Friday, December 5, 2014

RETRO FRIDAY: CKLW 20/20 NEWS


CKLW – The Big 8 was a Windsor, Ontario radio station that put a killer AM signal over metro Detroit.  Canadian stations had to be inventive because they lacked the deep pockets of their Detroit competitors. So, CKLW rocked 24/7.

In those days stations were required to air a specific quota of news. Most stations considered newscasts to be a tune out.  CKLW saw news as an opportunity. At The Big 8 the news was performance art – gritty and totally real.

You’ve got to hear it because there is nothing like it on radio today:



Thank you to Don Gonyea and NPR for inspiring this post.   The idea for Don' story and the archive audio came from Dale Willman.
Check out his terrific story about CKLW from 1999 at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1057740

Also available: Radio Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Big 8, a nifty video documentary at: http://radiorevolutiondvd.com/about.html

Thursday, December 4, 2014

WSUM: “STATION TOUR” (Best Video Nominee)


I love great videos about radio stations.  Yesterday I posted a tasty video about KGLT in Bozeman, Montana.  Please let me know [publicradio at hotmail] if you have any tips for other excellent informational videos.

Today’s nominee for Best Video About a Radio Station is this gem from WSUM on the University of Wisconsin in Madison.  WSUM might be the best college radio station in the nation.  It is one of the few college stations that have a fundraising foundation.  This makes them self-supporting and eager to please. Credit advisor Dave Black for building something truly remarkable at WSUM.

Click the link to see it on YouTube:

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

KGLT: “WHERE THE DJs ROAM” (Best Video Nominee)


Today’s nominee for Best Video About a Radio Station is:

Where the DJs Roam – a love letter to KGLT, Bozeman, its listeners and community.  The producer of the film is Keith Rollins Lockwood.  Lockwood is an videographer and director.  He resettled in Bozeman after escaping the big city advertising grind.

KGLT has a rich history. Sarah Vowell began her career at ‘GLT and indie storyteller Barrett Golding is a volunteer.  The film, released in 2009 features the late Phillip Charles, GM of KGLT since the 1980s.  Before his death in 2013, Charles was the driving force that put KGLT on the map.  Charles applied what he learned at KSAN, San Francisco.

Where the DJs Roam is an hour long documentary.  Here is the trailer:



Learn more about Where the DJs Roam at: wherethedjsroam.com

Learn more about the filmmaker Keith Rollins Lockwood at: krlproductions.com

KGLT: kglt.net/

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

PODCAST SUCCESS STORY: NORM PATTIZ & PODCAST ONE


Norm Pattiz is one of my heroes from the broadcasting business. He revolutionized commercial network radio by taking it live, via satellite, nationwide and worldwide. Norm began Westwood One in 1976 starting with distribution of Dr. Demento and Mary Turner's Off The Record. 

When satellite distribution of audio became affordable, Pattiz was one of the first broadcasters to use it to its full potential.  (NPR was also a leader in the development of satellite radio distribution.)

Westwood One became one of the largest radio networks in history making millions of dollars with thousands of commercial stations. In 1984, Pattiz took Westwood One public. Big money entered the picture and Pattiz cashed out at the right time.

He resurfaced recently with Podcast One, a marketing and distribution platform supported by advertising sales.  Podcast One is the portal for some of the biggest names in on-demand audio including Adam Carolla, Kathy Lee Gifford, Dan Patrick, Dennis Miller, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Drew and Penn Gillette.

I met Norm at a Broadcast Education Association (BEA) conference in Las Vegas in the 90s.  He told me: If I had it to do it all over again, I’d be in public radio.  In a way, he is now in public radio.  Three of the most popular titles on Podcast One are Radioloab, Freakanomics and On the Media.

Hear how Pattiz compares podcasting to broadcast radio is a small portion of an excellent interview by Shawn Thorp at podpodcasternews.com/


Hear the complete interview at http://podcasternews.com/

Monday, December 1, 2014

TOP 30 NPR NEWS STATIONS BY WEEKLY CUME RATING


Nielsen Audio compiles daily and weekly cumulative ratings for stations in PPM markets.  This is an important metric because it shows a station’s penetration of its home metro market.  For example, KOPB in Portland, Oregon has a weekly cume rating of 12.7.  This means 12.7% of people age 6 and older in the metro have heard KOPB for at least five minutes during a typical week during the survey period.

Many of the Top 30 NPR News/Talk stations are in “college towns” where a high proportion of the population has college and advance degrees.  For instance in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill over 42% of the adult population has at least a Bachelor’s degree.  The US average is around 27%.  In Chapel Hill almost 74% of the population has a degree – a perfect place for successful NPR News station WUNC.

TOP 30 NPR NEWS/TALK STATIONS
RANKED BY WEEKLY CUME RATING

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM OCTOBER 2014
Survey Period: 9/11/14 – 10/8/14
Top-Line Estimates as of 11/5/14
Monday – Sunday 6am – Midnight, Persons 6+


STATION
NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET
METRO RANK
WEEKLY
CUME RATING
FORMAT
1
KOPB
Portland OR
23
12.7
NPR News
2
WUNC
Raleigh/Durham
42
11.9
NPR News
3
KCFR
Denver/Boulder
20
11.2
NPR News
4
KNOW
Minneapolis/St. Paul
16
11.0
NPR News
5
KUT
Austin
35
10.9
NPR News
6
WAMU
Washington DC
7
10.8
NPR News
7
WPLN
Nashville
45
10.6
NPR News
8t
KPBS
San Diego
17
10.4
NPR News
8t
KQED
San Francisco
4
10.4
NPR News
10
WBUR
Boston
10
9.8
NPR News
11
KWMU
St. Louis
22
8.8
NPR News
12t
WABE
Atlanta
9
8.6
NPR News
& Classical
12t
WNPR
Hartford/New Britain
52
8.6
NPR News
14
KXJZ
Sacramento
27
8.2
NPR News
15
KUOW
Seattle/Tacoma
13
8.0
NPR News
16t
WJCT
Jacksonville
50
7.7
NPR News
16t
KCUR
Kansas City
34
7.7
NPR News
16t
KPLU
Seattle/Tacoma
13
7.7
NPR News
& Jazz
19
WOSU
Columbus OH
37
7.6
NPR News
20
WVXU
Cincinnati
30
7.5
NPR News
21
WHYY
Philadelphia
8
7.3
NPR News
22
WFYI
Indianapolis
40
7.1
NPR News
23
KSTX
San Antonio
28
7.0
NPR News
24
WUWM
Milwaukee
38
6.8
NPR News
25t
WCPN
Cleveland
31
6.7
NPR News
25t
KUER
Salt Lake City
29
6.7
NPR News
27t
WFAE
Charlotte
24
6.6
NPR News
27t
WLRN
Miami
11
6.6
NPR News
29t
WMFE
Orlando
33
6.5
NPR News
29t
KJZZ
Phoenix
14
6.5
NPR News

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 Rating” – “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. “Rating” is the percentage of persons 6+ in the metro market.