COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT VS. PERSONAL SAFETY • LOCAL COVERAGE OF CREATING A NEW NPR STATION IN SOUTH TEXAS

Amy O

A recent incident in Lubbock involving a popular radio DJ and a stalker underscores the importance of keep station personnel safe at public events. 

In early February, Amy Olivares, known as Amy O on the air at Pop Hits station 104.9 The Beat, realized she was being stalked.

According to KCBD-TV in Lubbock [link], Amy found photos taken of her inside her home without her knowledge on social media. 

Then on February 12^th she woke up and heard her patio door close. The stalker was inside her home. Amy O screamed and man ran away and she called the Lubbock police.

Amy’s story is strikingly similar to what happened to Mary Lucia, a DJ at The Current in the Twin Cities.  We covered Lucia’s story in November 2015 [link].

Amy O being interviewed on KCBD-TV

She told KCBD that encounters with the stalker started off when a young male fan she considered harmless began showing at station remote broadcasts. Then the man began bringing her coffee, then flowers, then food.

She said that her admirer kept giving her "Things that I never asked for, but I was being polite and saying thanks.”

Things began to escalate. “I got text messages from him [with] pictures of me sleeping inside my home. Next came a text message saying ‘now do I have your attention’ and ‘I’m going to bring in the bigger guns.’"

Her mail was stolen and finally the late night break-in happened. She called police when she realized “A listener has turned into a monster [and] has terrorized me. It has been happening for months.”

A couple of days later Lubbock Police arrested a local man Chad Edward Joyce. Joyce was released on a $3,000 bond and Amy O secured a protective order against him. Stalking in Texas is a third degree felony.

On-air folks at commercial and public radio stations are urged to personally engage with listeners. But was the Lubbock station in any way responsible for Amy O's incident? 

This is how Amy O is described on the 104.9 The Beat website [link]:

When she’s not on-air you can find Amy O hanging out at any of Lubbock’s hottest spots. You will find her at all Texas Tech sports events. And she definitely lives her life to the fullest!

GRASSROOTS EFFORT UNDERWAY TO CREATE NEW NPR STATION IN RGV

RIO GRANDE GUARDIAN

February 26, 2019 [link to full story]

By Luis Montoya

Volunteers seeking new RGV NPR station

MCALLEN, TEXAS  – Former members of KMBH’s Upper Valley Community Advisory Board have reconstituted themselves in order to save NPR in the region.

The board was disbanded by the Diocese of Brownsville when Bishop Daniel Flores sold PBS four years ago. 

At a meeting at the Corner Bakery on 10th Street in McAllen on Monday evening, members of the board signaled their intention to set up a non-profit organization to raise sufficient funds to create a new and improved National Public Radio station. 

The initial cost of getting a new NPR station up and running could cost upwards of $200,000, Upper Valley Community Advisory Board members believe. They said they would use the road map drawn for them by veteran public radio broadcaster Ken Mills.

Map of the lower Rio Grande Valley

Mills, who is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota but has family in the Valley, said he expects the Federal Communications Commission to approve the sale of KHID 88.1 and KJJF 88.9 to Immaculate Heart Media.

“This is a done deal. Complaining about the Diocese is a waste of time and effort. People who want NPR on local radio in the Valley need to build something new,” Mills told the Rio Grande Guardian.

“I am passionate about public radio because I believe it is a positive force in our society and democracy. In my work as a consultant and executive in public radio I have seen the ways public radio stations has helped bring people together.”

Mills said his company, Spark News, is prepared to provide pro bono advice to any person or organization that seriously seeks to build a new NPR station. 

“What is needed now is a community campaign to Save NPR in the Valley. The purpose of the campaign is to create awareness of the situation and form a nonprofit entity that will raise money to Save NPR in the Valley and plan for new station,” Mills said.

“Community leaders who want to Save NPR in the Valley should step forward now.”

WWNO’S NEW REGIONAL NEWS DIRECTOR IS PATRICK MADDEN FROM WAMU • NIELSEN RATINGS FOR FULL-TIME NPR NEWS/TALK STATION IN DIARY MARKETS

Patrick Madden

Patrick Madden, an all-purpose reporter who specializes in investigative and political journalism, has been chosen to be the first WWNO/WRKF Regional News Director. Spark News featured the search for leader to build the new news collaboration in November, 2018 [link].

