Heslam: Public has spoken, 'BUR tops 'GBH

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...2014/04/heslam_public_has_spoken_bur_tops_gbh

>>“The market has spoken,” veteran radio consultant Donna Halper said. “The market is saying that WBUR is the station that owns that talk format.”

Four years ago, WGBH made the controversial decision to switch its FM station 89.7 from classical music to public radio, taking on longtime Boston NPR powerhouse WBUR (90.9). But Halper said the Boston market doesn’t need “two stations that duplicate a lot of each other’s programs.”
Halper said people are still upset over WGBH’s decision to switch from music to public radio and the station should consider combining the “best of their talk shows” with music.

The article doesn't list any ratings from the WGBH music days. IMHO and without any numbers in front of me, could their overall numbers and TSL be higher as a news outlet than when they were primarily music based especially with a pretty diverse music schedule?

I believe the two stations could coexist although I do agree that there is too much duplication in their programming.

Yes--well both stations know where their bread is buttered--their news-talk programming brings in the bucks. Smaller stations do offer jazz, blues, folk, alternative rock, soul, reggae etc. but 130 watt WMWM doesn't quite match the 100,000 watt signal put out by that palace on Guest St (GBH) which used to offer some of these types of music.
...I have mentioned before visiting Pittsburgh and talking with the president of the Western PA Blues Society at a free blues show in the area. "I hear WDUQ is going from 100 hours of jazz and blues per week down to only 6". She nodded and said "At least we still have Little E's", referring to a Liberty Ave downtown jazz spot. (Since then a station in nearby WV got started which has jazz, etc.; WDUQ is now WESA "Pittsburgh's NPR News Station"

Keep in mind that in public radio, duplication of programming isn't the issue. The goal is to appeal to membership, and attract funding.

The idea of combining music and talk is old, has been tried, and does make anyone happy. The days of block programming are over. People want a consistent format at their radio station.

There are lots of other non-commercial stations in Boston covering the music once on GBH.

TheBigA said:

Keep in mind that in public radio, duplication of programming isn't the issue. The goal is to appeal to membership, and attract funding.

The idea of combining music and talk is old, has been tried, and does make anyone happy. The days of block programming are over. People want a consistent format at their radio station.

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And classical music listeners don't pledge. They just bitch.

In Santa Barbara the folks at KCRW are buying longtime classical station KDB 93.7; that will stay on the air with classical but it'll be programmed by a local college station which had been at 88.7, and KCRW will put public radio programming on 88.7

http://www.independent.com/news/2014/feb/18/santa-monicas-kcrw-buy-kdb/
>>even when reincarnated as a quasi public-private-pseudo nonprofit station, KDB only managed to limp along, drawing on a loyal but aging listener base.

In effect a community with two classical stations will now have one--sound familiar? When WCRB was sold to WGBH,
they took 'CRB non profit and moved classical music off 89.7--two classical stations, now only one (and yes there are
complaints).

raccoonradio said:

In effect a community with two classical stations will now have one--sound familiar? When WCRB was sold to WGBH,
they took 'CRB non profit and moved classical music off 89.7--two classical stations, now only one (and yes there are
complaints).

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There are some cities with NO classical music stations. There are no guarantees that formats like this will continue to exist. Same with the orchestras themselves. They're all treading water. Maybe not the Boston Symphony. But if you look outside the Top 10 orchestras, it's pretty tough.

TheBigA said:

There are some cities with NO classical music stations. There are no guarantees that formats like this will continue to exist. Same with the orchestras themselves. They're all treading water. Maybe not the Boston Symphony. But if you look outside the Top 10 orchestras, it's pretty tough.

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Most commercial classical stations were done in when public radio made classical their primary format. Since then, public radio has moved from music to talk but classical music fans - generally upscale - have more/different/better options than terrestrial radio for classical music (or jazz or any niche genre). Music formats - any music on commercial or non-commercial radio - have been rendered obsolete by new media and new technology. Music formats once embraced by early adopters are the first to go.

Those who like classical, jazz, or oldies on demand as a practical matter, are relegated for the most part to satellite and streaming music services. On terrestrial radio, everybody is gravitating to a few popular formats. Diversity is lacking. On the major stations, we basically have some variation of CHR, some kind of news or news/talk, or some kind of sports talk. Otherwise lease-time, ethnic, or a niche format which settles for poor ratings (religious, business). Such is the state of terrestrial radio.

And if you think it's bad here, try other parts of the country. At least we have some cool college stations, small operations like WJIB, and so on.

FredLeonard said:

Most commercial classical stations were done in when public radio made classical their primary format.

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I don't know if I agree with that. There were commercial classical stations in most major markets until the generation that supported them died or aged out of the demo. Before that, they made tons of money advertising BMWs and Rolexes. I worked with several, and they had much more cash than pop stations in their markets. But then the bottom fell out, and the frequency was worth more than the revenues, and they flipped to more conventional formats.

The thing about Boston is they love their Boston Symphony, and you can't hear it on satellite radio.

TheBigA said:

I don't know if I agree with that. There were commercial classical stations in most major markets until the generation that supported them died or aged out of the demo. Before that, they made tons of money advertising BMWs and Rolexes. I worked with several, and they had much more cash than pop stations in their markets. But then the bottom fell out, and the frequency was worth more than the revenues, and they flipped to more conventional formats.

