KUSC is Colorado Public Radio's classical music partner called The Classical Public Radio Network, which broadcasts throughout Colorado under the brand name KVOD.KUSC CHEERING
Classical KUSC/91.5 FM station President Brenda Barnes had reason to cheer when the spring Arbitron ratings came out in July.
"We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to public radio in Los Angeles and all the public stations are doing well in reaching audience. The latest book for KUSC represents the largest audience KUSC has reached in its history."
"While that is good news, we also know that listeners are sampling our station because KMZT moved classical music to the AM (1260). So to keep those listeners, we have to ensure that we are doing a good job. It will take a couple more books for the audience picture to shake out for KUSC so we can determine what our audience growth will actually look like."
"In terms of audience, we saw an across-the-board audience increase in every day part. The largest audience for KUSC is midday Monday through Friday – the typical pattern for music stations. Our opera audience on Saturday morning and Sunday evening is also large as is the audience for our Sunday morning choral music program."
"(Demographically), 32 percent is between (age) 54 and 63. The number of people who tune in at any given quarter hour is 25,600 and our cume (number of different listeners) is 513,000 (weekly)," she e-mailed."
13 comments:
Indeed, KUSC showed gratifying growth in the Spring ratings. Year-to-year, its market share increased from 1.0 to 1.5 and its weekly cume grew from 363,200 to 513,000. That's 41.2 percent!
As Ms. Barnes observed, part of the growth no doubt represents K-Mozart listeners who have migrated to KUSC or who are sampling it.
The final paragraph in the OCR article may offer another clue, however: KUSC's new classical hosts are heard during drive-time, when the station breaks away from CPRN's canned programming and goes "live and local". Due to the coincidence of KMZT's signal downgrade and KUSC's return to live programming, it will be challenging to determine the impact of the two influences on KUSC's numbers. But KUSC's decision to switch from canned to live drive-time programming was made for good reason. One can hope that KVOD eventually will follow suit.
Anonymous,
Agreed on all counts! A return to locally-produced, live radio is what many experts have predicted as a means of future success for terrestrial radio.
Let's hope the managers at KVOD have read the recent literature in the books and the obvious writing on the wall!
Thanks for your comments,
JJ
Anonymous,
What might it mean for those subscribers to 24-hour per day music services like the Classical Public Radio Network if drive times are once again filled with live, local talent. It seems to me that if other stations followed KUSC's lead, then they'd need to purchase fewer hours of programming from service providers. If so, that seemingly would be bad for business, right?
JJ
CPRB Readers,
Speaking of Mozart, Colorado Public Radio used to do a show about Mozart. Maybe they could resurrect that one for drive-time programming in Colorado. Just a thought.
JJ
Charley Samson's "Midday Mozart" was a casualty of CPR's format split, when news and other NPR programming moved to AM (KCFR) and classical expanded to full-time on FM (KVOD). As a major stakeholder in the Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN), CPR apparently feels it must clear virtually all of the network's classical offerings -- never mind that they are canned and generic. CPR's lone exception is "Colorado Spotlight" in the evenings.
CPRN's other major stakeholder, KUSC, retained its local evening program (hosted by Jim Svejda) from the get-go. Now it has again broken away from the network to present live, local programming during drive-time.
Most of CPRN's affiliates or subscribers use the service to fill gaps in local programming, such as overnights. KUSC is moving in that direction. It is a wise decision, because how else can a local station distinguish itself from satellite radio and Internet broadcasters?
Canned, syndicated programming costs less than locally-produced programming, but the cheapest solution may not be the key to survival in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Anonymous,
Thanks for the clarifications, observations, and analyses. And of course, thanks for reading the blog.
Do you know if "gap-fillers" and over-nights' programmiong was the original intention for forming CPRN?
JJ
J J,
I do not know what CPRN's original business plan envisioned, and it is inappropriate to speculate. The CPB must have been impressed by the proposal, because it granted CPRN $800,000 in development costs.
CPR and KUSC may have seen CPRN as a means to reduce their local programming costs and to earn some revenue through syndication. NPR is now marketing the service to its member stations as one of several formats to encourage development of HD2 channels.
CPRN's classical programming on HD2 would be an excellent way for an existing, non-classical broadcaster to add value for its listeners, especially in a market that has no classical station. But one wonders whether a canned service is the best way for a major market station, such as KVOD, to attract listeners -- especially when so much non-local classical music can be heard on the Internet, cable, XM and Sirius. Programming with a strong local flavor is the best way for a terrestrial radio station to differentiate itself from those competitors.
-- Anon.
Anonymous,
Thanks for the financial information regarding CPRN. If you have a link to the grant, we'd love to post it.
Also, if you have some actual numbers regarding revenue generation by CPRN, that would be great too.
Does Colorado Public Radio and KUSC subsidize CPRN? If so, to what degree? Once again, any information or links you have would be appreciated.
JJ
Anonymous,
If it is as you say, "inappropriate to speculate," then is it "appropriate to ask?" If so, can we ask KUSC, CPR, and/or CPRN for these details, in your opinion? And, in your opinion, is it "appropriate" from them to answer public inquiries such as these? Just wondering.
JJ
JJ,
I just checked for CPB's Annual Reports at www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/reports. Unfortunately, it appears that they archive Annual Reports only for the past five years (currently 2001-2005) and CPRN's development grant was made in 2000.
You will have to contact CPB for further information, or perhaps you can find the report on the website with a more in-depth search. CPB's Annual Reports typically contain a brief synopsis of such projects but lack detail.
My personal notes on CPB grants in Colorado indicate the following:
"In 2000, an additional grant was made to Classical Public Radio Network (CPR-KUSC) to facilitate development of the network: $850,000."
["additional" meant supplemental to CPR's Community Service Grant (CSG) and other routine grants.]
So my recollection of $800,000 was incorrect.
I have no information about the internal financial workings of CPRN and how they relate to CPR or KUSC.
I do know, however, that CPRN received another CPB grant last year in the amount of $333,000. The 2006 grant was to develop CPRN's "Classical Advocates" segments -- program modules in which musicians discuss their art. Google locates the report at: http://www.cpb.org/features/2006radiogrants/index.html.
Anon finds the grant curious because general wisdom in classical programming, confirmed by market research, holds that classical listeners want to hear music, not talk. A few "tid-bits" about the music, composers and artists are welcome, but nothing more.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
-- Anon.
Anon,
Once again--thanks! I did find the $333,000 grant Classical Advocates on the CPB's website last week. So, thanks for the explanation about what it funds. Yes, it does seem curious that such a large grant would be let for content contrary to listeners "tastes," assuming that the market research was performed correctly.
No apologies necessary. You have been of great help! I am sure that our CPRB readers are thankful too.
JJ
CPRB Readers,
Here is the link to the grant for Classical Advocates.
JJ
CPRB Readers,
KUSC at the Hollywood Bowl!
JJ
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