Top Performing Public Radio News-Info Stations

Arbitron has issued a report on Top Performing (Commercial) News-Talk Stations. The report shows that compared to All News, Talk and News-Talk stations overall, these stations get better numbers because they average more listeners (Cume), those listeners tune in for longer periods (TSL - Time Spent Listening), and tune in more often during the week (Tune-ins). Listener loyalty plays a big part: These stations are likely to be the listener's preferred (P1) station and to have a greater proportion of "core" (25+ hours/week) listeners. They also do better in attracting younger and more affluent listeners in the so-called "money demos" (the audiences advertisers most want to reach) than do news and talk stations overall. And these top performer have more of a balance of at-home, at-work and in-car listening than is typical for talk formats.

No non-commercial stations are on this exclusive list. But if Arbitron included public radio "news and information" format stations, would any quality? To make the list, a station must have news, talk or news/talk format; it must be a continuous measurement market and it must rank at or near the top of local ratings (top seven in markets 1-10, top five in markets 11-50 and top three in other markets).

Based on the Spring, 2005 book, here are the "Top Performing" Public Radio News and Information stations:
WAMU, Washington, DC
WBUR, Boston, MA
WUNC, Raleigh-Durham, NC

The following are News and Classical Music format stations which would have made the list with the same numbers in a News and Information format.
KQED, San Francisco CA
KOPB, Portland, OR
KUT, Austin, TX
WCVE, Richmond, VA

Lansing, Michigan numbers are embargoed but based on past numbers, WKAR-FM might be listed here as a news/classical station.

Many strongly performing public radio stations are not in continuous measurement markets and, therefore, are not included here.

Based on this comparative review, public radio stations tend to do well in the same markets in which talk-based formats do well on commercial stations. However, the presence in a given market of a strong and dominant commercial talk radio "blow torch" with extremely strong numbers does no appear to influence numbers for local public radio news and information stations. Public radio's news and information format tends to do least well in markets with a dominant country station.

> Arbitron has issued a report on Top Performing (Commercial)
> News-Talk Stations. The report shows that compared to All
> News, Talk and News-Talk stations overall, these stations
> get better numbers because they average more listeners
> (Cume), those listeners tune in for longer periods (TSL -
> Time Spent Listening), and tune in more often during the
> week (Tune-ins). Listener loyalty plays a big part: These
> stations are likely to be the listener's preferred (P1)
> station and to have a greater proportion of "core" (25+
> hours/week) listeners. They also do better in attracting
> younger and more affluent listeners in the so-called "money
> demos" (the audiences advertisers most want to reach) than
> do news and talk stations overall. And these top performer
> have more of a balance of at-home, at-work and in-car
> listening than is typical for talk formats.
>
> No non-commercial stations are on this exclusive list. But
> if Arbitron included public radio "news and information"
> format stations, would any quality? To make the list, a
> station must have news, talk or news/talk format; it must be
> a continuous measurement market and it must rank at or near
> the top of local ratings (top seven in markets 1-10, top
> five in markets 11-50 and top three in other markets).
>
> Based on the Spring, 2005 book, here are the "Top
> Performing" Public Radio News and Information stations:
> WAMU, Washington, DC
> WBUR, Boston, MA
> WUNC, Raleigh-Durham, NC
>
> The following are News and Classical Music format stations
> which would have made the list with the same numbers in a
> News and Information format.
> KQED, San Francisco CA
> KOPB, Portland, OR
> KUT, Austin, TX
> WCVE, Richmond, VA
>
> Lansing, Michigan numbers are embargoed but based on past
> numbers, WKAR-FM might be listed here as a news/classical
> station.
>
> Many strongly performing public radio stations are not in
> continuous measurement markets and, therefore, are not
> included here.
>
> Based on this comparative review, public radio stations tend
> to do well in the same markets in which talk-based formats
> do well on commercial stations. However, the presence in a
> given market of a strong and dominant commercial talk radio
> "blow torch" with extremely strong numbers does no appear to
> influence numbers for local public radio news and
> information stations. Public radio's news and information
> format tends to do least well in markets with a dominant
> country station.
>

Good work, but just so I have a reference:

What are your campartive sources? That is, what ratings report(s) are the basis for your analysis and conclusion?

Moderator Note:

The links in this post were removed earlier because I felt
there might be copyright issues with Arbitron. Radio-Info.com
administration has reviewed them and advises we're OK. The
links are restored below:

-----------
Arbitron public radio topline numbers:
http://www.rrconline.org/#

Arbitron topline numbers for commercial stations:
http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/pdnews_fa03_performers.htm

Arbitron presentation on Top Performers in News-Talk
http://www.arbitron.com/study/newstalk.asp


>
> Good work, but just so I have a reference:
>
> What are your campartive sources? That is, what ratings
> report(s) are the basis for your analysis and conclusion?

-----
Mod note: mwebster very thoughtfully supplied the below
information pending resolution. I appreciate his having
done so and have left his additions in place. If every
participant in these forums were so thoughtful life would
be so much easier and we moderators would live longer!

mw...please check the links as re-inserted and correct
anything that might have gotten corrupted in the handling.
I think they're OK but.....

Thank You!
Les
-----


Maybe the following edits will help in the meantime.

Arbitron public radio topline numbers are available at the Radio Research Consortium's website (Go to rrconline.org).

Arbitron topline numbers for commercial stations are available at Arbitron's website, All Access and Radio and Records (as well as other websites).

Arbitron's presentation on Top Performers in News-Talk is also posted on their website.

>
> Good work, but just so I have a reference:
>
> What are your campartive sources? That is, what ratings
> report(s) are the basis for your analysis and conclusion?
> <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Les on 09/09/05 03:18 AM.</FONT></P>

> Maybe the following edits will help in the meantime.
>
> Arbitron public radio topline numbers are available at the
> Radio Research Consortium's website (Go to rrconline.org).
>
>
> Arbitron topline numbers for commercial stations are
> available at Arbitron's website, All Access and Radio and
> Records (as well as other websites).
>
> Arbitron's presentation on Top Performers in News-Talk is
> also posted on their website.

Much appreciated. Thank you.