Wednesday, December 31, 2014

BEST MINI-FILMS OF 2014: NATIONAL LAMPOON RADIO HOUR

NEW POSTS RETURN MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015

THIS WEEK: MOST VIEWED MINI-FILMS OF 2014
TODAY: National Lampoon Radio Hour
THURSDAY: KUNM Volunteer Fired Live on the Air
FRIDAY: CKLW 20/20 News


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

BEST MINI-FILMS OF 2014: KCSN SCAM REVEALED

NEW POSTS RETURN MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015

THIS WEEK: MOST VIEWED MINI-FILMS OF 2014
TODAY: KCSN Scam Revealed
WEDNESDAY: National Lampoon Radio Hour
THURSDAY: KUNM Volunteer Fired Live on the Air
FRIDAY: CKLW 20/20 News

Monday, December 29, 2014

BEST MINI-FILMS OF 2014: SEVEN DAYS IN MAY 1970 (SCOOP NISKER)

NEW POSTS RETURN MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2015

THIS WEEK: MOST VIEWED MINI-FILMS OF 2014
TODAY: Seven Days In May 1970
TUESDAY: KCSN Scam Revealed
WEDNESDAY: National Lampoon Radio Hour
THURSDAY: KUNM Volunteer Fired Live on the Air
FRIDAY: CKLW 20/20 News


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

NEW YEARS EVE VIDEO PSA: KEN DRUNK ON THE AIR 1985

THIS IS THE FINAL POST FOR THE WEEK -- 
HOPE YOU HAVE A WARM AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

NEXT WEEK I WILL POST FIVE OF MY MOST POPULAR VIDEOS, 
SO CHECK BACK WHEN YOU ARE FILLING TIME AT YOUR IN-LAWS.  
NEW POSTS BEGIN AGAIN ON MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2015.

Today I have a "WKRP Moment" from my past.  In 1985 I was programming KTOQ in Rapid City, South Dakota.  KTOQ was co-owned by former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw. The station was always looking for public service opportunities that would also make money.  I suggested: How about if we do drunk on the air sponsored by a liquor company?

So it happened on December 31, 1985, live on KTOQ.  The local distributor of Johnnie Walker "bought" the event for big bucks plus providing all the hootch we could drink.  What could go wrong?

The local NBC affiliate, KEVN-TV, was doing a live broadcast.  The place was full of cops and local politicians drinking Johnnie Walker Red with owners.  The TV lights went on. We were live on the 5:30 newscast.  And I became instantly sober, sort of. See the story here:





Monday, December 22, 2014

LOS ANGELES MARKET COMPARISION: 2014 & 2000

I’ve been saving ratings data for over thirty years.  Below are two charts of noncommercial stations in Los Angeles – the most recent Nielsen Audio report from 2014 and an Arbitron report from 2000.

NOTE: These two charts represent different methodologies and can NOT be compared statistically. Here are big picture trends:

KEN’S ANALYSIS:

KCRW has the same AQH Share and Weekly Cume but it had twice as many Metro AQH Persons in 2000.  Reasons: People using radio has declined since 2000; Time Spent Listening has also declined over 14 years.

KKJZ was KLON in 2000.  Listening has declined somewhat but remains strong.

KPCC’s listening has changed a lot. Fall 2000 was before American Public Media took over took over KPCC via a Local Marketing Agreement. The AQH Share and Weekly Cume have more than doubled over 14 years. Great job folks!

KPFK’s listening has severely declined since 2000. KPFK’s AQH Persons in 2000 were three times larger than 2014; Weekly Cume was more than twice as big in 2014.  In my opinion, Pacifica’s dysfunctional management and governance is an embarrassment to all of us who work in public media.

KUSC has significantly more listening in 2014 than 2000.  One reason for the increased listening to KUSC is the departure of commercial classical station KKGO-FM since 2000.


NIELSEN AUDIO NOVEMBER 2014

STATION
METR0 AQH SHARE
METRO
AQH PERSONS
FORMAT
WEEKLY CUME PERSONS
WEEKLY CUME RATING
KCRW
1.4
12,800
NPR News
& Triple A
470,900
3.8
KKJZ
0.7
6,000
Jazz
371,800
3.0
KPCC
1.9
17,100
NPR News
616,100
5.0
KPFK
0.2
1,700
Pacifica
95,700
0.8
KUSC
1.7
15,400
Classical
700,100
5.7

ARBITRON FALL 2000


NIELSEN AUDIO PPM NOVEMBER 2014
Survey Period: 10/09/14 – 11/05/14
Top-Line Estimates as of 12/11/14
Monday – Sunday 6am – Midnight, Persons 6+
 
DATA © NIELSON AUDIO
Provided by RRC, Inc. for use by subscribers only
© Radio Research Consortium, Inc. // www.RRConline.org // RRC@RRConline.org

Format designations are the sole responsibility of Ken Mills Agency, LLC. Contact us publicradio@hotmail.com.