Madden appears to be a wise choice for the challenging opportunity. In November Paul Maassen, General Manager of both WWNO and WRKF, told Spark News he was looking for someone with the vision to make the regional center world class. Maassen wants the collaboration to be a source of regional, national and international reporting.

Madden’s star has risen quickly at WAM started at WAMU in 2006 after working at NBC and C-SPAN in the early 2000’s. Soon Madden’s investigative reporting on political corruption in Washington DC’s City Hall, made him the “go to” specialist on the power and influence beat.

Madden’s 2015 investigative series on police misusing assault charges prompted city lawmakers to change the law. His coverage of pay-to-play at the local level has also forced the D.C. Council to tighten the city’s campaign finance laws.

Madden has frequently partnered with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. 

He also has worked with Reveal, the Center For Public Integrity and NPR. 

He has won several Murrow Awards and was awarded the Daniel Schorr Prize, a major honor for public radio journalists

What may have caught Maasen’s attention was Madden’s experience in political and governmental reporting. Louisiana seems to have an endless supply of malfeasance to investigate.

13 FULL-TIME NPR NEWS/TALK STATIONS IN DIARY MARKETS ARE THE TOP RADIO NEWS SOURCE IN THEIR MARKETS

Our analysis of Fall 2016 Nielsen ratings for more than three-dozen full-time NPR News/Talk stations reveals that in many markets the NPR station has a greater AQH share that all local commercial news and talk stations.

The chart on the left shows 25 News/Talk stations that had a 3.0% AQH share or greater in the Fall 2018 ratings. Thirteen of the 25 (52%) performed better than all commercial News/Talk stations in the market.

NPR News/Talk stations were number one in well-known NPR-friendly places like Burlington, Ann Arbor and Eugene.  But NPR News/Talk stations beat all commercial news and talk stations in Anchorage, Roanoke and Grand Rapids.

NPR News/Talk stations also scored the top spot in multiple metro areas. KCLU had the highest AQH share in Oxnard-Ventura and Santa Barbara. Michigan Radio, shown on the chart as WUOM, was the number one News/Talk station in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor.

Michigan Radio was also the top performer in the number of estimated weekly listeners in Fall 2018, followed Vermont Public Radio News, Maine Public’s news channel and WAMC in Albany.

Overall more stations (64%) had a declining number of weekly listeners in Fall 2016 than Fall 2018. Ten stations (36%) had more estimated weekly listeners in Fall 2018 then they did in Fall 2016. Here are the Nielsen ratings for the top 30 full-time NPR News/Talk stations in Diary markets:

PODTRAC’S DECISION TO NOT REPORT DOWNLOADS MEETS FLACK FROM THE PODCAST INDUSTRY

Podtrac claims its podcast ranking charts are The Standard of the podcast industry. But the company met considerable resistance last week following an abrupt and unexplained change in one of its key metrics. Podtrac stopped including global downloads, a basic metric of measuring podcast’s reach.

The respected radio industry publication Inside Radio said they will discontinue printing Podtrac’s charts because of concern about the veracity of Podtrac's methodology and the company’s lack of transparency.

Inside Radio said [link] that a reporter for its sister publication, Podcast News Daily, inquired with Podtrac about the change. A representative of the company responded by email, saying:

"We are re-evaluating the information provided on the rankings. There is a link at the bottom of the post requesting feedback to that end." That was the entire message.

According to a knowledgeable industry source, who spoke with Spark News off the record, people are speculatinb that Podtrac’s download numbers may not be in compliance with the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) impending 2.0 standards.

Podtrac has a secretive internal process that sometimes does not build confidence in the company. Podtrac wants to establish itself as the industry’s “go to” source for podcast metrics similar the role Nielsen plays in broadcast ratings.

Velvet Beard from Podtrac told us in November 2018 that it is up to publishers to choose which of their shows they want Podtrac to include in the rankings. For instance, the number of active shows published by iHeartRadio varies between 100 and 600 depending on the month. iHeart has complained publicly about Podtrac’s decision not to not provide download data because they think is important information.

