The Top 10 Rated Public Radio Stations

[mwebster]

The following are the public radio stations with the highest 12+ AQH (Average Quarter Hour) Shares in their markets. Note: Some stations are heard and rated in other markets in addition to the market listed here.

1. WPSU, State College, PA
Pennsylvania State University - NPR News/Classical

2. WUOM, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Michigan - NPR News and Public Affairs

3. WFSU, Tallahassee, FL
Florida State University - NPR News and Public Affairs

4. WVPA/WVPS, Montpelier, VT
Vermont Public Radio - NPR News/Classical

5. KSKA, Anchorage, AK
Alaska Public Radio - NPR News and Public Affairs

6. KBIA, Columbia, MO
University of Missouri - NPR News/Classical

7. KLFO/KLCC, Eugene, OR
Lane Community College - NPR News/Variety

8. WMEW, Portland, ME
Maine Public Radio - NPR News/Classical

9. KUT, Austin, TX
University of Texas - NPR News/Variety

10. WVPR/WRVT, Lebanon, VT
Vermont Public Radio - NPR News/Classical

________________
Runners Up

11. WFQS, Asheville, NC
Western North Carolina Public Radio - NPR News/Classical

12. WILL-AM, Champaign-Urbana, IL
University of Illinois - NPR News and Public Affairs

The top three stations' AQH share is in double digits. All stations listed have an AQH equal to or higher than a whole number considered lucky.


What's the winning formula? Location, location, location. Apparently it helps to be in a small or medium market which is also a college town.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I thought WBUR-90.9 in Boston would be on the list.

I'm a bit surprised that many of the stations on the list carried some classical music on a part-time basis. One would think that at least eight of the highest-rated NPR member stations would be 24/7 news/information, like WBUR.

On the other hand, if you were to revisit this list five years from now, you probably will find most of the stations now running a "mixed" or "dual" format may end up going 24/7 NPR news/information programming by then. That format is where the listener pledge $$$ are.

 

[bierkenstock]

Non-commercial (public radio and religious broadcasters)topline ratings are posted online at http://www.rrconline.org.

WBUR's 12+ AQH share is about 2/3 that of the stations on the list. However, it does very well for a major market public radio station. Why lower numbers for public radio in big cities? More radio stations (a bigger pie but more slices). And don't forget, many major markets have multiple public radio stations to split the audience. Add the audience for WBUR, WGBH and WUMB and the total comes close to making the top 10 list. Plus there is a more diverse population in major markets; much of listening audience not interested in what public radio has to offer. Although there may be a lot of NPR types in Boston, the percentage of the total population may not be that large.

Pledges are an interesting point. I keep hearing (and reading here) that pledges don't make up that big a proportion of public radio's revenue. Most comes from corporate underwriters (aka sponsors). News gets more pledges, but underwriters are looking at audience data - just like advertisers in commercial radio. I wonder if they have the same preference for news and public affairs over classical when they are making underwriting decisions.

There may be exceptions to this but it seems the stations with news and information formats tend to be in larger markets with multiple public radio stations. Just as commercial radio did 50 years ago, public radio is moving away from the one-size-fits-all and something-for-everyone approach and going with targeted formats. In most major markets you have news and information public radio plus classical and fine arts public radio, and maybe folk or alternative public radio and sometimes even community soapbox public radio.



> I thought WBUR-90.9 in Boston would be on the list.
>
> I'm a bit surprised that many of the stations on the list
> carried some classical music on a part-time basis. One would
> think that at least eight of the highest-rated NPR member
> stations would be 24/7 news/information, like WBUR.
>
> On the other hand, if you were to revisit this list five
> years from now, you probably will find most of the stations
> now running a "mixed" or "dual" format may end up going 24/7
> NPR news/information programming by then. That format is
> where the listener pledge $$$ are.
>

 

[Timothy]

> Pledges are an interesting point. I keep hearing (and
> reading here) that pledges don't make up that big a
> proportion of public radio's revenue. Most comes from
> corporate underwriters (aka sponsors).