Definition of “Weekly Cume Persons” – “Cume” means cumulative listening – a measure of the total number of different persons in the designated metro area exposed to an encoded station for at least five minutes in a quarter-hour during an average week in a survey period.

Friday, December 19, 2014

RETRO FRIDAY: ECHOES OF THE KILLING OF ALAN BERG

The recent headlines about urban terror caused me to think about the murder of KOA, Denver, talk show host Alan Berg in 1984. This was an act of domestic terrorism before that term came into common use.

I wonder if station security has improved since then.  Larry Mantle at KPCC in Pasadena says it has:

I don't know what's happening at other talk stations, but KPCC's level of security seems good to me.   When I started in radio there wasn't any security.  Anyone could have walked right in while we were live on the air. 


Over the years, our security improved, but it took a real jump when we moved into our new building three years ago.  Employees are required to wear photo ID badges and doors are well-secured.


I also think talk radio has changed.  Hosts like Alan Berg and Joe Pyne seem harder to find these days.  You don't hear a lot of berating of listeners and name-calling like you did in the past.  That's probably lowered the risk of listeners acting against hosts.

Agreed.  But, be careful out there.

This is also a radio story. Berg was on a 50,000 flamethrower and his assassins -- The Order -- were on a cruddy daytime AM station near Loveland, just north of Denver. Hear it all in the clip:

Audio courtesy of KUNC, Greeley, CBS 60 Minutes & Ken's Private Collection

Thursday, December 18, 2014

NPR NEWS STATIONS NOVEMBER PPM: OVER PERFORMERS & UNDER PERFORMERS


Ken’s Analysis:


The size of a radio station’s audience is tied to the population in the metro area: The bigger the metro, the bigger the audience.

Sometimes stations far exceed (or lag behind) their potential metro size.  I’ve chosen five examples of winners and losers:

STATIONS THAT OUT-PERFORM THEIR MARKET SIZE

PPM Rank
Station
NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET
METRO RANK
METR0 AQH SHARE
FORMAT
WEEKLY CUME PERSONS
9
KNOW
Minneapolis/St. Paul
16
5.1
NPR News
351,600
12
KOPB
Portland OR
23
7.2
NPR News
322,900
23
WUNC
Raleigh/Durham
42
6.5
NPR News
196,800
24
KUT
Austin
35
4.3
NPR News
190,900
40
WNPR
Hartford
52
3.2
NPR News
93,000

All five of these stations are in markets where the percentage of adults with a college degree surpasses the national average of around 27%. Plus, they are all great radio stations.

STATIONS THAT UNDER-PERFORM THEIR MARKET SIZE

PPM Rank
Station
NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET
METRO RANK
METR0 AQH SHARE
FORMAT
WEEKLY CUME PERSONS
30
WUSF
Tampa/St. Petersburg
18
2.2
NPR News
146,900
39
WESA
Pittsburgh
25
2.3
NPR News
99,400
41
KALW
San Francisco
4
0.2
NPR News
89,100
49
WRAS
Atlanta
(Georgia Public Broadcasting)
9
0.4
NPR News
& College Rock
69,100
62
KQEI
Sacramento
(Repeats KQED San Francisco)
27
0.1
NPR News
16,700

WUSF under-performs its market because of the same factor we noted above: In Tampa a smaller percentage of people have college degrees (24%).

WESA eludes me. Pittsburgh has around the national average of college graduates.  WESA is the only NPR News signal in town.

KALW is no mystery – it FAR under-performs its potential.  True, it competes with the awesome KQED.  But there is plenty of audience to share in the Bay Area. I don’t know the situation on the ground there.  Maybe the folks at KALW like it this way.

WRAS is the new Atlanta metro voice of Georgia Public Broadcasting. It is a 50/50 time split between NPR News and some very tasty college rock.  News has the days; students have the nights.

KQEI’s sparse showing might demonstrate the power of local voices. When KQED announced they were putting a repeater into Sacramento there was concern KQEI would hurt listening to hometown KXJZ. But, it didn’t work out that way: KXJZ has that Sacramento sense-of-place and KQED doesn't.

NPR NEWS STATIONS: NIELSEN AUDIO PPM RANKED BY WEEKLY AUDIENCE SIZE

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM NOVEMBER 2014
Survey Period: 10/09/14 – 11/05/14
Top-Line Estimates as of 12/11/14
Monday – Sunday 6am – Midnight, Persons 6+


