SPRING RATINGS: KCLU TOPS PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY STATIONS WEST OF LOS ANGELES

Frequent readers of this blog know we like to feature three almost contiguous Nielsen Audio Diary markets – Oxnard-Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo – with a lot in common.

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All of the stations compete with Los Angeles noncom station’s operated by some of the most sophisticated programmers in the nation.  

Most of the big LA stations have repeaters and/or translators from Thousand Oaks up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to the wine country of San Luis Obispo. 

One of the stations, KCLU, provided the three-market map on the right.

The PCH near Santa Barbara

If you drive the PCH out of LA (also known as the 101), soon you will be in one of prettiest places on earth – the Southern California coast.   

You will also discover suburbs and exurbs, each with their own characteristics. But many of the radio stations are the same unless terrain blocks their signals.

We have combined Nielsen Audio data from the three markets to provide a composite of the area (chart on the left).

Then we compared estimates from Spring 2017 and Spring 2016.  The chart on the left reflects listeners of all local and LA-based stations that subscribe to Nielsen’s ratings.

KCLU-FM from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks is still king of the hill, or perhaps queen of the beach. KCLU’s estimated weekly listeners are consistently strong due to talented journalists and broadcasters and a string of verdant signals.  KCLU has been winning for over 20 years. 

About 10 years ago they added KCLU-AM to better serve Santa Barbara.  KCLU-AM repeats some hours of KCLU-FM and also has Santa Barbara programs.

Another PCH station is KCBX from San Luis Obispo that also competes in Santa Barbara. Weekly listeners to KCBX are down from a year ago but the station is still an important factor in the area.

Two Los Angeles stations – KCRW and KUSC – do very, very well in the area thanks to aggressive networks of repeaters and translators. Estimated weekly listeners to KCRW via supporting stations is up 9% in Spring 2017 compared with Spring 2016.

Classical KUSC takes advantage of its repeaters and simulcast hours on legendary KDB in Santa Barbara. KDB was once a commercial classical station.  Then they became a noncom.  About five years ago KUSC purchased KDB.  They kept the call letters and established local brand in tact. KDB simulcasts KUSC programming in lower listening time periods, saving money without sacrificing programming quality.

Let’s look at the ratings for each of the three communities moving east to west on the PCH:

Oxnard and Ventura are very different communities.  Oxnard is bigger and more urban of the two. Ventura is a community where lifestyle matters as much as work. 

My wife and I used to vacation at Inn on the Beach, home to the most glorious sunsets I’ve ever seen. This is KCLU’s home market.

Santa Barbara is smaller but is a better known in part because of frequent fires in the heavily wooded area. 

KCSB at UC-Santa Barbara is an excellent college station that occasionally subscribes to the Nielsen ratings. 

Perhaps my most vivid memory of Santa Barbara was a time in the mid 1970s at commercial progressive rocker KTYD, at the time owned by a friend. The particular moment I am thinking of was when Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin dropped by KTYD with a copy of the just-released album Physical Graffiti.  I broke my toe playing volleyball at the after-party that night.

When I remember San Luis Obispo I always think of KCBX GM Frank Lazone.  Frank and I both active in California Public Radio, a regional “lobbying” group of CPB-funded stations. 

Frank established perhaps the first Wine Festival to raise funds for KCBX.  These were, and still are, very successful fundraisers.