Friday, August 14, 2015

WUOM LEADS TOP 10 NPR NEWS STATIONS IN COLLEGE TOWNS


Folks have told me the best place to work in public media is a college town with a great NPR News station.  Today we have 10 great places in Nielsen Audio Diary markets as listed in Spring 2015 reports.

Here are the top ten stations ranked by Cume Rating – the percentage of people age 12+ who heard the station in the sample week:



TOP PERFORMER: WUOM, ANN ARBOR


It doesn’t get much better than a 19.9 Cume Rating. One in every 5 adults in Ann Arbor hear WUOM each week.  But wait, there is more.  WUOM has huge listening in Detroit and Grand Rapids.  They’ve earned the name MICHIGAN RADIO.

CHALLENGING SITUATIONS

Not every college town is fertile for a NPR News station.  This chart shows five stations with very low Cume Ratings:



A friend of mine used to work at KEDM in Monroe, Louisiana.  She told me that listeners appreciate public radio more there than in many bigger markets.  NPR News is a rare and precious resource that truly lives the mission of public media.

Then there are stations like WGVU in Grand Rapids that draw such small audiences you wonder if they are still on the air.  WUOM cleans house in GR because WGVU just lets them have it.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

MEMO TO JARL MOHN: KEEP FOCUSING ON RADIO CONTENT


Last Tuesday POLITICO published a must-read article [link] about the tension within the organization and member stations about broadcasting versus digital platforms. It seems to be a disagreement between folks who see no future for broadcast media and those folks like Jarl Mohn who sees broadcasting as an important part of the media menu.

JARL MOHN SPEAKING AT THE PRPC September 2014


I am with Mohn. I hope he can convince people that his broader view is reality. He knows broadcast stations have unique and powerful ways to engage listeners.  Listening to broadcast radio has been declining a reported 1% - 2% per year since 2008.  Still over 90% of American adults hear radio each week, more and more often online or on a mobile device.  They listen because they value what they are hearing.

The tension within the NPR family is illustrated by an incident, reported by POLITICO that happened earlier this year when Mohn was visiting NPR’s office in New York:

At first the back and forth was tense but respectful. Then, as Mohn parried with "Planet Money" reporter Zoe Chace, according to four sources who were either present for the meeting or familiar with how it went down, the heat started to rise.

Chace invoked a shift in the music industry in which more young people started becoming exposed to new music digitally than over the air. Mohn asked Chace if she knew how many young people had listened to radio the previous week. No, she didn't, she said, but that wasn't the point she was trying to make and—well, that's pretty much when things went south.

Zoe Chance is a gifted reporter with a brash – and some say caustic – reporting style.  In the case above she just doesn’t see the big picture. If she took the time to look at the data she would see that a lot of younger folks do hear radio.  That doesn’t mean digital isn’t important. No matter the platform, content it king and multi-versioning makes it bigger and more consequential.

WE LIVE IN THE HERE AND NOW

Many who dismiss the value radio are projecting a future when broadcasting will be DOA.  But, that isn’t what is happening right now.  Right now broadcasting reaches large audiences.  This American Life demonstrated the power of radio by launching Serial on its radio program heard by several million people.  Would Serial have been so successful it hadn’t had the radio boost?

We reported on what some folks see as a podcast bubble in July: BATTLE FOR THE EAR: SO MUCH AUDIO, SO LITTLE TIME [link]


In the article we quoted consultant Paul Marszalek:

With so much buzz and so much money being thrown around, the podcasting space is starting to feel a little like a tech bubble. How big can it get? Will it burst and when?

With so much good stuff – This American Life, WTF, Invisibilia, Radiolab, 99% Invisible, Freakonomics, Planet Money, The Moth, Startup, and The Nerdist — just to name 10, how much can we consume – especially when almost all are long-form?

Most of the programs mentioned owe their visibility, in part, to exposure via radio.  Podcasts and radio work well together but radio clearly has advantages:

• Broadcast radio is in the here and now – new with every tick of the clock.

• Broadcast radio is simple, free and ubiquitous.

• Broadcast radio listeners cannot be tracked and monitored.  Online and mobile usage leaves footprints; broadcast radio avoids such surveillance and detection.

Mohn was right when he said in an early interview:

Broadcast radio is the cockroach of media.

Radio will survive and prosper if we continue to create value for listeners.

TO SUCCEED NPR MUST INVEST IN NEW RADIO CONTENT

I worry that there is too little content in the public radio pipeline.  Paul Marszalek also pointed this out:

In television, we simultaneously develop tens of shows in hopes of 
finding a single hit. There are occasional exceptions. In radio, especially public radio, it tends to be more of a “all our eggs in one basket” approach, with very few programs in development and stakes riding high on the few that are. That’s a monster red flag – an approach that will not work in the current podcasting environment.

Question for Jarl Mohn: What is the NPR pipeline for stations?

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

CREATE GREAT AUDIO IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS THIS DECEMBER


If you can afford it, here is the warmest trip you can take while you learn to make great audio. Transom and Outer Voices Radio are hosting a Traveling Workshop December 6-11, 2015 in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.  The workshop is an introduction to audio storytelling. Complete info is here [link].



