KANU
– aka Kansas Public Radio (KPR) – will have a new Classical music
competitor soon. In
Spring 2020, NPR News/Talk KCUR [link] will debut a new fulltime Classical station
at 91.9 FM. It covers the entire metro.
For years KPR [link] has been the de facto radio source for Classical music in the Kansas City area. KPR [link] is a dual format operation with blocks of NPR News and Classical music.
For years KPR [link] has been the de facto radio source for Classical music in the Kansas City area. KPR [link] is a dual format operation with blocks of NPR News and Classical music.
KCUR
dominates the Kansas City news market. The new Classical channel will do the
same with Classical radio listeners.
What
would you do if you ran KPR?
We
compared the current schedules for KANU and KCUR. (Chart on the right)
KCUR’s
weekday schedule is similar to the best performing NPR News/Talk stations in
the nation.
KPR's schedule looks like a trip back
in time to the 1980s.
KPR
makes two abrupt changes on weekdays: At 9am news vanishes and six hours of music begins.
Then, at 3pm, the music ends and ATC appears.
On
weekdays during the hours when most people hear radio, KPR offers no programming that
compares with KCUR's Central Standard and Up To Date.
On
Saturday, between 6am and 3pm, the difference between the two stations is clear.
On Saturday afternoon, KPR is airs Trail Mix, a free-form
music show that features Americana, bluegrass, folk and Celtic music,
At the same time, KCUR airs
some of public radio’s biggest hits.
Has
anyone noticed that KANU and KCUR air the same programs on Saturday between
11am and 1pm?
 |
Image
courtesy of KPR
|
Though
both stations are university licensees, they have evolved differently.
According
to disclosure documents on the station’s websites, in FY 2018, Kansas Public Radio reported roughly $3
million in revenue.
Members contributed 43%; Underwriters added 11%, CPB
provided another 11%.
KPR looks to the west for
its listeners. It is based in Lawrence,
40 minutes west of Kansas City,
KPR has full-time repeaters or
translators in Chanute, Emporia, Atchison and Manhattan.
 |
KCUR’s
coverage
|
By
contrast, KCUR reported $5.7 million in revenue in FY 2018
Members contributed 51%;
Underwriters added 26%, CPB provided another 9.6%.
KEN SAYS: KANU is in a tough situation.
They
can’t afford to compete with KCUR as a full-time news station.
Full-time Classical isn’t an option ether.
Here
is what we recommend: Embrace Kansas!
Be a great station for Lawrence and northeast Kansas. Capture the sense of place where you live. Maybe you can get the broadcast rights for KU basketball.
NIELSEN NOVEMBER PPM
RATINGS
KCUR
had a nice bump in their AQH share and their estimated weekly listeners.
We
looked back at the Kansas City Arbitron for Fall 1999.
In the 20 years since then, KCUR’s audience size has roughly
doubled.
KPR's
audience hasn't grown much.
The number of weekly listeners to KPR are about the same as they were in 1999.
Meanwhile,
these appear to be good days to be in the radio news business in San Francisco.
Look
at the jump in AQH at KQED in just one month. Commercial News/Talk KCBS was
also up and now leads KQED.
They
gained in AQH share and estimated weekly listeners.
I have no insight to the management decisions or what's happening, but taking a look at both stations (KPR/KANU and KCUR) I think you're inventing a competition where none exists.
ReplyDeleteKANU provides a fringe signal to portions of the KC metro, but that's not their market. Lawrence and Topeka individually are distinct markets and it seems like their programming, news, events, and fundraising are focused there.
So what would I do? Stay the course.
I'm willing to bet a classical competitor probably isn't going to impact KPR much because they don't have a lot of listeners in KC, and the signal on 91.9 barely covers the market from the east, whereas KANU only covers about half the market from the west. In other words, the classical competitor isn't going to fall where the bulk of KPR's listeners are.