WFPK TURNS RECENT SUICIDES INTO “MENTAL HEALTH DAY” • RATINGS FOR TRIPLE A STATIONS IN DIARY MARKETS

Jennifer Chiba & Elliott Smith in 2002

In October of 2003, musician Elliott Smith was in his apartment in the Silver Lake neighborhood in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Jennifer Chiba. They had been arguing. 

Chiba left the room to cool off. Then she heard a scream. 

Next she saw Smith with a knife in his chest. A suicide note was left on a post-it. 

Elliot Smith was pronounced dead when he arrived at hospital. He was 34 years old.

People who knew Smith said later they could see this coming. Smith’s music career had hit the skids since the late 1980s when Smith won an Oscar for his work on the soundtrack of Good Will Hunting. A year later Smith released the album XO, a critical and sales success. But he could never repeat this success.

Smith’s friends from the time say they wish they had talked with him, but they didn’t. They thought his dark state of mind was part of his artistic angst.  Perhaps Smith was channeling Kurt Cobain. Perhaps someone could have helped him.

After recent suicides by Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade and a University of Louisville student, the folks at WFPK, Louisville decided to take action. They dedicated a full day of programming – Mental Health Day – on Tuesday, August 21 to raise awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention.

WFPK choose Elliott Smith’s story and music to set the scene. The timing was particularly appropriate because it coincided with the 20th anniversary of the release of Smith’s album XO and 15 years since his death.  WFPK’s message was hope, solutions and dealing with the stigma of depression.

The approach was subtle and the music did most of the work. On-air hosts asked listeners to call in and request songs that have helped them deal with depression and how the song helped them. Some of the stories were broadcast on the air along with the songs. WFPK mixed in short announcements about nonprofit organizations in the Louisville that can help.

Mental Health Day hit a chord with WFPK’s listeners. Requested songs included What the World Needs Now Is Love by Jackie deShannon, Fell Into Black Days by Soundgarden and One Love/People Get Ready by Bob Marley and the Wailers. You can hear the playlist on Spotify [link]. 

Many people left messages of appreciation on WFPK’s Facebook page [link].  One comment hit a nerve with us:

“I love you guys. I am glad we are on

this planet together.”

WNCW, WNRN & WFPK LEAD THE PACK IN WEEKLY TRIPLE A LISTENERS

We are tracking 31 stations with Triple A, Alternative Rock and other contemporary music formats. Of the ten full-time Triple A stations who subscribe to Nielsen, six had fewer weekly listeners in Spring 2018 than they did in Spring 2017. Two stations – KIWR The River in Omaha had a nice gain and WITH in Ithaca saw a big jump. WITH doesn’t cover the Syracuse metro, so there are likely only a few respondents that are in-tab.

Important Note: Regional shops like WNCW and WNRN are difficult to accurately tabulate. Because of the close proximity of the markets, sometimes counties, or portions of counties, are in more than one station’s Total Survey Area. Because I do not know the exact parameters of each TSA, I use my best judgment, but sometimes there are errors. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Iowa Public Radio’s (IPR) Studio One network, a dual format of NPR News and music has established a strong presence in the 2/3rds of the state covered by IPR.

Some of Studio One’s success is due to the massive coverage area of two of the network’s stations: KUNI, Cedar Falls and WOI-FM, Ames.   

Five of the nine stations in this group increased their estimated number of weekly listeners.

The other contemporary music stations are hard to categorize. Everyone has a distinct story. WZIP is a serious radio station that has lots if impact in the City of Akron. When we see the numbers for WZIP, we wonder whether there are more listeners to Triple A WAPS, also from Akron.

WGVV in the Quad Cities was the first LPFM station to receive CPB qualification. It is an aggressive inner city station that fills a huge need in an otherwise conservative market.

WJPZ is the student station at Syracuse University.  It bills itself as The Party Station, a popular position for a college station. KTSC, WRFL and WZND are the local party central.