Spark News publishes Podtrac’s rankings “as is.” We let readers decide the value of their charts.

LISTENING TO PODCASTS HAS GROWN BY DOUBLE DIGITS FOR MOST PUBLISHERS IN THE PAST YEAR

Podtrac’s  ranking of podcast publishers for January 2019, compared with January 2018 (chart on the left), show amazing growth in the estimated number of people accessing podcasts. Of the eight publishers with data for both years, only one organization had a decrease in Unique Monthly Audience: WNYC Studios. The reason for drop is not known.

Commercial podcast publishers, including The New York Times, Wondery and iHeartRadio, saw startling growth in their Monthly Audiences during the past year. The Times, powered by the popularity of The Daily, was up 49%.

The estimated audience for public media podcast publishers were also up over the past year. PRX had the biggest gain, up 17%.  NPR, the top podcast publisher, increased their Monthly Audience by 9%.

 Despite the gains made by commercial publishers, podcasting remains predominantly a public media endeavor. The chart on the right shows Podtrac’s Top 20 podcasts for January 2019.

Unfortunately, Podtrac does not provide the statistics for the Top 20 podcasts, so we have to trust them that the rankings were not created using an Ouija Board.

Public media organizations publish 14 of the Top 20 (70%). NPR publishes 9 of the Top 20 podcasts (45%).

PODCASTS + RADIO = SUCCESS

The top takeaway from the data is that radio and podcasts reinforce each other and both platforms benefit.  Radio has greater reach and podcasts satisfy the on demand itch for a deeper experience.

Sixteen of the Top 20 (80%) podcasts have strong ties to radio. They use virtually the same content on both platforms. This allows valuable cross-promotion opportunities.

Examples that demonstrate the one-two punch of radio and podcasts include:

• The Daily, now the top podcast according to Podtrac, has benefited by radio distribution by American Public Media (APM). More and stations are adding The Daily because of its perceived affinity between Times readers and public radio news listeners. Plus the banner “ad” at the top of page one of The Times doesn’t hurt either.

• Conservative talker Ben Shapiro leveraged his popular daily podcast into a staple of right-wing commercial talk radio. Now in only its fourth month of radio syndication The Ben Shapiro Show is now cleared on over 200 stations, including outlets in most of the biggest markets. Being on radio has allowed Shapiro to monetized his entire company, Daily Wire. It may be cool to have a hit podcast but the real money is syndication.

• Radio cross promotion was essential to the successful launch of the podcast series Serial by This American Life’s (TAL). Serial was introduced to an estimated 2.4 million people when it was featured on TAL. Not every podcast debuts on 450 public radio stations.

CAN WF STRONG HELP BRING NPR BACK TO THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY? • WNCW LEADS AAA DIARY MARKET STATIONS

Texas Storyteller WF Strong

Finally, there is some good news to report from the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). 

The Valley will loose its only local NPR voice later this spring when Rio Grande Public Radio (RGPR) vanishes. 

The two stations that comprise RGPR have been sold a Catholic media company and the new owners have no intention of continuing NPR programming.

Dr. William Frederick (“WF”) Strong, a communications professor at the University Texas – Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), told Spark News in an email:

We are in the early stages of getting the university powers on board [to establish a new NPR station].  I want the NPR station to be on campus but to serve the entire RGV, with a stronger signal. 

Though Strong has no experience in operating or programming a NPR station, he is a well-known creative force within public radio. His Stories from Texas: Some of Them Are True audio essays appear in NPR news magazines, on KUT’s statewide daily news program Texas Standard, as podcasts distributed by NPR [link] and via Audible. Stories from Texas are even sold on Amazon [link] where they get rave reviews.

Consider Strong a “public media insider” because he is an astute observer of how the business operates and has a natural affinity with public media decision makers. Officials at KUT and NPR hold Strong in high regard.

Less is known about of UTRGV’s interest about entering the public radio business. UTRGV [link] began in 2013 when it evolved from UT – Brownsville. It is one of the fastest growing public universities in the nation with an undergraduate enrollment over 25,000 and graduate enrollment of almost 4,000. Ninety percent of the students at UTRGV are Hispanic. Strong has been on the faculty since 2005.

