A LIFETIME OF LISTENING LEADS TO A NICE GIFT • SEPTEMBER PPM RATINGS FOR SAN FRANCISCO, BOSTON & DENVER-BOULDER

Here is a tip-of-the-hat to our friend Kathy Gronau owner of Creative PR in LA [link]. Kathy posted the cartoon you see on the left on the PRPD Facebook page. 

The cartoon is not only funny it is a slice of real life.

One of radio’s prime characteristics is that it is a companion.  Sometimes it becomes more than a nice experience – It can become an alter-ego, a friend, a savior.

We lived this experience a few years ago.

Here is our story:

Marie Mills

Marie Mills lived most of her 80-years in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a small city 200 miles west of the Twin Cities. She died in 2007. Radio was her true companion for most of her life.

In the 1950’s she loved to play radio trivia games.  This was long before Google, so a winner needed to know obscure facts such as What is the capital of Vermont? (It is Montpelier). Marie knew her trivia so well one station asked her not to compete everyday because she won so often.

In the 1960s and early 1970s she spent many hours listening to Monitor, the multi-hour, live NBC weekend magazine show hosted by Dave Garroway. Monitor presented a generous mix of news, sports, quizzes, interviews and occasional popular middle-of-the-road songs.  Her favorites included David Brinkley, Art Buchwald and particularly Art Fleming, the host of Jeopardy.

In the late 1970s she drifted from station to station, never finding oneshe could call home. 

Then, in May 1985, Minnesota Public Radio’s (MPR) Classical music service came to Sioux Falls. KRSD, 88.1 FM, was (and still is) a 24/7 repeater of KSJN from St. Paul. It became Marie’s constant radio companion.

She liked Classical music but wasn’t an expert on it. Marie once said she liked MPR Classical because it never disappointed her. Though Marie didn’t use this term, she liked MPR Classical because it was “seamless” – the right amount of music combined with just enough talk. She said the station had a “heartbeat.” Her favorite announcer was Brian Newhouse.

In 2006 Marie was diagnosed with an aggressive strain of cancer. She went immediately into hospice care and lived another eight months. All of that time MPR Classical was by her side. When the end was near, Marie asked her son (me) to make a gift to MPR in her name.  It was her way of saying thank you.

The day she died MPR Classical was still playing in her room. It was perhaps the last human sound she heard. (As she wished, a $1,000 gift to MPR was made in her name.

THREE-MONTH NIELSEN PPM TRENDS FOR SAN FRANCISCO, BOSTON & DENVER-BOULDER

In the San Francisco Bay area NPR News/Talker KQED continues to be the top station in the market according to Nielsen Audio’s September PPM ratings. However commercial all-News combo KCBS-AM & KFRC-FM (AQH: 5.3; Cume: 934,800) now leads KQED is estimated weekly listeners.

In case you haven’t heard, there are several changes at noncom stations in the market.  Jo Anne Wallace, longtime GM of KQED has announced she will retire in November. Wallace wore a lot of hats at the station.

Jonathan Blakely, former news programmer at MPR News, will become KQED’s Executive Director for Radio Programming. Plus, former Executive Editor for News Holly Kernan has been promoted to Chief Content Officer. Kernan has been with KQED since 2014. Prior to that, she had been at cross-town KALW.

Also, former KQED Managing Director Ethan Lindsey (another KALW alum) has been promoted to Kernan’s former position.

Tina Pamintuan

There has also been a big change at KALW. 

Tina Pamintuan is now GM at the station. 

Most recently, Pamintuan was Director of Radio at City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. 

Before that she worked at NPR, starting as an intern and rising to become a producer for NPR’s Cultural Desk.

WBUR has pulled into the lead in the News/Talk battle with WGBH. 

WBUR continues to close in on heritage all-News WBZ-AM (AQH: 5.4; Weekly Cume: 625,800).   

Of course, if the numbers for WBUR and WGBH are combined, NPR News/Talk leads in Boston.

Another commercial station of interest to public radio folks, Triple A WXRV, had an AQH of 1.9 and a Weekly Cume of 398,100.

In the Denver-Boulder metro the power Major League baseball is on display. News/Talk KOA AM/FM is the Colorado Rockies flagship station and the Rockies made it into the playoffs this year. In the September “book” KOA trailed KCFR in AQH share by over a point, but KOA had 100,000 more estimated weekly listeners than KCFR.

Though more data is needed, it appears that a good number of people are tuning in to hear the play-by-play of Rockies games. But when the game ends, they don’t stay on KOA.

Denver-Boulder is one of the most competitive progressive rock markets in the nation with four stations splitting the pie. In the September Nielsen ratings, Triple A KBCO had a 5.1 AQH share and 536,200 estimated weekly listeners. Alternative Rock giant KTCL had a 5.0 AQH share and a weekly cume of 604,200.  Ironically, KCFR has a larger AQH share than both commercial rock stations.