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| Life is good in beautiful Eugene |
Eugene,
Oregon is among the best college markets in the nation for public media. This
progressive, booming city has supported News/Talk KLCC [link] since it signed
on as one of the charter NPR stations in the 1970s. For years, KLCC had the
market to themselves.
Then
about ten years ago KOPB, Portland’s excellent public broadcasting company,
acquired a local repeater station and the tables turned quickly on KLCC. KOPB
captured about 40% of KLCC’s listeners.
Every blemish at KLCC became sore thumb.
[Disclosure:
My company did consulting work for KLCC in 2011.]
Now
KLCC is back in the saddle in Eugene. Using the positioning phrase NPR for Oregonians, KLCC has streamlined
their schedule to focus full-time on News/Talk, with a bit of Jazz for spice
overnight.
GM
John Stark appears to have KLCC humming.
Estimated weekly listeners grew by 6%
in the Fall 2017 Nielsen Audio ratings compared with Fall 2016. Meanwhile
KOPB’s repeaters are sliding. KLCC increased its Home Market Listening Index by
9%.
Nice
work, folks!
It is the opposite pattern on the Delmarva peninsula. We have written several
times about Delmarva Public Radio in Salisbury recently [link]. The Fall 2017
Nielsen ratings show things are the same as ever.
Fact:
According to our analysis, listening to home market stations has fallen to 29%.
The management of WSCL/WDCL says this is happening because they can’t compete
with a big market out-of-market competitor, WAMU.
It
is a lame excuse that bureaucrats use when they fail to take responsibility for
problems of their own making. Delmarva should examine what makes KLCC succeed
in Oregon and replicate it.
TODAY’S OTHER FALL 2017
DIARY MARKETS
In
Fort Wayne, News/Talk WBOI continues to perform well.
However Classical WBNI is
obviously having some problems.
The
two top noncommercial stations in Albuquerque appear to be neck-and-neck but
neither of the stations are performing as well as they could because of
self-inflicted schedule issues.
KUNM
is stuck in time warp with hour after hour of freeform music and extremely
earnest (and boring) political shows. Freeform music has a unique history at
KUNM. Check out the video of KUNM fired an announcer on the air for the whole
story [link].
The
schedule problem at KANW is obvious. The station carries NPR News program until
Noon and then switches to Spanish-language pop music. KANW is actually two
stations on one signal. If KANW would keep news on until the end of ATC, they
would be much more successful.
Big
changes have happened at Hawaii Public Radio. In Spring 2017 they reorganized
their two statewide networks. The more
powerful frequencies became the News channel and the lesser frequencies
switched to Classical. The results: News is up and Classical is down.
In
Springfield, Massachusetts, WFCR holds the lead but the trend line is pointing
down. WFCR has significant listening in several markets including Hartford, a
Nielsen PPM market.
Also in Springfield there is a really, really professional LPFM station that seems to be adding estimated weekly listeners at a quick pace. WLCQ-LP Q 99.7 [link] shows what a LPFM can do if it focuses on its core listeners and caters to them.
Also in Springfield there is a really, really professional LPFM station that seems to be adding estimated weekly listeners at a quick pace. WLCQ-LP Q 99.7 [link] shows what a LPFM can do if it focuses on its core listeners and caters to them.
It will take the Albq market just a little bit longer for consistency with KUNM and KANW. KUNM is the more hertiage NPR station, and KANW is the better late than ever NPR station, in spite of the later being on the air much longer. KANW is the part timer and carries a few programs that KUNM refused to clear because they want to have music blocks. Both stations want to appease the audiences that love the music they play. KUNM also appeals to the hard left in their news programming outside of NPR's flagship shows. They want to play community radio as well. To a lesser degree...KANW. Back in the 1990's they used to play Urban Contemporary before KKSS embraced the Urban lean in the trends of the Rhythmic format in the late 1990's.
ReplyDeleteAs long as both stations make money to trend water they will continue to buck the trends of consistency on public radio and keep it close to the vision that so many baby boomers want to cling to in their public radio stations...everything to everyone.
KRCC held on to their hours of Eclectic Music during the day until their GM set them straight. They have kept CPR News's rimshot signals at bay in southern Colorado.
My prediction is unless their are MGMT and/or even ownership changes. KUNM and KANW will continue with the old block programming strategy.