UTRGV has an online student radio station -- UTRGV Radio [link] – and owns no other broadcasting properties.

If UTRGV does pursue a new NPR station, it will likely take awhile before it is on the air.  A large university system such as the UT has multiple layers of decision-making and many stakeholders across the state. So, it appears that when RGPR’s licenses are transferred to the God Squad, which is expected in May, the RGV will be without a local NPR station for months, maybe years.

NIELSEN AUDIO DIARY MARKET RATINGS FOR AAA, ALT ROCK, JAZZ & OTHER CONTEMPORARY MUSIC STATIONS

Triple A stations in markets using Nielsen’s Diary methodology in Fall 2018 broke even compared with data from Fall 2016. Looking at 13 stations with ratings available for both years, 5 (39%) increased their estimated weekling listeners, 5 (39%) lost weekly listeners and 3 stations stayed the same.

University of Kentucky’s alt rocker WRFL (celebrating 31 years of parties) led the pack with a 28% gain in weekly listeners in Fall 2018 compared with Fall 2016. The Colorado Sound in Fort Collins – Greeley was up 26%.

Two of the best known Triple A stations, WFPK and WEXT were down by double digits, though WEXT had a big jump in AQH share.

There is one new station (to us, at least) on the chart that deserves recognition, WOVM a/k/a The Avenue [link] is a very impressive independent community station. The Avenue not only does well in Appleton, it also pulls decent listening in Green Bay and Oshkosh by gosh. These folks are proof that you don’t need a big metro of university licensee make Alternative Rock happen.  Check these folks out – You can feel the passion and sweat by just llstening to their streaming audio.

There aren’t enough full-time Jazz stations to draw any conclusions about the format in Diary markets.   

LPFM station WNOZ in NOLA had a nice gain in estimated weekly listeners.

One of our favorite "other" stations, WDVX in Knoxville [link] is now specializing in Americana music.  

WDVX first became nationally known in the late 1990s when it was broadcasting from a 14-foot camping trailer, parked at a campground off I-75.   

Since then they moved to solid ground and now serve counties in the Cumberland Mountains and the Great Valley of East Tennessee.

AN URGENT APPEAL • READER COMMENTS

We sent the following message on Thursday (2/21) to various stakeholders and media outlets in the Rio Grande Valley.

An Open Letter To People Who Want Save NPR in the Rio Grande Valley from Ken Mills

Ken Mills

We are surprised and saddened by the lack of concern in the Rio Grande Valley about the imminent loss of NPR News on local radio.

On February 12, 2019, Immaculate Heart Media, an organization that syndicates Catholic oriented radio programming, purchased the two FM stations that comprise Rio Grande Public Radio.

Pending FCC approval of the sale (which is expected) the new owners will take over in May or June. This is a done deal. Complaining about the Diocese is a waste of time and effort. People who want NPR on local radio in the Valley need to build something new.

Spark News, a national blog that covers news, trends and issues on public radio, has been reporting on the situation [link].

We will provide pro bono advice to any person or organization that serious seeks to build a new NPR station. If you have any questions of comments you can email us at publicradio@hotmail.com.

The Rio Grande Valley metro area

What is needed now is a community campaign to Save NPR in the Valley. The purpose of the campaign is to create awareness of the situation and form a nonprofit entity that will raise money to Save NPR in the Valley and plan for new station.

Community leaders who want to Save NPR in the Valley should step forward now. We know of ways that a new NPR station can be established quickly. But, this will take leadership.

So far, there appears to be little serious interest in Saving NPR in the Valley. Does this lack of enthusiasm reflect the true spirit of the residents of the Rio Grande Valley? We hope not.

Ken Mills

Spark News

publicradio@hotmail.com

We received this comment regarding the situation in the Rio Grande Valley from an anonymous Spark News reader:

Anonymous: “Historically Texas Public Radio (KSTX) hasn’t had much spare cash to throw around. So I while I can’t comment on whether or not they’d WANT to keep NPR content in the Rio Grande valley, I would be surprised if they CAN spend the money to do it.”

