“PRNDI” BECOMES “PMJA” • NPR STATIONS ARE THE TOP RADIO NEWS SOURCE IN PORTLAND, SEATTLE & SAN DIEGO

Okay, let’s practice saying PRNDI’s new name together: PMJA is pronounced pim-JAH, pim-JAH, pim-JAH – rhymes with “ninja.”

That new acronym stands for the “Public Media Journalists Association,” the new name for the organization that for years was called PRNDI (pronounced prin-DEE).

At the Public Radio News Directors annual conference last week in Washington, DC, the voting members of the organization gave formal approval for the new name.

The change reflects a wider scope of journalists. Changing the name had been discussed for many years. Making a change was voted down twice in previous years.

Alicia Zuckerman

PMJA President Alicia Zuckerman said the new name “better captures who we are and where we're going.” She also said PMJA was more inclusive and could attract other newsroom employees, particularly journalists working with digital platforms.

Though the name and scope of the organization have changed, control remains with News Directors. In April Christine Paige Diers, Business Manager for then-PRNDI, the rule concerning voting eligibility was not changed:

Per our current bylaws, each member station receives one vote at our business meeting. The change that is being put before the membership at this time is only for a name change.  We are not planning to ask membership to change voting structure at this time.”

According to Diers, there are currently 110 voting member stations.

The 2019 Conference closed with the annual awards banquet. The awards honor the best work being done by local public radio stations.  This year, nearly 190 awards were presented to local public radio stations in a number of categories. You can download a list of the winners here.

Also a the conference the PMJA Board of Directors added three new members and one current Board member will be returning. Those people new on the Board include Shula Neuman from KWMU in St. Louis, Brent Wolfe from WUNC in Chapel Hill and Gabrielle Jones from WCVE in Richmond. Jonathan Reeves from KASU in Arkansas returned to the Board.

In 2020, the PMJA conference will be in Seattle.

COMMERCIAL NEWS & TALK STATIONS ARE CLOSELY WATCHING THE GROWTH OF NPR NEWS STATIONS

As Spark News readers know, NPR News/Talk stations are now the top radio news source in quite a few cities, often replacing legendary commercial news and talk outlets. This fact is becoming well known by owners and programmers in commercial radio.

To enhance this trend we are showing three more markets where NPR stations are the top radio news source in the May 2019 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings: Portland, Seattle and San Diego.

Earlier this week the leading trade publication Inside Radio covered remarks by NPR's Senior VP of News Nancy Barnes at the PMJA gathering [link].  

Inside Radio said:

“In markets like San Francisco and Washington, DC, the biggest battle at the top of the Nielsen ratings ranker isn’t between two big music FMs. It’s a commercial all-news outlet in a neck-and-neck race with a local public radio station."

Nancy Barnes, Giant Slayer

"In the Bay Area, Entercom’s KCBS and public radio outlet KQED-FM toggle between first and second place in the market." 

"In DC its Hubbard’s WTOP-FM and American University’s WAMU who battle it out on a monthly basis."

“Such format fights may still be a rarity in most cities, but a public media initiative could make local NPR stations a lot more competitive in the future.”

[Note: This statement in Inside Radio is not true.  NPR News/Talk stations being the top radio source is not a “rarity.”]

“Speaking at the annual gathering of public radio networks directors last weekend in Washington, NPR's Senior VP of News Nancy Barnes said as more local newspapers disappear and those that remain operate with skeleton resources, she sees a growing role for radio to play. ‘It is increasingly going to fall to the non-profit world to fill the gaping gaps,’ Barnes said. ‘Nothing short of our democracy is at stake.’"