Station
NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET
METRO RANK
METR0 AQH SHARE
FORMAT
WEEKLY CUME PERSONS
1
WNYC-FM
New York
1
2.8
NPR News
801,600
2
KQED
San Francisco
4
5.2
NPR News
749,500
3
KPCC
Los Angeles
2
1.9
NPR News
616,100
4
WAMU
Washington DC
7
6.0
NPR News
571,800
5
WBEZ
Chicago
3
1.9
NPR News
484,300
6
KCRW
Los Angeles
2
1.4
NPR News
& Triple A
470,900
7
WBUR
Boston
10
5.1
NPR News
464,800
8
WABE
Atlanta
9
3.3
NPR News
& Classical
389,900
9
KNOW
Minneapolis/St. Paul
16
5.1
NPR News
351,600
10
KUHF
Houston
6
2.4
NPR News
336,200
11
KERA
Dallas
5
1.9
NPR News
326,400
12
KOPB
Portland OR
23
7.2
NPR News
322,900
13
WHYY
Philadelphia
8
3.0
NPR News
321,300
14
WLRN
Miami
11
2.6
NPR News
313,900
15
WGBH
Boston
10
2.7
NPR News
308,100
16
KPLU
Seattle/Tacoma
13
3.4
NPR News
& Jazz
298,200
17
KUOW
Seattle/Tacoma
13
4.0
NPR News
290,100
18
KPBS
San Diego
17
5.0
NPR News
286,400
19
KCFR
Denver
20
4.7
NPR News
276,500
20
WNYC-AM
New York
1
0.5
NPR News
265,000
21
KWMU
St. Louis
22
5.3
NPR News
219,900
22
KJZZ
Phoenix
14
2.1
NPR News
212,500
23
WUNC
Raleigh/Durham
42
6.5
NPR News
196,800
24
KUT
Austin
35
4.3
NPR News
190,900
25
WYPR
Baltimore
21
2.2
NPR News
157,700
26
WPLN
Nashville
45
3.1
NPR News
155,800
27
KXJZ
Sacramento
27
3.0
NPR News
155,800
28
KSTX
San Antonio
28
3.1
NPR News
149,700
29
WFAE
Charlotte
24
2.4
NPR News
148,100
30
WUSF
Tampa/St. Petersburg
18
2.2
NPR News
146,900
31
KUER
Salt Lake City
29
3.1
NPR News
146,200
32
WOSU
Columbus
37
3.1
NPR News
144,900
33
WVXU
Cincinnati
30
3.1
NPR News
143,100
34
KCUR
Kansas City
34
2.7
NPR News
140,200
35
WDET
Detroit
12
0.8
NPR News
139,300
36
WCPN
Cleveland
31
2.0
NPR News
128,500
37
WMFE
Orlando
33
3.2
NPR News
119,000
38
WFYI
Indianapolis
40
2,600
NPR News
113,700
39
WESA
Pittsburgh
25
2.3
NPR News
99,400
40
WNPR
Hartford
52
3.2
NPR News
93,000
41
KALW
San Francisco
4
0.2
NPR News
89,100
42
WJCT
Jacksonville
50
2.7
NPR News
86,200
43
WCBE
Columbus
37
1.3
NPR News
& Triple A
85,800
44
WUWM
Milwaukee/Racine
38
2.1
NPR News
84,500
45
WHAD
Milwaukee/Racine (Wisconsin Public Radio)
38
1.6
News/Talk
78,200
46
KUNC
Denver
(Ft. Collins metro station)
20
0.5
NPR News
& Triple A
77,000
47
WGBH
Providence
(Boston metro station)
44
1.7
NPR News
76,100
48
WAMU
Baltimore
(DC metro station)
21
0.8
NPR News
73,600
49
WRAS
Atlanta
(Georgia Public Broadcasting)
9
0.4
NPR News
& College Rock
69,100
50
WLRN
West Palm Beach
(Miami metro station)
48
1.6
NPR News
64,700
51
WFDD
Greensboro/WS/HP
46
1.9
NPR News
63,300
52
KNPR
Las Vegas
32
1.3
NPR News
60,700
53
WUNC
Greensboro/WS/HP (Raleigh metro station)
46
1.6
NPR News
57,800
54
WKNO
Memphis
51
1.7
NPR News
& Classical
55,800
55
WKSU
Cleveland
(Akron metro station)
31
1.0
NPR News
55,400
56
KVCR
Riverside/San Bernardino
26
0.7
NPR News
34,100
57
WELF
Providence
44
0.6
NPR News
30,600
58
WFCR
Hartford
(Springfield MA metro station)
52
1.3
NPR News
& Classical
28,000
59
WPBI HD2
West Palm Beach
48
1.0
NPR News
27,900
60
KNOW stream
Minneapolis/St. Paul
16
0.1
NPR News
18,000
61
KUOR
Riverside/San Bernardino
(Repeats KPCC Pasadena)
26
0.2
NPR News
16,700
62
KQEI
Sacramento
(Repeats KQED San Francisco)
27
0.1
NPR News
16,700

DATA © NIELSON AUDIO
Provided by RRC, Inc. for use by subscribers only
© Radio Research Consortium, Inc. // www.RRConline.org // RRC@RRConline.org

Format designations are the sole responsibility of Ken Mills Agency, LLC. Contact us publicradio@hotmail.com.

Definition of “Weekly Cume Persons” – “Cume” means cumulative listening – a measure of the total number of different persons in the designated metro area exposed to an encoded station for at least five minutes in a quarter-hour during an average week in a survey period.