“But arguably both KUT (Austin) and KERA (Dallas) have the cash to pull it off, if done wisely. KUHF in Houston might be able to do it, too. That all said, you’d think the folks at KEDT in Corpus Christi would be the logical choice to spearhead any attempt to keep NPR content on the air around McAllen/Brownsville. God only knows if KEDT has the money, though.”

KEN SAYS: We have reached out to the leaders of KUT, KERA and Texas Public Radio.  We also have been in contact with the folks at KTEP in El Paso, a city that is similar in many ways to the Valley. We will let our readers know if there are any new developments.

TOPIC TWO: “THE SQUID” IS LOOSE IN SANTA CRUZ

Rachael Goodman (left) and The Squid welcome

 visitors at the grand opening of the station

Last Tuesday we ran a story about the debut of KSQD The Squid, a new community station in Santa Cruz.  Many of the people involved with The Squid were previously associated with KUSP, a station in Santa Cruz that was forced into bankruptcy because of incompetent management. We received two reader comments and seem to know what they are talking about.

A market veteran, who asked us not to publish his/her name wrote:

Market Veteran: “Considering that many of the parties involved in KSQD have their fingerprints on KUSP’s corpse, it’s hard to see how KSQD will succeed where KUSP failed, lower overhead notwithstanding.” 

  

“The biggest problem is the program schedule.  It’s as if it was designed to reject the twin virtuous cycles that underlie non-commercial radio’s staying power, specifically that ‘programming causes audience’ and ‘listener support begets public service, public service begets listener support.”

“Unless there is an endless supply of naïve, deep-pockets donors I can’t see how KSQD doesn’t follow KUSP into the mausoleum of radio legends.”  

The second comment came from an anonymous reader with knowledge of technical matters:

Coverage map for The Squid

Anonymous:  “The old KUSP (now KLVM) 88.9 had a pretty hefty signal. It covered all of Monterey Bay and then some. KSQD 90.7 is much smaller, and almost certainly won’t reach across the bay into Monterey. Plus, there may be interference from KHDC 90.9, which is geographically much closer to Santa Cruz.”   

“Therefore, the question is: where were KUSP’s listeners located? KUSP’s coverage area was big, sure, but a lot of what it covered was mountains and scrub-brush land...not people. If KUSP’s listeners were mainly in central area of the city of Santa Cruz, 90.7 might actually cover them better than KUSP did.”

TOPIC THREE: COMPARING JAZZ & AAA STATION RATINGS

On February 14^th we posted the Nielsen PPM ratings for full-time Jazz and AAA stations. We said that according to the information we have, AAA has now surpassed Jazz to become public radio’s third largest programming format. An anonymous reader found flaws in our reporting:

Anonymous: “Not sure how it works for the AAA stations, but the jazz stations are indeed a much more mixed bag of formats & styles, even when they fall under the heading of jazz.”

“Unlike the big NPR news/talk stations which are pretty darn cookie cutter 90% of the day, even the biggest, most mainstream jazz stations like WBGO, KKJZ and WDCB do not really sound all that much alike.”

“The idea that AAA stations in 2019 have factually more listeners than jazz stations seems not too firm a notion though, regardless.”

“Important to note that even the math in the chart here is off."

"Using the stats listed here, the Jazz stations should have added up to more like 1,855,000, not 1,770,000. Plus, your chart didn’t include several of the biggest Jazz stations in the country.”

KEN SAYS: Thank you for the excellent comment – there are several things to unpack in your message.

You are correct about the diversity of styles of music and programming on the Jazz stations. You will find similar differences with the AAA stations.

Regarding the math, mistakes are always possible for someone like me who is almost blind.  We didn’t make it clear enough that we were only counting the estimated listeners when we had data from both Fall 2016 and Fall 2018.  If you just look at those numbers, you should get the same total we did.

Your comment that all of the full-time Jazz stations were not included is correct. KSDS, San Diego and KCSM, San Mateo, have large numbers of weekly listeners.  But, we can’t access their numbers because they don’t subscribe to the Nielsen ratings.

The AAA list has the same problem. We have no estimates available for KCSN & 88,5 in Los Angeles, WTMD in Baltimore or WAPS in Akron, Cleveland and Youngstown.

