FIVE IMPORTANT PUBLIC RADIO STORIES IN 2018

Spark News covered many stories about public radio and other noncommercial media in 2018. After reviewing our posts from this year, we see five important trends that will continue to affect public media in 2019.

1. INVESTMENTS IN PUBLIC RADIO NEWS ARE PAYING OFF

Stations, private foundations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) made major investments to increase the news capacity for public radio in 2018.

As traditional news sources like newspapers and commercial radio continue to fold or cut back on news, more Americans are using their local NPR station as a primary news source.

In September we reported [link] that 37% of NPR News/Talk stations have the top AQH share in their home markets. This is an important trend that will likely continue through 2019 and beyond.

Stations are continuing to do investigative reporting and are focusing on key “beats” such as health care, the environment, criminal justice and education. NPR News/Talk stations have become the “the news of record” in many communities. This is a powerful strategic position.

Public radio’s vital news presence is happening on several platforms simultaneously including on-air, mobile audio, podcasts and social media. Look for this synergy of platforms to continue.

CPB’s commitment to build and support regional and topic-driven news collaborations has made it possible for public radio to expand in-depth coverage and tackle big issues. According to CPB, they have invested over $32 million in 34 public media journalism collaborations since 2009. It has led to an estimated 24% increase in the number of public media journalists in just a few years.

Independently from CPB, stations also made significant investments in new collaborative new efforts. In November we reported [link] on an initiative by WWNO and WRKF to create a regional Louisiana news center.

NPR and local News/Talk stations continue to be among the leading providers of fact-based news and information. Listeners appreciate it and support continues to grow. 

2. PRX ABSORBS PRI

In August, Public Radio International (PRI) and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) announced that PRI and PRX were merging. 

As time has gone by, what was called a “merger” looks more like an “acquisition” of PRI by PRX.

PRI has since exited from national program distribution, an activity that was their core business since it was founded as American Public Radio (APR) in the 1980s.

The deal was completed under the auspices and largess of WGBH who invested $10 million dollars in the new combined operation. As we reported in October [link], WGBH apparently wanted to end its fiduciary obligations regarding PRI. 

When WGBH bought PRI in 2012, PRI remained an independent entity. Financially PRI was subsidized by WGBH for most of the years since 2012. According to IRS filings, during fiscal year 2017 (7/1/16 - 6/30/17) PRI ran a deficit of over $2.5 million. WGBH is now off-the-hook for PRI’s losses.

An unknown number of PRI employees now work at PRX. PRX is in the process of converting programs that were in PRI’s catalogue to PRX’s online distribution platform.

Though there now is one less public media acronym, we hope people will recognize the important contributions PRI (and APR before it) made to public media.

[Disclosure: Ken Mills was Director of News at PRI from 1992 until September 1997. Also, Ken Mills Agency, LLC has worked as a paid consultant for PRX at various times in the past.]

3. NPR RULES PODCASTING

NPR didn’t invent the podcast but they did start the podcast industry. NPR, and other public media insiders such as Ira Glass, made podcasting a popular new communication form and opened the door to new voices in public media.

According to Podtrac, a provider of top podcast charts, NPR was the number one podcast publisher for the entire year in 2018. Other public media companies such as PRX, WNYC Studios and This American Life and American Public Media, are also are among the leading podcast producers and publishers.

NPR enhanced its reputation as an essential voice in the podcast industry with the debut of RAD: Remote Audio Data, a method of tracking podcast listening that will provide user information that producers and potential sponsors need. RAD has been endorsed by most of the major podcast companies.

In November we reported about podcasts that are also public radio programs and programs that spawned podcasts [link]. We hope this trend continues in 2019 because the one-two punch of broadcast audience size and podcast convenience helps programs on both platforms.

Stations also released some terrific podcasts in 2018. We wrote about one of the year’s best series, Believed [link], produced by Michigan Radio in collaboration with NPR.

4. SMALL STATIONS GETTING SQUEEZED

Perhaps the most under-reported story of the year is about public radio stations in small and medium size markets that are experiencing budget cuts. 

Most often, the cuts are being made by the station's licensees.

In August we reported on a nightmare situation in Illinois [link] where a university licensee suddenly cut over half of the budget for Tri-States Public Radio.

We plan to cover other situations where public radio’s existence is in peril. In the meantime, we urge you to read an op-ed written by Cary Boyce, President and GM of Spokane Public Radio in Current [link].

5. TRIPLE A IS NOW PUBLIC RADIO’S FASTEST GROWING FORMAT

In July we broke that news that stations airing Triple A, Alternative Rock and Americana now have the third largest audience of all public radio formats [link]. Stations airing Jazz music dipped to fourth.

In our review of the June 2018 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings, we found that 20 Triple A, Rock and Americana music stations increased their estimated weekly listeners in June 2018 by 6.7% over June 2016. According Nielsen, the Triple group of stations reached 2,311,000 weekly listeners during the June 2018 sweeps.

Noncommercial Triple A stations have won the praise of the radio and music communities for their promotion of music discovery, careful curation and attention to local music scenes.

Triple A, and its contemporary music cousins, have established themselves as sustainable public radio formats. Look for more Triple A stations in 2019.