The thing about Boston is they love their Boston Symphony, and you can't hear it on satellite radio.

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The growth of FM overall was a factor. The commercial classical stations found themselves sitting on what had become prime real estate. But when "educational radio" morphed into public radio - and new public stations opened up programming classical music - it did cut into the audience for commercial classical stations. And many classical music lovers are such stiff-necked snobs that they didn't want to listen to even limited interruptions for Beemers and Rolies - any more than they want to pledge. Their attitude seems to be; Our music is good music. It should be provided without pledges and commercials and everyone should have to listen to it.

Satellite radio is not the only option besides terrestrial radio. Satellite radio is still broadcasting and the broadcast model is dead. Long live the on-demand model.

FredLeonard said:

The commercial classical stations found themselves sitting on what had become prime real estate. But when "educational radio" morphed into public radio - and new public stations opened up programming classical music

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Depends on the market. "Educational radio" had been playing classical music since 1922. In Boston Robert J. Lurtsema was a morning legend on WGBH. His Morning Pro Musica was syndicated throughout the Eastern Public Radio Network long before the creation of NPR.

FredLeonard said:

Satellite radio is not the only option besides terrestrial radio.

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Never said it was. You can hear the Boston Symphony on demand at the Symphony's website.

FredLeonard said:

Satellite radio is not the only option besides terrestrial radio. Satellite radio is still broadcasting and the broadcast model is dead. Long live the on-demand model.

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But satellite does satisfy some of the classical, jazz, oldies and niche format fans who want those formats that don't appear on terrestrial radio. Ratings don't really matter, it's there 24/7, and current new cars have the capability of receiving those stations. They also frequently come with trial subscriptions. If you have internet in the car, the streaming stations let you build a format around your favorite songs. Then of course, cars are now IPOD-ready.

Even in the car, there are now many alternatives to the few choices on the AM/FM bands.

TheBigA said:

Depends on the market. "Educational radio" had been playing classical music since 1922. In Boston Robert J. Lurtsema was a morning legend on WGBH. His Morning Pro Musica was syndicated throughout the Eastern Public Radio Network long before the creation of NPR.

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Sorry, I am not familiar with the "Eastern Public Radio Network" but the term "public radio" did not come into use "long before the creation of NPR."

Yes, there were educational stations and they did play classical music (among other things). There were not that many of them and not many people listened - even classical music fans. They were poorly and inconsistently programmed. They did block programming, so people often did not hear classical music when they tuned in. And when they did hear classical music, it was often obscure genres. Outside of classical music blocks there were a lot of dull speeches and lectures by professors, plus farm reports on stations operated by land grant schools.

Getting back to the original post, I disagree. Yes, WBUR has better ratings than WGBH. Currently WBUR is in the fours, WGBH in the twos. But that doesn't mean WGBH should switch or is considered an underperformer. Boston is a market that can support two NPR stations. It's not uncommon. In many markets that include two states, you can hear both states' public radio networks. When you're north of Boston, you can hear not just WBUR and WGBH but NH (WEVO) and Maine (WMEA) public News/Talk radio stations.

In drivetime, WBUR and WGBH run Morning Edition and All Things Considered at around the same time. But the rest of the day and weekend, they have different programming. There is enough programming from NPR and other sources that Boston listeners can have their choice, without much duplication. It's interesting to see how both stations divide up programming. I notice that WBUR carries one hour of Diane Rehm while WGBH carries the other hour.

That's cooperation!



Boston has a fulltime Classical outlet, 99.5 WCRB, owned by WGBH. And Harvard's 95.3 WHRB also has Classical programming about half the day. So WGBH logically decided to concentrate on News-Talk on 89.7. I'm sure both stations are very well supported by listeners. WGBH's presence hasn't cut into WBUR's audience, since BUR was #6 in the latest ratings, while WGBH was #16, which is about where many NPR stations are in their markets, even with no competitor.

Perhaps the stations these two really hurt are the commercial Talk stations. Boston had SIX fulltime Talk stations a few years ago. Now they just have WRKO along with WBZ at night. Gone from the Talk format are WTKK, WXKS, WWZN (Progressive Talk), WILD (Black Talk) and WCAP (Lowell). So maybe Boston listeners prefer their Talk in NPR style.

Apparently, at least some people her think 6+ AQH share numbers matter to non-commercial stations. Even more think they matter at all - to any station.

Stopped listening to WBUR because their BEGGING NEVER STOPS. The so called Pledge breaks last longer than say a program like On-Point. They cut out time of their best programs to BEG.

Bad move.

It has made me a constant WGBH listener.

Think Haslem's article doesn't tell the whole story.

FredLeonard said:

Sorry, I am not familiar with the "Eastern Public Radio Network" but

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I thought it was identified as "The Eastern Public Radio Cooperative".

Jeanne Hopkins of WGBH rebuts Heslam's article

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...editor/2014/04/april_22_letters_to_the_editor

>> By focusing WGBH’s work on local coverage with local voices and conversation, we would complement the nationally-focused and syndicated programs of WBUR, giving listeners options and increasing the overall audience for public radio in Boston and across New England. And it’s worked: WGBH has tripled its share since making the switch to local news and analysis, and Boston is now one of the nation’s top three markets for public radio. Honest competition is good for everyone.