WYPR WANTS TO HELP SAVE YOUR OYSTERS • NPR NEWS UP AT WUNC & KUT

WYPR, Baltimore, has one of the fastest growing audiences in the public radio system. According to Nielsen Audio, WYPR added nearly 60,000 cumulative weekly listeners between June 2016 and June 2017. The 27% increase in estimated weekly listeners represents the growing clout of Your Public Radio.

One of the reasons for WYPR's success is the enterprise reporting that is heard on the station and elsewhere. An example is The Chesapeake Bay Collaborative, a journalism collaboration funded by grant support from several organizations with interest in the Chesapeake Bay.

WYPR’s broadcast partners in the Collaborative are Virginia Public Radio (Roanoke), Delmarva Public Radio (Salisbury, Maryland),  Delaware Public Media (Dover, Delaware) and WESM on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. One thing they all have in common is their proximity to Chesapeake Bay, North America’s largest estuary.

Chesapeake Bay is in the middle of a watershed that spans 64,000 square miles, touching on six states. The area is important to the economy, a source of food and a destination for tourists and sporting folks. The Chesapeake Bay Collaborative’s mission is produce reports examining a broad spectrum of issues affecting the Bay and its watershed. 

That is where the oysters come in.

According to a report by Pamela D'Angelo of the Chesapeake Bay Collaborative, in 2009, President Obama signed an executive order recognizing the Chesapeake Bay as a national treasure. 

Pamela D'Angelo

The order authorized a plan to revive the wild oyster population through sanctuaries on restored reefs.

President Trump’s proposed budget eliminates funding for the oyster plan. 

This further complicates oyster habitat restoration. Trump is cutting federal funding for sanctuaries in four Chesapeake tributaries and monitoring of oyster growth.  It takes three years for an oyster to reach its prime. Save the oysters!

You can see and hear D'Angelo’s report here.

Also in the Baltimore ratings, WAMU from nearby Washington, DC continues to gain momentum in the Baltimore metro. Jazz formatted WEAA makes its first appearance in the “book” in recent years. Someone must have let the air out of the tires at Classical WBJC.

WUNC RULES THE RESEARCH TRIANGLE

 NPR News is sky-high Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. 

According to June 2017 data from Nielsen Audio, WUNC added more than 30,000 estimated weekly listeners since June 2016 – a 27% increase.

WUNC was the top News/Talk station in the market with a 7.0% AQH share, far ahead of iHeartMedia’s WTKK (4.8% AQH share).

KUT & KUTX ARE BOTH UP IN AUSTIN

Both KUT stations added estimated weekly listeners between June 2016 and June 2017. Americana KDRP seems to be gaining listeners for it’s unique “only in Austin” music mix.