KCRW “SERVES THE WHOLE PERSON” • KCSN APPEARS IN THE FEBRUARY PPM RATINGS

Jennifer Ferro (image courtesy LA Weekly)

In a comprehensive interview with The Los Angeles Times, published on March 15^th [link], KCRW CEO Jennifer Ferro told Times reporter Randall Roberts “We serve the whole person.”

This is an apt description of KCRW’s mixture of NPR News, specialty shows and free-form music. 

The diversity of sounds often means one-half of the dual- format, NPR News, pays the bills. 

Still, KCRW’s music is heart and soul of the station.

This matters in the highly competitive Los Angeles radio market. 

Not that long ago KCRW was the undisputed top NPR News station in LA. 

Then, in the early 2000’s American Public Media (APM) took over KPCC via a management agree and flipped the Pasadena Community College station to 24/7 NPR News/Talk.

KPCC invested heavily and built a major regional news presence. KPCC chipped away KCRW’s news listeners. 

In 2009, when KPCC first beat KCRW in the then-Arbiton ratings, General Manager Ruth Seymour was asked if KCRW would switch to all news/talk. She said “No, every station has its own song to sing.”  KCRW still has the dual-format today.

Now KPCC has a sizable lead. In the February 2019 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings, KPCC had 200,000 more estimated weekly listeners than KCRW. KCRW’s average-quarter- hour (AQH) share was about a third of KPCC’s AQH share. A margin like this makes a difference in underwriting revenue and community clout. (Scroll down to see the February ratings for all LA noncommercial stations.)

Music is essential to KCRW’s brand. The station’s flagship daily show Morning Become Eclectic has introduced dozens of artists who are now famous.  Beck, Adele, Coldplay and Radiohead got their start on KCRW. Morning Become Eclectic has amazing influence on music heard in movies and television programs.

KCRW Media Center

The tension between news and music matters even more these days because KCRW is about to move into its new $38-million headquarters, the KCRW Media Center. 

It took over 11 years to raise the money and build the 34,000-square-foot facility.   

KCRW wants the Media Center to be an internationally known media hub and a cultural hub for Southern California. Music performance is a large part of the plan.

The station has ample resources. According to transparency reports on the station’s website, in FY 2017 KCRW generated over $30-million in revenue. The has almost $40-million in the bank and investments.

Despite this pot of gold, KCRW is involved in several finicky businesses.  Radio continues to be a lucrative business, thanks to in-vehicle listening. The music business had its first year of revenue growth in more than a decade. Digital media, such as podcasts, are growing but still are hard to monetize.

Ferro summed it up in her interview with Roberts from The Times:

 “KCRW’s largest challenge is the same for all media companies today — how to stay relevant in the digital age and find sources of revenue in an increasingly competitive landscape.”

PROOF: KCSN HAS ALMOST 200,000 WEEKLY LISTENERS

People have been wondering how many people are listening to KCSN – now simply called “88-Point-5” because its programming is also heard on 88.5 KSBR in Orange County. 

The answer was 176,300 estimated weekly listeners in the February 2019 Nielsen PPM ratings.

Ironically, KCSN became a subscriber to Nielsen just as GM Sky Daniels announced his retirement after eight years in charge. 

Daniels is the best KCSN leader ever and we will feature him soon.

Also in Los Angeles in February KPCC, Classical KUSC and Jazz KKJZ dipped a bit from previous months. 

Christian Contemporary K-Love on KKLQ had the best book since it signed on over a year ago.

In New York both NPR News/Talk WNYC-FM and Classical WQXR had losses in Cume but their AQH shares remained strong. 

AAA mainstay WFUV maintained its AQH share and estimated weekly listeners. 

At Pacifica’s pathetic WBAI, someone should tell the the person who is their last listener to turn the lights off when they leave.

In Chicago NPR News/Talk WBEZ was up in both AQH share and weekly cume.

WBEZ’s second service – Urban Alternative Vocalo – had enough weekly listeners to be included in the Nielsen report. 

However, Vocalo didn’t have enough of an AQH share to be listed. 

Vocalo originates on WBEZ’s HD-2 channel.