KUZU IS NOW ROCKING DENTON • KATHY MERRITT MOVES BACK TO CPB • WBFO ADDS 25,000 NEW WEEKLY LISTENERS IN BUFFALO

Denton, Texas has a new local radio voice.  KUZU FM 92.3 [link] came to life on Saturday (7/15) at High Noon. KUZU kicked off with 24 hours of music entirely from local artists from North Texas. The station combines Triple A, rockabilly and Texas twang. 

The station is a homegrown effort. Peter Salisbury, now the chairman of KUZU’s Board of Directors founded Real Waves Radio Network, the nonprofit behind KUZU, in 2013. They applied and eventually were granted a LPFM license after four years of waiting and planning.

KUZU-FM COVERAGE AREA

According Board Member Paul Slavens, KUZU’s local music focus was inspired by Triple A KKXT, Dallas, where Slavens used work weekends. Denton is about 40 miles north of Dallas. In recent years, Denton has become an exurb of the DFW Metroplex.

Slaven told the Denton News [link] that a dream was finally becoming a reality:

“We all knew today was a great challenge — emphasis on the word great. We learned a lot, and a brand-new animal has emerged out of the cocoon. Now we just have to get the butterfly to fly.”

And fly it did, and it is flying 24/7.

Volunteer Bruce Burns summed up the enthusiasm for KUZU this way:

"You don't have to be an expert at whatever you're doing. It's all about passion and not the money."

All of us in public media should find a bit of that passion.

KATHY MERRITT NAMED SENIOR VP OF JOURNALISM & RADIO AT CPB

Kathy Merritt

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that public radio veteran Kathy Merritt is now CPB’s Senior Vice President ofr Journalism and Radio. She replaces Bruce Theriault who left the job in 2016. Merritt previously was VP of Content Strategy & Development at Public Radio International (PRI).

Merritt was CPB’s Senior Direction of Program Investments in Radio before moving to PRI in 2013. She will be in charge of developing journalism collaborations and strengthening public media’s role as a trusted news source.

NPR NEWS IS UP IN BUFFALO AND RICHMOND; DOWN A BIT IN ROCHESTER

We continue our tour of Nielsen Audio’s Diary markets today with a look at legendary NPR News station WBFO. In the Spring 2017 sweeps WBFO added almost 25,000 estimated weekly cumulative listeners, a jump of 18% over Spring 2016. WBFO’s cume of 127,300 is likely a record. Sister station Classical WNED was also up.

WBFO and WNED also have a substantial number of listeners in Ontario, just over the falls.

NPR News also is performing very well in Richmond. Hometown WCVE and Roanoke’s WFFC and WVTF (via repeater WVTW) were all up in the Spring 2017 estimates compared to Spring 2016. The survey was conducted prior to format changes at the two Roanoke stations. WFFC continues to be all News/Talk. WVTF is now fulltime Classical music.  It will be interesting to see if the changes have any impact of dual-format WCVE.

All four subscribing stations in Rochester lost cumulative weekly listeners between Spring 2016 and Spring 2017. All four stations are operated by WXXI.      .

WUWM, WHAD & WYMS UP SHARPLY IN MILWAUKEE RATINGS • IS KGOU PULLING AWAY FROM KOSU IN OKC? • NEW PODCAST RANKINGS

We’ve got lots of numbers for you today, plus a chart that has no numbers at all.

Dave Edwards

The big news is in Milwaukee. NPR News station WUWM’s estimated weekly listeners grew by almost 50,000 between June 2016 and June 2017, an amazing 33% jump in one year. Dave Edwards and his team have been doing great work for years and now are seeing the benefits. I don’t know if the June 2017 Nielsen Audio estimated weekly cumulative listeners is a record high for WUWM, but I can’t recall when they had a higher cume.

It doesn’t appear that WUWM’s success is coming at the expense of Wisconsin Public Radio’s WHAD. Talk-based WHAD was up 32% in June 2017 compared with June 2016.  Triple A WYMS also made major gains over the past year, up 32%

KGOU INCREASES IT MARGAIN OVER KOSU

Jim Johnson

The first results from the Nielsen Audio Spring 2017 Diary markets are now dripping out. The initial batch shows a nice uptick for KGOU in Oklahoma City. 

Credit KGOU PD Jim Johnson for much of the success. He has programmed KGOU for over 20 years.

The battle for NPR News bragging rights in OKC between KGOU, Norman and KOSU, Stillwater is an unusual competition. 

Both stations operat on the fringes of the geographically large metro area.  Both are dual-format stations. Both exist in a state that is 50/50 Snooners and Cowboys. BTW – KOSU was also up and has lots of listeners in the Tulsa metro.

WWNO & WWOZ BOTH UP IN JUNE TRENDS

NPR News WWNO increased their number of estimated weekly listeners from June 2015 and June 2017 by over 18% in a two-year trend. We used the June 2015 Nielsen data because apparently WWNO did not subscribe to the ratings in June 2016. 

