MPR’S NANCY CASSETT MOVES TO ‘MARKETPLACE’ FOR A ONE YEAR ASSIGNMENT • NOVEMBER NIELSEN DIARY MARKET RATINGS

Nancy Cassett (courtesy MPR

American Public Media (APM) didn’t have to look far to find a new Managing Director of News at Marketplace in Los Angeles. 

Nancy Cassett, formerly the Executive Director of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News, took the assignment on a temporary basis. 

Cassett plans to return to MPR after her year in LA.

Cassett’s move comes at a time of reorganization in MPR’s News Division. Managing Editor Laura McCallum will take Cassett’s place temporarily. As we reported in October [link], MPR chose long-time host, reporter and producer Stephanie Curtis to be Director of Programming for MPR’s news stations.

Marketplace [link] is one of APM’s most valuable assets. The nationally syndicated program airs on hundreds of stations. MPR is part of American Public Media Group.

News of Cassett’s exit caused some observers (and a few employees) to question MPR’s commitment to local news. David Brauer, a reporter for online news site MinnPost, said in a tweet [link]:

“Apparently news boss Nancy Cassett is going to APM|MPR’s Marketplace. I’ve heard that APM’s national ambitions are hurting local news.”

Brauer is a frequent critic of MPR and APM.

NIELSEN AUDIO NOVEMBER RATINGS FOR NPR NEWS & CLASSICAL STATIONS IN DIARY MARKETS

Nielsen’s new Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) means less information is available to the public for stations in markets that use Diary methodology. 

Radio Research Consortium (RRC), is no longer making ratings information available to the public. Despite concern by Spark News and other trade publications, Nielsen doesn’t share data about estimated weekly listeners in Diary markets.

We have noticed that several of public radio’s leading organizations in Diary markets don’t appear in the November data, indicating they no longer subscribe. This includes stations operated by Louisville Public Media, Jefferson Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Though the Radio Research Consortium still sells CDM data to noncommercial stations, they told Spark News earlier this year:

“This will be the last survey RRC will provide public topline estimates because Nielsen reporting changes are forcing us to provide incomplete topline data.”

We will continue to report ratings for stations in Diary markets “as is.”

We did find November ratings information for 15 NPR News stations in 17 markets.

The NPR News station showing the biggest gain in AQH shares is WCVE in Richmond.

Other NPR News stations where gains in AQH share are notable include WKSU in its home market Akron, WBFO in Buffalo and WFCR in its home market Springfield, Massachusetts.

We found November data for 9 Classical music in Diary markets. The stations with the largest increases in AQH were WDPR in Dayton and KUAT in Tucson.