This week we are
focusing on The State of Triple A Radio
as noncommercial station folks, music companies and public radio bigwigs gather
in Philadelphia for the 16th Annual
NONCOMMvention [link].
Metrics are an
important part of the Triple A noncom story. The public radio system seems to
be taking a fresh look at the national impact of the format. Before more
stations will jump into Triple A, they need to know that many current stations
are sustainable.
We have two topics
today:
• The Top 20 Triple
A stations ranked by estimated weekly cumulative listeners as measured by
Nielsen Audio.
• Carriage of
nationally syndicated programs on the Top 20 stations.
I compiled the
chart on the left based on the most recent data available. This research is for
demonstration purposes only because it uses unorthodox techniques that are
necessary to generate the list, including:
• I am using both
PPM and Diary market numbers. These two systems of listening assessment have
very different methodologies.
• For some station
estimates I am combining estimated weekly listeners from multiple stations and
(in one case) two audio platforms. Please be aware that there may duplications
of listeners from multiple sources.
• There are many
more stations airing Triple A music than the ones listed in this report. I am only using published data from Nielsen
Audio. Some stations don’t subscribe to
Nielsen ratings or have so few listeners they don’t show up in the ratings.
• One exception to
the above caveats is the inclusion of KCSN which serves a portion of Los
Angeles from Northfield. Folks in the media and music industries know that Sky
Daniels & company are doing a tremendous job with KCSN. I was the GM of this station a couple of
decades ago and I know the challenges they face. The estimated number of weekly
listeners at KCSN was provided to me by a confidential source, not anyone at
the station. I feel KCSN is an important part of our corner of the biz, so I
decided to include them.
So, please be aware
of the limitations of my report.
TRIPLE A STATIONS ARE
CARRYING FEWER NATIONALLY SYNDICATED PROGRAMS
The programming
that seems to work best on Triple A stations is generated locally. Curation,
knowledge of the local music scene and direct ties to the artists are best done
at home, where the listeners and supporters are.
I don’t have an
exact metric showing the decline in carriage of national shows but anecdotally
I know this is true. In fact, I was
surprised by the lower number of program “clearances.” Please keep in mind that the chart below is
based on carriage on the Top 20 stations only.
Smaller stations may tend to carry more national programs including some
good show not on the list.
This assessment
doesn’t mean nationally syndicated programs aren’t valuable. Maybe some of the
shows in current syndication are past their expiration date and there are few
new programs in the pipeline.
World Café is the
one exception to comments above. It is
certainly the only nationally distributed program that comes near to a “must
have.”
One note of disclosure:
I am paid consultant for American Routes. Here is the national programs chart:
World Cafe is an excellent show, to be sure. Although I've always wondered if the name of the show and the theme music works against them because it, well, sounds like it's a "world music" show. That can, and does, turn off a lot of people who won't stick around and realize it's an AAA show.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Routes is another show that anyone worth their salt will carry. It's EXCELLENT. I just wish it could be on five days a week. :)
Worth noting, there's a surprising number of really good AAA (or AAA-complimentary) shows out there, mostly on PRX, that aren't necessarily getting a lot of carriage but arguably they should. In a bit of shameless quasi-self promotion, I'm thinking of "Stuck in the Psychedelic Era" which pairs incredibly well with The Grateful Dead Hour. But cruise around PRX a bit and you'll find some more good ones, too.