Although the literature suggests that large budgets can be equated with successful public relations, a study that involved personal interviews with 27 public relations executives in Alabama's state colleges and universities and a telephone survey of 1,250 Alabama citizens concluded that individuals know their supporting publics well because of their continued motivation to do so, regardless of financial support. Educational public relations administrators from institutions with high level funding who displayed low accuracy in perceiving their supporting publics' views on current issues did not engage in a great deal of communication with members of those publics. Successful implementation of listening behavior seems to result in public relations success regardless of administrative structure. (AEA)