KUOW TAKES THE LEAD IN “THE BATTLE FOR SEATTLE” • UPDATE ON NEW RGV STATION

(Image from Wikipedia)

We have written often about the competition between NPR News/Talk KUOW and commercial News/Talk KIRO-FM for the top news spot in the Seattle-Tacoma PPM.

Now there is a new twist to the story.  In Nielsen Audio’s January PPM ratings, KUOW leads KIRO in both AQH share and estimated weekly listeners. 

KUOW has topped KIRO often in AQH share but this is the first time in recent memory that KUOW had more estimated weekly listeners than KIRO.

The competition is important because it matches two of the nation’s best News/Talk stations. It is also a indicator of the rising supremacy of NPR News/Talk stations in markets where commercial stations were once the leading news and information source.

The chart on the left shows the trend lines for KUOW and KIRO since July 2018. 

Months when KUOW rated higher than KIRO are highlighted.

Seattle-Tacoma is a very competitive radio news market.  There are at least nine stations airing news, talk or sports.

In addition to KUOW and KIRO, several other stations are also factors:

• Dual format KNKX (NPR News and Jazz) consistently performs well. In the January Nielsen PPM ratings KNKX had a 3.6 AQH share and 303,200 estimated weekly listeners.

• KOMO AM/FM, owned by deep-pocket commercial company Sinclair Media, is an all-news station with an AQH share of 2.9 and 341,600 weekly listeners.

Last September we featured KIRO [link] and called them Almost Public Radio (a compliment, btw). Like KUOW, KIRO is also trying to attract smart news listeners. 

Seattle, I'm listening...

KIRO [link] is a unique big-market commercial News/Talk station because it doesn’t carry anyone like Rush or Hannity. 

On KIRO you hear kinder, gentler voices.

In our story last year, we said if Frasier Crane were an actual radio talk show host he would be working at KIRO-FM. 

At KIRO you will hear the quirky gardener, the Cask Club for Merlot drinkers and Geek in the basement who can fix your computer.

WAMU CLOSES THE AQH SHARE GAP WITH WTOP

Another competition between a NPR News/Talk station and an excellent commercial News station is WAMU and WTOP in Washington, DC.

As you can see in the chart on the left, WTOP has more estimated weekly listeners. But, AQH shares for the two stations are much closer. In the December 2018 Nielsen PPM ratings, WAMU beat WTOP for the first time since just after the 2016 election.

The people in charge of WTOP, privately owned Hubbard Broadcasting, has also seven decades of experience. Hubbard is considered to be one of the best-operated and most profitable commercial broadcasters. WTOP often brings in more than $75 million per year in ad revenue.

Conservative talk station WMAL is also a factor in the DC market. In the January Nielsen PPM ratings they had a 5.7 AQH share and 321,700 weekly listeners.

UPDATE: SAVE NPR IN THE VALLEY DEBUTS FACEBOOK PAGE, PLANS ORGANIZATION

Efforts to create a new NPR public radio in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) have been moving along at a brisk pace. 

Educators, journalists, performers and people who were on the KMBH Community Advisory Board have opened a new Facebook page [link].

Shawn Seale, a former member of the KMBH Board told the Rio Grande Guardian [link]:

Shawn Seale

“We are working on the assumption we need a new NPR station in the Valley and the only way to achieve that is to mobilize support in the community. We want to raise sufficient funds to start a new NPR station. We love NPR.”

The group – called Save NPR in the Valley – is preparing to file documents to become an official non-profit organization.

Disclosure: Ken Mills is an informal consultant to Save NPR in the Valley.