Nine beginning-level students will be chosen for six-days of intensive training led by Rob Rosenthal. The selection process is competitive. They are looking for dedicated newcomers of all ages who are focused on audio storytelling. Previous a/v experience isn’t required but is beneficial.
Applications are due September 18th. See the application here [link].
THE FINE PRINT
The cost to attend is $2,400 and includes all workshop activities and seven nights of housing. You are on your own getting to and from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The lodging is intended for folks who don’t require a lot of privacy.  Some participants will stay in a dorm style hotel – The Inn at Tamarind Court:  

Others will stay at the simple island-style Samuel Cottages:

If you don’t mind the close quarters, you will love living like a local.
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS NEEDS A NPR NEWS STATION

If you are looking for a way to stay longer in this Caribbean paradise consider bring NPR back to town.  St. John recently lost it’s NPR voice and people miss it.

Commercial station WVGN-FM provided NPR News programming to the Virgin Islands for over a decade.  But, the owner sold the station in March 2015 and NPR News left the local airwaves.

We held on as long as we could," owner Keith Bass told a local newspaper. "It was just getting a little bit too expensive at this point."
WVGN had a special deal with NPR.  It was one of handful of commercial stations that have aired NPR programming. Bass said: "A lot of people are sad with [the loss of NPR News]." The new owners changed WVGN’s format contemporary hits.
The Virgin Islands looks like a tough place to operate a noncommercial or commercial station.  There are lots of stations on the air competing for a share of a local population of around 100,000.  Given the right situation, an NPR station could succeed here. You'd be the only NPR player in town.
My tip for those interested in bringing new NPR service: Consider LMA-ing an AM signal.  There are LOTS of AM stations here and many cover a huge aress.  If you operated this AM signal you’d cover the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with NPR News:

A DEEPER LOOK AT WQXR’S DROP IN LISTENERS


Yesterday’s column featured the Spring 2015 Nielsen Audio ratings for classical stations that buy the data. According to trends, WQXR lost 151,100 weekly cumulative listeners between Spring 2014 and Spring 2015.  A couple of readers messaged me saying: How can this be? Where did they go? Is this the start of the rapture?

I decided to get a granular view and looked up the month-to-month data.  It turns out WQXR had a big drop in weekly listeners between December 2014 and January 2015:

SURVEY PERIOD
Average Quarter Hour Listeners
Average Quarter Hour Share (%)
Weekly Cumulative Listeners
July 2015
NA
1.0
432,000
June 2015
12,800
1.1
470,000
May 2015
11,400
0.9
459,900
April 2015
14,000
1.2
502,100
March 2015
12,600
1.1
468,700
February 2015
11,400
1.0
497,700
January 2015
11,700
1.0
456,200
December 2014
14,400
1.2
579,000
November 2014
14,600
1.2
600,200
October 2014
17,600
1.5
634,400
Summer 2014
15,500
1.3
557,700
Spring 2014
20,800
1.7
628,400
Winter 2014
18,300
1.6
605,100

These data are provided for use by Nielsen subscribers ONLY,
in accordance with RRC's limited license with Nielsen Inc.
Monday-Sunday 6AM-Midnight Persons 6+

Data Copyright Nielsen Inc. Format distinctions are the sole responsibility of
Ken Mills Agency, LCC, the publisher of SPARK!






WQXR SAYS: WE DON’T KNOW EITHER

Graham Parker, WQXR’S Program Director, is on vacation. I heard back from Jennifer Houlihan Roussel, New York Public Radio’s Senior Director of Publicity.  Her response was [paraphrasing] We are looking into it. She says they are checking all of the vital signs:

WQXR: Yes, we’ve observed the drop in cume, we watching it closely, and we are undertaking some research into it. Currently our “weekly time exposed” is at a six-month high.

KEN: This means fewer people are listening but those who are listening listen longer and/or tune it more often.

WQXR: But we are also watching closely how our audience is engaging with WQXR on all platforms.  Notably, we’ve witnessed increases in all digital activity – including a 23% increase in WQXR app users, and a 56% increase in total listening hours to the app.

KEN: I wish it was due to increased listening to Q2 Music, WQXR’s highly praised music stream featuring living composers and in-the-moment performances by new-music performers at city venues. It is available online [link] and mobile app. 

WQXR: …the Q2 audience has been stable, so it wouldn’t appear WQXR listeners are moving over to Q2.

So, the fate of WQXR’s missing 150,000 listeners is still a mystery.  To be continued...

Monday, August 10, 2015

CLASSICAL STATION REPORT CARD: TRENDS & DIARY MARKETS


Today we have the Spring 2015 Nielsen Audio ratings for all noncom classical stations that purchase the data.  The PPM Markets chart shows a one year trend of Weekly Cumulative Listeners.  To me, Weekly Cume is an important metric because it is an estimated headcount of the total listener base.

Scroll down to see the Spring 2015 Nielsen Audio Diary Markets.

FYI – I consider a station with 12 or more hours per day of classical music to be a “classical station.”  I always appreciate tips on stations I’ve missed.  Thanks.

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM MARKETS



Eleven of the 27 classical stations in PPM Markets gained weekly listeners between Spring 2014 and 2015; 16 lost weekly listeners.

WCRB and KQAC led the gaining stations. WETA had a nice bump. WQXR lost a quarter of its weekly listeners – the estimated listener base lost over 150,000 people in a year.

NIELSEN AUDIO DIARY MARKETS

TOP DIARY PERFORMER: WMNR, Monroe, CT
  
WMNR shows significant listening in three Connecticut markets: Bridgeport, New Haven and Danbury.

WMNR not only blankets these three markets, their repeaters and translators give them major clout in the suburbs and exurbs of New York:



WQXR draws Diary listeners in suburban New Jersey:

KUSC’s repeaters expand its presence in the Southland.  They now have an awesome reach in Santa Barbara:

 
Here are the other Spring 2015 Diary numbers: