SALUTING CARL KASELL • PPM RATINGS: NPR NEWS UP IN THE BAY AREA, DOWN IN DC

Carl Kasell

As you probably have heard, Carl Kasell, the long time voice of NPR News died this week at the age of 84. 

Kasell’s association with NPR began in 1975.   

He was paired in 1979 with Bob Edwards for the debut of Morning Edition. 

Then, he shifted gears to comedy when he became the judge and official scorekeeper on the news quiz show Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! He retired from Wait Wait in 2014.

Jim with David Brancaccio and JJ Yore

in the early days of Marketplace

There are many tributes to Kasell online and in other media. We decided to go to the person who made Kasell’s career at NPR possible: Retired broadcaster and consultant (The Program Doctor) Jim Russell. 

Russell hired Kasell to be a newscaster at NPR. At that time, Russell was Executive Producer of All Things Considered. The two men remained friends for the rest of Kasell’s life.

We reached out to Russell at his home in Chapel Hill, NC, for his thoughts about the life and times of Carl Kasell. Russell shared these comments:

Jim Russell & Carl Kasell at Russell’s

home several years ago

RUSSELL: I first met Carl in 1965. I was 19 years old and I was a kid who had dropped out of college to try out radio as a career.

I had gotten my first job in radio at WPIK, Alexandria, VA in the mid 1960s. I got the job by fudging on my actual experience and when I reported for work, the General Manager said he’d checked my references and they didn’t check, so they’d hired a real DJ – a fellow named Carl Kasell from North Carolina. But, feeling sorry for me, the GM offered me a job as a news reader for Carl’s morning show. I was so bad that the DJ’s asked to read my news for me rather than put me on the air – but they taught me radio and relented.

Two years later, I moved to WAVA, one of the first All News stations, also based in Arlington. When an opening occurred there, I enticed Carl to come over and join me reading news for WAVA.

Carl Kasell at his first job in radio

Then, in 1971, I joined the infant NPR. 4 years later, as Executive Producer of NPR’s All Things Considered, I was able to hire Carl as a weekend newscaster at NPR. 

I still remember that many staff felt he was too old (Kasell was in his 30’s). But, as I told them, “Carl will be the Rock of Gibraltar in NPR’s newscast unit. 

He’ll be here long after you kids have moved on.” And he was!” He became THE signature sound and style of NPR News.

Carl Kasell with fellow UNC student Charles Kuralt

in studio for the birth of WUNC

As others have noted, Carl could be serious and deliver the news in an absolutely serious manner – with a touch of the North Carolina “color” in his voice that made him sound like someone you’d know and befriend. And, he had a dry sense of humor too and loved telling funny stories of his early experiences in radio.

I had the pleasure of nominating him to the Radio Hall of Fame – he was inducted in 2010. Carl had become America’s newscaster, radio’s Rock of Gibraltar.  - Jim Russell

Carl and Peter Sagal

in a Wait, Wait promo picture

According to Russell, Carl Kasell redefined the “voice” of newscasters at NPR and all of radio. For years people who delivered the news on radio and television used an official, authoritative style. Kassell’s approach was less formal. As Russell notes in his comments above, Kasell has a rich, Appalachian manner that bespeaks trust.

See a wonderful North Carolina report about Carl Kasell in the Charlotte News Observer here.

Hear Peter Sagal’s tribute to Kasell on NPR here.

Hear Carl’s Top 40 jingle from 1958 here.

NIELSEN AUDIO MARCH 2018 PPM TRENDS: SAN FRANCISCO & DC

March 2018 was the best of times and the worst of times for two of public radio’s biggest NPR News/Talk stations.

In San Francisco, KQED had one of the strongest “books” in its history.  Across the board KQED was the top station in the Bay Area.  

KQED had 1,196,400 estimated weekly listeners in San Francisco and San Jose.  Numbers for KQED’s repeater KQEI in Sacramento have yet to be released. 

KQED dominates listening in the market in a way I’ve never seen before. Imagine a "little" public radio station radio-ruling the fourth largest market in the nation. This is a tremendous accomplishment.

KQED tops all commercial news and talk stations in the Bay Area. 

Note how much higher KQED’s AQH is than KCBS even though the estimated weekly listeners is about the same.  KQED is more sticky…

Not that long ago WAMU was leading WTOP in AQH and was close in weekly cume. It is the other side of the world in our nation’s capitol. 

WAMU continues to lose weekly listeners one year after “glow” of the post-election months. According to Nielsen Audio, in March 2018 WAMU had 730,300 estimated weekly listeners, 130,000 fewer than just one year ago.

Now, WTOP is the “radio news of record” for many DC area listeners.

WTOP’s owner Hubbard Radio is a giant in the biz. Based on the border between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Hubbard is a privately held company owned by the Hubbard family, broadcasting legends in Minnesota.

I served on a museum project Board with Ginny Morris, and she is a nice person.  She loves winning commercial the
radio money race. Plus, Ginny Morris is a fan of public radio. The Hubbard family supports right-wing Republicans like Michelle Bachmann. But, they are honest broadcasters, not like Sinclair.