Wednesday, January 13, 2016

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%

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the wonderful blog post. This is interesting across all formats. I have few questions. What does the all Jazz format cume picture look like. I am interested in particularly where KCSM might fall. And how does the non-com Christian format fall? I noticed that iheart has launched a commercial Christian format? I assume that the Christian format is growing by leaps and bounds? I think it has been for some time. Full disclosure I am not a jazz fan or part of a christian franchise. Just interested in the trends. Again, thank you for post and I look hopeful for your reply.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KCSM does not purchase Nielsen Audio PPM data so they are not listed. If a new iH CCM station is commercial, it's data will be included with commercial stations. About half of the big CCM noncoms subscribe to Nielsen Audio. Thank you for the kind comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done on the recap. Great post! Question- you're showing "KLTY / St. Louis", which isn't correct. Is that supposed to be KLTY / Dallas? (Or KLJY / St. Louis, another CCM)?

    ReplyDelete