause connects to them, they are very generous.

Question: What's a typical day as general manager like?

Answer: I oversee with my senior team all departments -- broadcasting, operations, administration and programming. I also look outside this building at the 18 to 24 months ahead, work with the board of directors to ensure that we're fulfilling all our fiduciary and regulatory duties and make sure we're running our business in the most efficient way. I nurture the board in terms of growing the organization, making the best use of our resources and building relationships in the community. The most exciting part for me is the role we've set to be a community institution that matters, that's relevant and that is a source of extremely meaningful programming.

Question: Does your job keep you busy seven days a week?

Answer: Since I hired a program director two months ago, I have weekends, which is unusual for me. It's the first time I have not been on the radio every day, seven days a week, since 1991. It's the first time that I've really not had to be the person who listens all the time, the person who, if you wake up at 2 a.m. and you hear something weird on the radio, you say, "I think we missed something in the coding for the computer."

Question: Do you still listen to Nevada Public Radio a lot, or have you been able to step away from that?

Answer: I listen all the time. The hardest thing is to not call the announcers. Ordinarily, (as program director) if something was an issue at the network on the weekend or out of hours, they would call me. The hardest part for them has been for me to say, "You know, you have somebody next door. This is his job now, not mine." We've got to get through that process of getting someone else very quickly in the institutional knowledge.

Question: Do you listen to other radio stations in town?

Answer: Yes. I listen to Mix (KMXB-FM, 94.1), I listen to Jack (KKJJ-FM, 100.5), I listen to Oasis (KOAS-FM, 105.7). I listen to a lot of commercial radio. I don't watch very much television. I don't have cable.

Question: Are you able to listen to commercial radio without hearing it as a radio programmer and manager?

Answer: No. I called the music director, who's a friend of mine, over at Mix the other day and said, "You have an announcer who would be a better fit with us." But for the first time, in the last few weeks, I'm hearing this radio station like a listener, because I don't have to be involved every step of the way. I'm hearing it and saying, "Wow, I like that," or, "Gosh, this is really good, isn't it?"

Question: What do you think of Nevada Public Radio when you listen as a listener and not as the general manager?

Answer: We can always do better. We can always be at the next level of being more compelling. We're in a very fluid time. The way we make radio is very different from the way we made it three years ago. We're in a time of technological change in terms of the way we use online resources and the way we make programs, and in terms of trying to engage the audience in a different way. When I listen as a listener, I find that our station is incredibly compelling. I love listening.

Question: What is your favorite program on the station personally, rather than professionally?

Answer: KNPR's "State of Nevada." If I'm not at the station, I have to turn it on to find out what is happening in my hometown. I have to learn something about where we are as a community. It's how I know the pulse of what's going on in Las Vegas, because I'm hearing the voices of people who live here. Every e-mail that comes to "State of Nevada" comes to my desk too, so I see what people are saying. I hear from people who are struggling with problems we face, and people who are finding solutions, too. Because of the immediacy and relevancy of what we do here every day at 9:05 a.m., I have to be there.

Question: Day to day, what gives you the biggest sense of accomplishment?

Answer: That in a time with a million choices on whatever media platform you want to talk about, people tell us we matter to them. They trust us. They believe in what we do as a nonprofit. They believe in the fact that we're independent. They believe in the fact that 28 million people get their news from (National Public Radio) every week. And people recognize that it doesn't just matter to them, but it matters to the fabric of who we are as a community. And every person in this building knows it matters, too. We're not surgeons saving people's lives, but we do matter. Free press, informing the democracy, connecting people to one another with issues that matter -- I can't think of anything more inspiring to do with my personal skills.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4512.