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WQXR Doing Well Under WNYC

B

Barry

The NY Times had an interesting article a few days ago about WQXR, following its transition from a commercial to a public radio station. It indicates that their ratings have increased to a very respectable level, and that the donations to owner WNYC from its relatively mature audience have been substantial. Evidently many of the listeners, while above the age limit that is attractive to most advertisers, are desirable as public radio patrons, due to their ability to help fund the station.
The article also mentions that a number of other public radio outlets that have bought classical radio stations have found that their efforts have worked out quite well. Classical music fans can enjoy full time formats, while the parent stations can run talk around the clock, without having to share the time with music programming. With the funding in good shape, it appears classical music will remain on the air, on public radio stations such as WQXR, for many years to come.
The NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/business/media/26radio.html?scp=1&sq=wqxr&st=cse
 
Recently, commercial KING-FM in Seattle had announced plans to convert to a non-commercial station. I had then asked if the next step is to move their frequency from 98.1 to anywhere to the left of 92.1. But if the new WQXR @ 105.9 is any indication, maybe classical will continue to be a force to be reckoned with amongst commercial stations in some major markets. "Classical is the new beautiful music." ;D
 
The figure that is still troublesome is the percentage of listeners who donate. The article says they have 800,000 weekly listeners, and only 10,000 pledged. That's not good. There are many ways to spin it, but listeners to specialized genres are going to need to step up more consistently in order for this to become a trend.
 
The ratio of donors to listeners is 1%. That is the general rule for radio. You expect the number of "active" listeners to be about one percent.

Of course you want it to be higher. And holding on to that one percent year after year can be problematic.
 
Barry said:
The NY Times had an interesting article a few days ago about WQXR, following its transition from a commercial to a public radio station. It indicates that their ratings have increased to a very respectable level, and that the donations to owner WNYC from its relatively mature audience have been substantial. Evidently many of the listeners, while above the age limit that is attractive to most advertisers, are desirable as public radio patrons, due to their ability to help fund the station.
The article also mentions that a number of other public radio outlets that have bought classical radio stations have found that their efforts have worked out quite well. Classical music fans can enjoy full time formats, while the parent stations can run talk around the clock, without having to share the time with music programming. With the funding in good shape, it appears classical music will remain on the air, on public radio stations such as WQXR, for many years to come.
The NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/business/media/26radio.html?scp=1&sq=wqxr&st=cse
Click to expand...
There is either irony or kindredness to the story, seeing as it's been 6 months (10/8/2009) since the sale/freq. swap.

I tend to think it's the latter. God forbid the NYT reporters report on something on which they are not interested.

Thanks for the story, anyway.

I said it last summer - and still feel the same way - NYT could have fetched a bigger buck for the station and the WQXR calls parked in Florida by another company and classical relegated to the left of the band. They did what they felt was in the best interests of the Ciy of New York and the Times under the circumstances.

Congrats to WNYC Inc. for 6 months!

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Pulse 87, with its million cume and 87.7 dial position, had about 8000 donors in one day. And it was a commercial station, running commercials between the solicitations for donations.
 
I spoke with someone who works for WNYC Radio and he said that WQXR is doing very well for them.....Glad to see WQXR survived possible extinction
 
GSP163 said:
I spoke with someone who works for WNYC Radio and he said that WQXR is doing very well for them.....Glad to see WQXR survived possible extinction
Click to expand...
Seeing the bad shape of the New York Times, I'm sure it was more than a distinct possibility.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
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