Does anyone know anything about WPBI and WPBI-HD2? West Palm Beach has been without a full power NPR affiliate for about eighteen months now. American Public Media purchased the former WXEL in the fall of 2011 to bring Classical South Florida to the market. The NPR programming was moved to their HD station and a low power translator at 101.9.
The translator at 101.9 does not go beyond the city limits of West Palm Beach. There is overlap along the coast, but by the time you reach State Road 7, you are beyond the reach of WLRN, WQCS and the lower power WPBI.
APM is running the NPR station without any local staff. WXEL once had a great local presence and a solid local news department. The national feed has places for local drop-ins. WPBI fills the drops with programming ffrom American Public Radio and a handful of local promos fed by a poorly run automation system. Often WPBI will air the same promo twice in a break. Unfortunately, there are so few things to promote that it is possible to hear the same promo a half dozen times in an hour. Worse, WPBI dropped the first hour of All Things Considered. The station is now running programming from BBC Newshour at 4pm.
Oddly, APM is putting money into promoting the low power translator. I’ve seen billboards and bus cards around town. It is interesting that they are promoting their low power station but not their full power affiliate. It is even more interesting that they are promoting a station with very little to promote. Their positioning statement is:
Is there any market in America as underserved by NPR as West Palm Beach? Does classical music bring in more revenue than an NPR station? How can APM continue to pay licensing fees for programming that almost nobody is listening to? The ratings show the news station with a small fraction of a point. Is NPR doing anything to get back in the market?
The translator at 101.9 does not go beyond the city limits of West Palm Beach. There is overlap along the coast, but by the time you reach State Road 7, you are beyond the reach of WLRN, WQCS and the lower power WPBI.
APM is running the NPR station without any local staff. WXEL once had a great local presence and a solid local news department. The national feed has places for local drop-ins. WPBI fills the drops with programming ffrom American Public Radio and a handful of local promos fed by a poorly run automation system. Often WPBI will air the same promo twice in a break. Unfortunately, there are so few things to promote that it is possible to hear the same promo a half dozen times in an hour. Worse, WPBI dropped the first hour of All Things Considered. The station is now running programming from BBC Newshour at 4pm.
Oddly, APM is putting money into promoting the low power translator. I’ve seen billboards and bus cards around town. It is interesting that they are promoting their low power station but not their full power affiliate. It is even more interesting that they are promoting a station with very little to promote. Their positioning statement is:
Is there any market in America as underserved by NPR as West Palm Beach? Does classical music bring in more revenue than an NPR station? How can APM continue to pay licensing fees for programming that almost nobody is listening to? The ratings show the news station with a small fraction of a point. Is NPR doing anything to get back in the market?