That would be an interesting situation. By far, the largest portion of our budget is made from pledges. Nothing else even comes close. I haven't heard of any stations that bill more than they collect in pledges, but I could see how that works in larger markets.

Major market stations like WBUR and KQED do have the largest cumes in public radio, but for public radio SHARE, the best situation is to be in a heavily collegiate middle to small market. When you look at that list, you'll find that they are college markets. In fact, I'm surprised WUNC didn't make the top 10. They are the only large market public station I'm aware of that has taken the #1 spot overall in the ratings in their market.

BTW, WFQS is a repeater of WCQS in Asheville - home to UNC-Asheville and Warren Wilson College.

 

[mwebster]

You asked for it

Here are the top ranked public radio stations by Total Survey Area (TSA) cume. Arbitron defines cume as "the total number of different persons who tune to a radio station during the course of a daypart for at least five minutes." Market rankings given below are for the Total Survey Area (and differ somewhat from the Metro Area Market rankings).

1. WNYC-FM, New York (#1) - News/Classical
2. KQED, San Francisco (#5) - News-Information
3. WAMU, Washington, DC (#6) - News-Information
4. KCRW, Santa Monica (Los Angeles #2) - News/Classical
5. WBEZ, Chicago (#3) - News-Information
6. WBUR, Boston (#7) - News-Information
7. KPCC, Pasadena (Los Angeles #2) - News-Information
8. WHYY, Philadelphia (#4) - News-Information
9. WNYC-AM, New York (#1) - News-Information
10.KUSC, Los Angeles #2 - Classical
11.WETA, Washington (#6) - News/Classical
12.WBGO, Newark, NJ (New York #1) - Jazz
13.KKJZ, Long Beach (Los Angeles #2) - Jazz
14.KUOW, Seattle (#13) - News-Information
15.WGBH, Boston (#7) - News/Classical/Jazz
16.KPLU, Tacoma, WA (Seattle #13) - News/Jazz
17.WABE, Atlanta (#10) - News/Classical
18.KUHF, Houston (#11) - News/Classical
19.WRTI, Philadelphia (#4) - Classical/Jazz
20.KNOW, Minneapolis (#15) - News-Information

News-information format stations are well represented. But so are "tent-pole" or "sandwich" format stations (NPR News in morning and afternoon drive times with music the rest of the time). The markets in which public radio gets the most listeners tend to be those with what are usually considered "cosmopolitan" or "world cities."

WUNC would be tied for number three in the Raleigh-Durham market.

>
> Major market stations like WBUR and KQED do have the largest
> cumes in public radio, but for public radio SHARE, the best
> situation is to be in a heavily collegiate middle to small
> market. When you look at that list, you'll find that they
> are college markets. In fact, I'm surprised WUNC didn't
> make the top 10. They are the only large market public
> station I'm aware of that has taken the #1 spot overall in
> the ratings in their market.
>

 

[Ai4i]

Re: You asked for it

Commercial stations in the larger markets, such as WQXR, KMZT, WFMT, KDFC, WRR have to impact their local non-comms. Becomes an ever-so-thin line, can we afford to alienate our casual listeners with Puccini operas or do we play to death the Eighteen Twelve Overture and Pachelbel's greatest hit.
<P ID="signature">______________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subs¢riber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology
______________</P>

 

[Timothy]

Re: You asked for it

> Commercial stations in the larger markets, such as WQXR,
> KMZT, WFMT, KDFC, WRR have to impact their local non-comms.
> Becomes an ever-so-thin line, can we afford to alienate our
> casual listeners with Puccini operas or do we play to death
> the Eighteen Twelve Overture and Pachelbel's greatest hit.
>

WRR and WFMT are odd ducks, quasi commercial/publicly owned. But they are disparate from their local public radio stations, which are news/talk oriented. I can say that in our market, there's very little croassover between our classical station and our news station.

WQXR does have an effect in NYC, to the point that WNYC-FM is largely talk, and when they do music, they talk about that too.