PATRICK OSBURN NAMED NEW GM AT 88.5-FM • COMMERCIAL PUBLISHERS MAKE BIG GAINS IN PODCAST PUBLISHER RANKINGS

Patrick Osburn

KCSN and KSBR, the duopoly that is Los Angeles AAA 88.5-FM, [link] turned to sales and marketing pro Patrick Osburn as their new General Manager. 

Osburn has been KCSN’s Director of Business Development since 2017.

When Sky Daniels exited 88.5-FM earlier in 2019, day-to-day supervision was shared by Osburn in Northridge and Jim Rondeau at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. 

Rondeau became GM at KLCC in Eugene, Oregon, on June 10^th. Osburn is now in charge of both stations.

Osburn has many years of experience with the AAA format. From 1997 to 2015 he was the VP of Sales for commercial station KPRI in San Diego. KPRI was a beloved southern California music station that was owned by a small company. It was sold to Educational Media Foundation (EMF) in 2017 and now a repeater of K-Love, a Christian music n etwork.

In an e-interview, Spark News asked Osburn how his experience with KPRI applies to the challenges at 88.5-FM:

My experience is that audiences and the media community tend to “root” for Triple-A stations to do well, especially if they are not owned by one of the major broadcast groups.  At KPRI, I learned that if we stayed local & authentic, and gave people access to our thoughtfully curated events, they quickly became evangelists for the station.”  

88.5-FM is a Los Angeles area simulcast by KCSN,

Northridge in the San Fernando Valley and

KSBR, Mission Viejo in Orange County

88.5-FM has hired several well-known LA radio personalities who were displaced by other stations such as Nik Harcourt, former host of Morning Becomes Eclectic at KCRW and Andy Chanley from KSWD 100.3 The Sound, another gone but beloved station.

Also on board at 88.5-FM are music writer and industry insider Jim Nelson, actor and comedian Harry Shearer and journalist Robert Hilburn. 

Osburn told Spark News why and he others at 88.5-FM are so excited about the future of the station:

“Like me, some of our air staff migrated from big commercial media.  We’re glad to be here.  I have been in and out of the Triple-A format for 20 years, and my 2 1/2 years in public media has been extremely educational, refreshing & liberating.”

“This is the last frontier where great radio can be practiced.”

iHEARTRADIO & WONDERY MAKE BIGGEST GAINS IN MAY PODCAST PUBLISHER RANKINGS

It now seems inevitable that iHeartRadio will soon pass NPR as the top podcast publisher as measured by Unique Monthly Audience. 

According to Podtrac’s May 2019 rankings, iHeart’s Monthly Audience was 46% from May 2018. NPR was up less than 1%.

There are several reasons this is happening:

iHeart has invested heavily in podcasts since acquiring the Stuff cluster of shows. Also, they are “bulking up” by adding many new podcasts. In May 2019 iHeart claimed to be publishing 253 shows, compared with 106 in April 2019.

Wondrey, another commercial publisher, also has seen large growth in Monthly Audience, up 41% from May 2018.

PRX was the one public media related publisher to have double-digit growth in Monthly Audience over the past year. WNYC Studios was the only publisher on Podtrac’s May 2019 chart to loose Monthly Audience. They were down 17% from May 2018.