SPECIAL SERIES: IN SEARCH OF A RADIO RATINGS ALTERNATE

Like the weather, everybody in the radio biz likes to complain about the Nielsen Audio ratings but they keep paying for it. Today we are debuting a special series of reports about ratings alternatives from a noncommercial station point of view. Today we visit Canada.

In general radio in Canada is very similar to what it is the US – AM and FM in small towns and big cities.  One big difference is that Canada has the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). It is directly supported by the Canadian government.

When CBC began it was partially based on the BBC in the UK. Unlike the UK, early radio stations in Canada needed to cover spread out geographical areas. The CBC launched a series of clear channel AM stations to cover the vasts distances.

The CBC was the dominant player in Canadian radio until after World War Two.  As in the US, hundreds of new commercial stations signed on in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s. CKLW, The Big 8, pushed 50,000-watts across a large chunk of North America. Its Top 40 rock format made it one of the legendary stations of the era.

The new commercial stations needed a ratings system in order to sell ad time, so in 1944 Canada debuted the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (“BBM”). At the time, BBM was a division of the Canadian Associated of Broadcasters (CAB), similar to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in the US. Over time, BBM became the source of TV ratings.

Numeris has been the standard for radio and TV audience measurement since then. Numeris has, and continues, to work in close association with Nielsen, the huge for-profit corporation in the US.

By 2012, Canadians wanted radio and TV ratings that weren’t directly tied to commercial broadcasters. BBM was spun off from the CAB and became a separate nonprofit organization.  The new entity took the name Numeris.  Though it is independent, the Board is comprised of representatives from big commercial broadcasters and the CBC.

Numeris and Nielsen have many similarities in the methodology they use for radio audience measurement. Five of the biggest cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton) have PPM measurement.  The remaining 100 or so radio markets use Diary methodology.

In the past thirty years, Canada has added many new FM stations to serve local areas. Community and college stations have sprung up everywhere.  Though they tend to be smaller than similar stations in the US, they serve the same purpose – they count on listeners for direct support.

When public radio began in the US in the 1970s, CBC Radio a big influence. Today NPR is major influence of CBC. CBC stations even refer to themselves on the air as “public radio” though there are no pledge drives.

Stations acquire the Numeris the same way they stations do in the US: They pay for them. The price to subscribe to Numeris is similar to the price to subscribe Nielsen. Independent Community and College stations are priced out of the market. So, the Canadian system has no real advantage over the US system.

WELCOME TO WINNIPEG

To see how this plays out in real time, we decided to take a closer look at radio in Winnipeg

On the left are the most recent Numeris radio ratings for Winnipeg. 

They look very similar to a mid-sized US city.

The leading station, CBW-AM, is the CBC news flagship. 

CBC Radio One has been “Americanized” to a certain extent. 

This American Life and Fresh Air are popular programs. PRI’s The World is used during overnight hours.

Other than the two English language stations, and two French language stations, the rest of rated stations are operated by commercial broadcasters. 

Country, rock and Adult Contemporary are very similar to their cousins in the US, but with more (required) Canadian content.

Community and campus stations aren’t on the chart.

We found four of these stations. They are in the next chart on the left. All four are very small operations staffed with enthusiastic volunteers.

One station caught our attention: Nostalgia CJNU [link]. A similar noncom station in the US might do well in certain locations.

CJNU-FM targets older listeners – people left out by other formats. CJNU is operated by a non-profit cooperative. Members are asked to pay $25 per year. For this contribution they not only get to hear programming featuring pop standards, 1950’s rock and big band, they get to participate in stations events. WJNU’s biggest annual fund raising is called Senior Stars, a talent show that gets rave reviews every year.

The oldest and perhaps most successful noncom station in Winnipeg is CJUM at the University of Manitoba [link]. 

Listening to this stations reminds us a lot of Radio K (KUOW), the Alt Rock destination in the Twin Cities.

Our favorite college station is the city is CKUW from the University of Winnipeg [link]. It plays a tasty mix of AAA and Alt Rock lovingly curated by the DJs who know what they are talking about.

We reached out to CKUW GM Robert Schmidt, one of the founders of the station that signed on in 1999.  We asked Schmidt why WKUW did but the Numeris ratings data. He told us by email:

Despite being a nonprofit, Numeris is only interested in commercial broadcasters and the CBC. Our station has an annual budget around $220,000 (CDN), so even if we wanted to buy the ratings, we can’t afford it. That is another reason why support from our members is our lifeline.