Perhaps we were a bit over the top when we said “AAA stations have more estimated weekly listeners than Jazz stations,” but with the information we had, that is a true statement.

FIRING OF ‘ICONIC FIGURE” AT WMNF CREATES A FUROR IN TAMPA • WMHT IS THE TOP FULL-TIME CLASSICAL STATION IN DIARY MARKETS

Rob Lorei (image courtesy of Florida Politics)

Rob Lorei is one the best-known political commentators and media personalities in the Tampa Bay area. Until this past Monday (2/18), Lorei was also news and public affairs director at WMNF. According to a report in The Tampa Bay Times [link], Lorei was fired after 40-years on the job at WMNF.

The station did not give reason Lorei was shown the door.  In a prepared statement, WMNF GM Craig Kopp said only that WMNF “…has ended its long-running relationship…” and “We are deeply grateful to Rob for all he has done for WMNF. … We wish Rob well in all his future endeavors.”

The statement added that Lorei’s forced exit “…was an attempt to help move WMNF into ‘a new world’ beyond just radio broadcasting.”

Lorei, 64, told the Times he plans to continue his work on Florida This Week, a political commentary show on Tampa’s PBS TV station WEDU.

WMNF [link] is one of the nation’s oldest community stations. The programming on the station has been evolving towards more hours of Triple A music, but there still is a substantial news presence. WMNF produces a daily, Monday – Friday news and interview program – MidPoint – that airs from Noon to 1pm.

In the Fall 2018 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings, WMNF had a 0.5% AQH share and 76,600 estimated weekly listeners. According to disclosure documents on the station’s website, WMNF had $1.8 million in revenue for FY 2016, the most recent information available.

Ironically, WMNF’s ratings may have played a part in Lorei’s removal. Lorei told the Times that Kopp told him when he was fired it was because of bad ratings. Allegedly, Kopp said that the station’s listening audience was too low between 10am and 3pm. During this time period WMNF airs MidPoint plus other "ratings-building" shows such as Sustainable Living and Talking Animals.

Kopp also complained that Lorei hadn’t posted often enough on WMNF’s Facebook page.

Lorei intends to appeal his firing to the station’s board of directors. He told the Times:

 “I don’t contemplate any legal action. What I hope is that the board and the listeners will recognize how much I put my heart and soul into making WMNF a success and I hope they don’t take this lightly.”

Comments about Lorei’s dismissal, posted on on the political blog – Florida Politics [link], said WMNF had made a big mistake. This comment was typical:

February 18, 2019 at 8:31 pm

Content matters more than platforms. I spent 45 years in the news business. Rob has developed over the years into a real professional. I’m sorry this happened.

TWO-THIRDS OF FULL-TIME CLASSICAL MUSIC STATIONS IN DIARY MARKETS HAD MORE WEEKLY LISTENERS IN FALL 2018 THAN FALL 2016

Kimberly Powell

Last week we posted the Nielsen Audio ratings for full-time Classical stations in PPM markets. 

We received this nice comment from Kimberly Powell, Director of Programming and morning host at Classical KUCO [link] in Oklahoma City:

We'd love to see an assessment of classical music trends amongst the Diary market broadcasters!

We did our best Casey Kasem impersonation and today, Kimberly, your wish is our command.

Full-time classical music stations in Nielsen’s Diary markets (chart on the left) showed the same pattern as full-time Classical stations in the PPM markets.  Two out of three stations in Fall 2018 saw their estimated number of weekly listeners go up compared to Fall 2016.

We are tracking 18 full-time classical stations.  We didn’t have 2016 data for 4 of the stations – WBBT in Richmond, WQBA (Maine Public Classical) and WWVT in Roanoke are all news. Hawaii Public Radio (KIPO) experienced a major reshuffling of frequencies since Fall 2018.

For the 14 stations with complete data, 9 (64%) increased their weekly cume and 5 (36%) went down.  KUCO stayed about the same.

Congratulations to KUCO, this year celebrating 50 years of Classical music!  

 Remember, as Casey said: Keep your eyes in the stars and your feet on the gound!