CLASSICAL MUSIC STATIONS SHOW FLUCTUATION IN THREE-YEAR PPM TRENDS • A KANSAS POLITICIAN LIKES NORTH KOREA BETTER THAN PUBLIC RADIO

We have been looking at Classical music radio ratings information for quite a few years.  Usually there are only small variations from book to book. This is not true of the most recent estimates from Nielsen Audio. Using August 2017 PPM data and comparing it with data from August 2014, we are seeing unprecedented fluctuations within this cohort of stations.

We currently track 32 Classical music stations in Nielsen PPM markets. There are 27 for which we have both 2014 and 2017 estimates. Of those 27 stations, seven (26%) increased their number of weekly listeners during the three year period; another seven stations stayed about the same; and 13 (48%) stations lost 5% or more of their weekly listeners.

The gains and losses were seen in the biggest Classical music stations in the nation, seemingly without a pattern or precedent. How can KBAQ in Phoenix increase their estimated number of weekly listeners by 48%, and KPAC in San Antonio lose 40% of their weekly listeners?

We broke the results into three charts. Scroll down to see the results for all 32 stations.

The first group shows the gainers. Nielsen estimates show that KBAQ added 100,000 weekly listeners during the three-year period. 

All of these stations air full-time Classical music except WIBC in Indianapolis, a Jazz/Classical hybrid.

The next group shows the stations that have lost 5% or more of their estimated weekly listeners during the three-year period. 

As you can see, some well-known folks lost a lot of weekly listeners. KING in Seattle lost over 100,000 weekly listeners between August 2014 and August 2017, 35%. KUSC in Los Angeles had the largest number of lost weekly listeners, over 150,000 (20%). Three of the stations on the chart are dual format stations.

The final group shows the seven stations where the number of estimated weekly listeners grew or declined less than 5% over the three-year period.

Why is this happening?  We decided to ask observers who know more about Classical music then we do.

Wende Persons, Managing Director of SRG’s Classical Music Rising initiative, says stations gaining listeners probably invested in stronger branding. Marketing and promotion:

"Focused promotion really works. Just look at KBAQ in Phoenix with its 'Make Your Commute Great Again' billboards, launched after the Presidential Inauguration. KBAQ’s share rose to 3.4 in August - in contrast to some slack summer numbers at other stations. KBAQ's average share in 2016 was 1.7, and the weekly cume this year is up 21%."

click to enlarge

Persons provided a chart from a 2017 report by NPR Audience Insights (on the right) that demonstrates that many stations have solid daytime strength, the time period when the most people hear radio.

Information about the performance of Classical music radio stations can be found on the Classical Music Rising website here.

We also heard from Scott Williams, the Director of Audience Research for KJZZ and KBAQ in Phoenix. Williams also says that the difference between gainers and loser is likely a factor of their investment in promotion and visibility:

"In 2014 the RRC commissioned a study by Coleman Insights on the state of classical radio.  The conclusion was while the appetite for classical music remains strong across the country classical radio stations suffer from low awareness.

"As a result, KBAQ invested heavily in billboard campaigns in the first quarter of both 2016 and 2017, as well as brief fall campaigns.  This dramatically increased KBAQ's listening."

KANSAS LAWMAKER TWEETS HE WOULD RATHER GIVE MONEY TO NORTH KOREA THAN PUBLIC RADIO

Perhaps you know people who are intensely opposed to government support for public broadcasting. But few people reach the level of vitriol expressed by Kansas Representative J.R. Claeys (R-Salina). Claeys who recently tweeted:

("DPRK" refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea.)

Such an outburst didn’t surprise Peter Hancock, a reporter and columnist for the Lawrence Journal- World, who first reported this story [link].

Kansas Rep J.R. Claeys

According to Hancock, Rep. J.R. Claeys was spurred to send his tweet after he heard a Kansas Public Radio (KPR) message during its "Power Hour" event, a single- morning fundraising drive that precedes the regular fall pledge drive. Here is the sequence of events in Hancock’s words:

Around 7:45 a.m., KPR's Statehouse reporter Stephen Koranda tweeted, "There's still time to support KPR and our coverage during the power breakfast today."

To which, Claeys replied: "I'd sooner give to DPRK News. At least their praise of dear leader is under duress."

An outgoing message on Claeys’ telephone indicated that he was out of the country until Sept. 11. However, in response to a direct message via Twitter asking for him to clarify his remark, Claeys wrote: “Why would anyone be surprised that a republican would publicly balk at funding a democrat radio station?”

Claey’s did not say why he favored giving money to North Korea. All of this drama led to a reader of Hancok’s column to post this comment: