TOP 30 NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS & CLASSICAL PPM UPDATES

California Dreaming… As I write this it is such a winter day here in Minneapolis. I sometimes wonder why I left Los Angeles because I loved it there. When it is ten below outside here, I miss LA all the more.

LA is such a great radio city. Today’s column shows it is still that way.  Below are the estimated weekly cumulative listeners for the top thirty noncommercial stations in America according to Nielsen Audio’s PPM data for Fall 2015. Scroll down to see the list of all 30 stations and updates to our report earlier this week about classical noncoms.

Compared to Fall 2014, KCRW and KKJZ had the nation’s biggest gains in weekly listeners.  Plus KPCC also grew.  KUSC was the only LA station to loose weekly listeners over the past year.  I feel myself on the 405 right now – KCRW bathing my mind with knowledge and sunshine.

Also, give a cheer for KNAI – 88.3 Radio Campesina – in Phoenix who also saw impressive gains in the number of weekly listeners.  KNAI is a public service of the United Farm Workers.  It also has the cutest DJs in the southwest.  Check them out at [link].

FIVE BIGGEST WEEKLY LISTENER GAINS BY NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM MARKETS • COMPARING FALL 2015 & FALL 2014

RK	STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FORMAT	FALL 2014 WEEKLY LISTENERS	FALL 2015 WEEKLY LISTENERS	ONE YEAR TREND
1	KCRW	Los Angeles	NPR News & Triple A	448,200	661,800	+ 32%
2	KKJZ	Los Angeles	Jazz	380,000	518,300	+ 26%
3	KNAI	Phoenix	Regional Mexican	280,100	349,300	+ 19%
4	KERA	Dallas/Fort Worth	NPR News	332,000	385,900	+ 13%
5t	WETA	Washington DC	Classical	394,400	425,600	+ 7%
5t	KUOW	Seattle/Tacoma	NPR News	302,400	325,100	+ 7%

FIVE BIGGEST WEEKLY LISTENER LOSSES BY NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM MARKETS • COMPARING FALL 2015 & FALL 2014

RK	STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FORMAT	FALL 2014 WEEKLY LISTENERS	FALL 2015 WEEKLY LISTENERS	ONE YEAR TREND
1	WFUV	New York	Triple A	416,800	321,400	- 22%
2	WNYC-FM	New York	NPR News	830,700	656,200	- 21%
3	WABE	Atlanta	NPR News	399,600	344,300	- 14%
4	WQXR	New York	Classical	604,500	533,100	- 11%
5	KLTY	St. Louis	CCM	345,900	309,600	- 10%

TOP THIRTY NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS ONE YEAR TRENDS

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM MARKETS • FALL 2015 & FALL 2014

Monday – Sunday 6am – Midnight, Persons 6+

Ranked by 2015 weekly cumulative listeners

RK	STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FORMAT	FALL 2014 WEEKLY LISTENERS	FALL 2015 WEEKLY LISTENERS	ONE YEAR TREND
1	KSBJ	Houston/Galveston	CCM	781,100	774,000	- 1%
2	KQED	San Francisco	NPR News	733,300	715,100	- 2%
3	KPCC	Los Angeles	NPR News	662,000	708,300	+ 6%
4	KUSC	Los Angeles	Classical	735,100	664,600	- 9%
5	KCRW	Los Angeles	NPR News & Triple A	448,200	661,800	+ 32%
6	WNYC-FM	New York	NPR News	830,700	656,200	- 21%
7	WAMU	Washington DC	NPR News	589,100	614,800	+ 4%
8	WQXR	New York	Classical	604,500	533,100	- 11%
9	WBEZ	Chicago	NPR News	497,800	525,500	+ 5%
10	KKJZ	Los Angeles	Jazz	380,000	518,300	+ 26%
11	KTIS	Minneapolis/St. Paul	CCM	449,700	444,300	- 1%
12	WBUR	Boston	NPR News	446,000	434,100	- 2%
13	WETA	Washington DC	Classical	394,400	425,600	+ 7%
14	WGTS	Washington DC	CCM	421,500	411,800	- 2%
15	KERA	Dallas/Fort Worth	NPR News	332,000	385,900	+ 13%
16	KDFC	San Francisco	Classical	350,200	356,100	+ 1%
17	KCBI	Dallas/Fort Worth	CCM	331,100	353,100	+ 6%
18	KNAI	Phoenix	Regional Mexican	280,100	349,300	+ 19%
19	WABE	Atlanta	NPR News	399,600	344,300	- 14%
20	WBGO	New York	Jazz	308,100	331,800	+ 7%
21	KUHF	Houston/Galveston	NPR News	317,000	330,500	+ 4%
22	KUOW	Seattle/Tacoma	NPR News	302,400	325,100	+ 7%
23	WHYY	Philadelphia	NPR News	341,100	322,400	- 5%
24	WFUV	New York	Triple A	416,800	321,400	- 22%
25	KNOW	Minneapolis/St. Paul	NPR News	348,200	321,300	- 7%
26	KPLU	Seattle/Tacoma	NPR News & Jazz	299,600	313,500	+ 4%
27	WGBH	Boston	NPR News	296,100	311,500	+ 4%
28	KLTY	St. Louis	CCM	345,900	309,600	- 10%
29	KPBS	San Diego	NPR News	301,200	309,000	+ 2%
30	KLDV	Denver	CCM	324,600	303,500	- 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.

CLASSICAL PPM UPDATE #1

Steve Robinson at WFMT kindly sent me the Nielsen Audio PPM weekly listeners for Chicago.  Here is how WFMT did in the context of non classical stations. Great work by Steve and all at ‘FMT.

STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FALL 2014 WEEKLY LISTENERS	FALL 2015 WEEKLY LISTENERS	ONE YEAR TREND
KUSC	Los Angeles	735,100	664,600	-9%
WQXR	New York	604,500	553,100	-9%
WETA	Washington DC	394,400	425,600	7%
KDFC	San Francisco	350,200	356,100	1%
WFMT	Chicago	264,566	279,033	5%
KING	Seattle/Tacoma	307,800	279,000	-9%
WCRB	Boston	251,300	222,600	-11%
KQAC	Portland OR	181,400	216,800	14%
WRTI*	Philadelphia	195,000	197,500	1%
KBAQ	Phoenix	185,900	168,100	-9%

WFMT Data Based on Average of September, October, November 2014 vs. September, October, November 2015 Persons 6+ M-Sun 6am-12m.

CLASSICAL PPM UPDATE #2

John Claire sent me a note saying there was an error in Monday’s column.  Here is the corrected chart:

CLASSICAL NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS WITH BIGGEST DECLINES

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM MARKETS • FALL 2015 & FALL 2014

STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FALL 2014 WEEKLY LISTENERS	FALL 2015 WEEKLY LISTENERS	ONE YEAR TREND
KCNV	Las Vegas	75,900	49,700	- 34%
WGUC	Cincinnati	124,100	96,100	- 22%
KSJN	Minneapolis/St. Paul	177,400	152,400	- 14%
KPAC	San Antonio	95,700	79,800	- 14%
KMFA	Austin	83,700	74,200	- 12%