PRX DEBUTS NEW LOGO & WEBSITE • 86% OF FULL-TIME JAZZ MUSIC STATIONS LOST WEEKLY LISTENERS IN THE PAST YEAR

In April the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) [officially unveiled a new logo (shown above). As every student of marketing learns in the first day of class, an organization or company logo may be their single most important graphic decision. The new PRX logo captures the essence of public media’s most innovative and fastest growing company.

In a blog post on Medium [link] Maggie Taylor, Director of Marketing at PRX and Radiotopia, said the new logo is part of PRX’s plan refresh its brand image and convey the broader scope of its business:

        

Maggie Taylor

For the last 15 years, PRX.org has primarily been home to the PRX Exchange, the world’s first public radio broadcast marketplace. 

While the Exchange is still the best way for independent producers to get their work heard on public radio, it doesn’t fully capture what PRX has become. 

This includes our amazing podcasts, proprietary technology, audio training initiatives and more.

PRX has also revised its website [link] and reorganized internally to streamline its growing portfolio of projects. PRX has become a major player in the podcast industry. The new look is intended to raise the company’s visibility in the fields of training and ad sales.  Advertising is now the top revenue source for the podcast industry.

The bold look of the new logo was designed to break through the growing clutter in podcasting as more and more deep pocket companies enter the market. Taylor says changes reinforce the unique essence and history: of PRX

We also needed an identity that could go beyond our roots as a leader in broadcast radio. We wanted to capture the ideals of the organization and the trustworthiness that our customers have come to expect. PRX is a foundation upon which others can build, so a bold, straightforward look that conveyed the reliability of our team, services and technology was crucial.

The new logo contains an icon you will see often: The "X" mark on the left. 

PRX hopes the mark will be come recognized as a powerful symbol in the audio world.

[Disclosure: Ken Mills has worked as paid consultant for PRX in the past but is not doing so at this time.]

IMPROVING PUBLIC RADIO’S IMAGE

The radio industry, both public and commercial, is notorious for not investing in better graphics, appealing fonts and overall design.  They give little thought to using their logos in a consistent manner. Those who disregard their visual look are likely hurting their entire brand.

Some companies spend a bundle of money to create a new logo and later learn that people see it differently than what was intent.   

A case-in-point is the logo on the right. It was introduced in 1995 when American Public Radio (APR) changed its name to Public Radio International (PRI). Now it is a moment of Zen.

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM RATINGS TREND DOWN FOR MOST FULL-TIME JAZZ STATIONS

Spark News tracks the Nielsen ratings for 14 full-time Jazz music stations and several dual format stations that play some hours of Jazz. 

Of those 14 stations, 12 (86%) had fewer estimated weekly listeners in the March 2018 PPM ratings than they did in March 2017.

The two stations that gained weekly listeners were KTSU in Houston (up 12%) and KBEM in Minneapolis (up a whopping 30%). 

The estimated number of weekly listeners to all 14 stations was down 4.5% in March 2018 (2,107,100) from March 2017 (2,008,100).

Too learn more about KBEM and its amazing success, check out our post from last November [link].