WWNO’s second station Classical 104.9 did not appear in June 2017 results.

Meanwhile, WWOZ’s new GM Beth Arroyo Utterback starts her job with the highest number of estimated weekly listeners in recent memory.  Credit consultant Arthur Cohen, in part, for WWOZ’s 23% gain.

NPR NEWS STATIONS DOWN A BIT IN PITTSBURGH, NASHVILLE & LOUISVILLE

Thank you to the reader who pointed out an error.

PODTRAC: 75% OF THE 20 TOP PODCASTS COME FROM PUBLIC RADIO PRODUCERS

 

Here is the chart without numbers. Podtrac distributes two monthly podcast charts. 

One shows detailed data regarding the top podcast publishers. 

The other, the one we have today, contains no analytics whatsoever. 

Why won’t Podtrac show line-item data for individual top podcasts?  They aren’t saying.

Think of today's Podtrac chart as an "impressionistic" creation. 

 

SCOTT HANLEY IS BACK HOME PROMOTING PITTSBURGH JAZZ • TOP 30 NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS IN AMERICA

Scott Hanley, GM WZUM, Pittsburgh

Scott Hanley is known as an innovator, former NPR Board member and a successful manager of public radio stations. 

To folks who know Scott, or have followed his career, he is a Jazz music fan and a promoter of Jazz on the radio.

Now, after four years as manager of WBHM, Birmingham, Hanley has returned to Pittsburgh and now is GM of WZUM AM/FM in Pittsburgh [link].   

Hanley is not only a manager, he is an on-air host with deep ties to the Jazz scene. He is a trained musician and performer and the leader of the Jazz Radio Consortium, a collaboration of hosts and stations from across North America.

WZUM's "rim shot" signal

This will be a new kind of challenge for Hanley. Unlike WBHM and WDUQ in Pittsburgh (where Hanley was also GM for many years), WZUM is what is known in the radio biz as a “rim shot” – a marginal signal from outside the metro that only covers only part of the market.

Guiding a station with less than perfect market coverage requires doing more with less.   

In such a situation, every member counts. Fortunately WZUM has a robust streaming audio feed [link]. 

UPDATE Monday 7/24 10:30am CT

Aaron Read just sent me information about a pending upgrade in coverage for WZUM-FM. The new map is on the left. 

Here is Aaron's comment:

You're forgetting that WZUM also has 1550AM that covers the heart of Pittsburgh, and has a CP to put 101.1FM on the air FROM the heart of Pittsburgh. (FM translator to WZUM/AM)

https://fccdata.org/?facid=138895

 
Thank you, Aaron

Though it doesn't have a powerhouse signal, WZUM is a for-real radio station. Known as “Pittsburgh’s Jazz Channel,” WZUM is owned by Pittsburgh Public Media, led by public media entrepreneur Chuck Leavens. It is a combination of several frequencies including WZUM-AM and WZUM-FM, licensed to Bethany, West Virginia.

Look for Hanley and WZUM to “punch far above their weight” as they bring unique public service to the community.

NPR NEWS DOMINATES THE LIST OF NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS WITH THE MOST WEEKLY LISTENERS

According to estimates provided by Nielsen Audio, in the June 2017 PPM ratings, stations based on NPR News/Talk programming comprise over 50% of the stations with the most weekly cumulative listeners. In fact, secular public radio stations occupy 23 out of the Top 30. Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) stations hold the other 7 slots.

CCM appears to have a larger format share in the June 2017 numbers because four stations operated by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) now subscribe to the Nielsen ratings. EMF owns two satellite-delivered CCM networks K-Love and Air1.

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As you know, many NPR News in the largest markets have been on a roll recently. 

According to Nielsen Audio estimates, the three stations with the most weekly listeners are WNYC-FM, New York, KQED, San Francisco and WAMU, Washington, DC. 

Compared to June 2016, all three stations have increased their number of weekly listeners by double-digit percentages.

click to enlarge

The four EMF stations that are included in the June 2017 Top 30 were a factor in displacing four stations in the June 2016 Top 30: Triple A KCMP (89.3 The Current), NPR News & Jazz KNKX in Seattle, Dallas Triple A KKXT, and Latin Pop KNIA in Phoenix. 

I’m glad that the listening to the K-Love stations are now known because I feel this Top 30 chart provides a good snapshot of noncom listening in the top markets. K-Love is a sophisticated format that obviously has lots of listeners. Plus, station's that derive 100% of their programming for satellite channels are cheap to operate.

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WQXR, New York, was the only one of the four Classical music stations in the Top 30 to increase its estimated number of weekly listeners. 

KUSC-FM lost over 100,000 weekly listeners and was down 15% compared to June 2016. 

Both Jazz music stations also declined as did Triple A WFUV.