TWO PUBLIC RADIO STATIONS IN ALASKA SELL FOR $1,180 • REVISED FALL RATINGS FOR FULL-TIME CLASSICAL STATIONS

Downtown Nenana, Alaska

When Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy eliminated state support for public broadcasting in 2019, people knew there would be cutbacks at local stations. The sale of two rural public radio stations last week shows the financial difficulty staying in business without the state’s assistance.

Big River Public Broadcasting sold KNNA-FM 99.1, licensed to Nenana (population 398) and KRLL-FM 93.9 in Circle (population 104) were sold to an owner in a larger market: Fairbanks (population 31,446). Welcome to consolidation, Alaska style.

Athabascan Fiddlers Association (AFA), the owner and operator of KRFF – the Voice of Denali, purchased KNNA and KRLL for $1,180. The stations will now simulcast Voice of Denali [link] and most local service will end.

Voice of Denali was created by the AFA to promote an annual Fiddler’s Festival in the fall in Fairbanks. The mission of AFA is to preserve Athabascan music, culture and traditions.  There are hundreds of Athabascan natives in the 4,022,000 square kilometers in the bush area of northern Alaska.

Welcome to Circle,Alaska

Big River Public Broadcasting operated KNNA and KRLL for $340,000 in fiscal year 2017 according to IRS 990 filing. 

Around $120,000 came from the state of Alaska that year. 

Other major sources of revenue were CPB ($77,000), proceeds from gambling ($43,000), members ($12,000) and underwriting ($4,800).

AFA, the organization that bought the stations, is even smaller than Big River.   

According to AFA’s calendar year 2017 IRS 990 filing, the total operating revenue was around $285,000. Approximately $102,000 came from the state, $80,000 came from CPB, and $31,000 came from the Fiddler Festival and $109,000 from the proceeds from gambling. AFA did not list revenue from members and underwriters.

Alaska Public Media in Anchorage estimates that the average public radio station in Alaska lost $74,000 per year after Gov. Dunleavy axed state support.

REVISED RATINGS FOR FULL-TIME CLASSICAL MUSIC STATIONS IN DIARY MARKETS

Last week we posted the Nielsen Audio ratings for Fall 2019 for full-time Classical music stations in Diary methodology markets. 

Then we received messages from station folks asking why their station wasn’t listed.

We discovered that we had omitted several stations, including a couple of biggies. We apologize for our error. Today we have the complete list.

We tracked 30 stations and compared Fall 2019 results with data from Fall 2018. 

We had data from both years for 26 markets.

Half of the 24 stations in the 26 markets increased their AQH share. 

In 10 markets, Classical music stations had lower AQH shares in Fall 2019 compared to Fall 2018.