Thursday, June 18, 2015

LOCAL TALK TOPS NPR NEWS IN MILWAUKEE



Common programming wisdom is that NPR News programs like Morning Edition draw more listening than local public radio talk programming. An emerging situation in Milwaukee is putting that wisdom to a test. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Ideas Network on WHAD tops NPR News station WUWM in several Nielsen Audio PPM metrics.

Comparing May 2015 to May 2014, WHAD increased AQH share from 1.4 to 2.1.  During the same one year period WUWM’s AQH share declined from 3.2 to 1.6.

WUWM still has a larger weekly cume than WHAD but the gap between the two stations has gotten smaller.  Between May 2014 and May 2015 WUWM lost around 40,000 weekly listeners.  Here is the topline PPM data courtesy of RRC:

MAY 2015


MAY 2014

DATA © NIELSON AUDIO
Provided by RRC, Inc. for use by subscribers only
© Radio Research Consortium, Inc. // www.RRConline.org // RRC@RRConline.org
Format designations & trends are the sole responsibility of Ken Mills Agency, LLC. Contact us publicradio@hotmail.com

MEET THE STATIONS

Both stations have strong coverage of the Milwaukee metro but their schedules are much different.  Here are the lineups for the hours when most people listen to radio:

MONDAY – FRIDAY 6am – 7pm


WUWM
WHAD
6am – 7am
Morning Edition
Joy Cardin Show
7am – 8am
Morning Edition
Joy Cardin Show
8am – 9am
Morning Edition
Joy Cardin Show
9am – 10am
BBC Newshour
On Point
10am – 11am
Lake Effect
On Point
11am - Noon
Fresh Air
Larry Meiller Show
Noon – 1pm
Here & Now
12pm: Larry Meiller Show
12:30pm:
Chapter a Day
1pm – 2pm
Here & Now
Kathleen Dunn Show
2pm – 3pm
Here & Now
Kathleen Dunn Show
3pm – 4pm
ATC
Central Time
4pm – 5pm
ATC
Central Time
5pm – 6pm
ATC
Central Time
6pm – 7pm
6:00pm: ATC
6:30pm: Marketplace
To the Best
Of Our Knowledge
Friday:
On the Media

SATURDAY 6am – 3pm


WUWM
WHAD
6am – 7am
Marketplace Weekend
People’s Pharmacy
7am – 8am
Weekend Edition
Garden Talk
8am – 9am
Weekend Edition
Zorba Paster
On Health
9am – 10am
Best of
Car Talk
Wait, Wait
10am – 11am
Wait, Wait
Whad’Ya Know?
11am - Noon
Ask Me Another
Whad’Ya Know?
Noon – 1pm
TED Radio Hour
Best of
Car Talk
1pm – 2pm
On the Media
Zorba Paster
On Health
2pm – 3pm
Marketplace Weekend
People’s Pharmacy

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

We asked people in charge at both stations.  Here is the view from Michael Arnold, WPR’s Director of Content:


And the view from Dave Edwards, GM at WUWM:







Arnold says this appears to be a trend, not a wobble:





IS THIS AN ONLY IN MILWAUKEE PHENOMENON?

Michael Arnold says WHAD’s success is due, in part, to the uniqueness of WPR’s talk-based format on the Idea’s Network. But he also cites WGBH’s midday talk program as evidence that there are exceptions to notion that NPR News always trumps local talk:





MILWAUKEE LISTENERS ARE THE WINNERS

Dave Edwards agrees with Michael Arnold that the two stations are expanding the public radio news choices. Edwards put it this way:

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