May 09, 2008
KUOW kicks commercial radio ass in seattle winter arbitron ratings
courtesy Michael Hood of
Seattle Radio Blog 'Blathrwatch'
                                            
In a huge lead the likes of which we've never seen, public radio's talker KUOW  smashed the commercial opposition in the Seattle market.

Dig it:

KUOW   6.1
KUBE     5.2
KRWM    4.8
KIRO      4.1
KOMO     3.8
KING-FM 3.1
KPLU      3.0
KTTH     2.6
KVI        2.3
KPTK      1.6

A six share in this market? Unheard of.

We've been critical of KUOW's programming, and we're working on PD Jeff Hansen to sit down and talk to us. We believe that KUOW, while doing a great job snagging the dominant radio demographic (45 years and older) is not doing much to attract younger listeners.

But that said, we think that NPR, and KUOW in particular has proven that smart, commercial-free programming sells in this and most markets.

We'd agree with our loyal reader Rev that "KUOW is benefiting as much from the poor performance of the commercial folks as from anything they're doing..."

With only one exception,(KIRO's TBTL) the commercial talkers are doing nothing new. Rev writes: With the possible exception of Dave Ross, there's really nobody fighting KUOW for the audience that wants something more than blather. Seems like a market opportunity for somebody...

We believe another huge deal that sends listeners to NPR, is the onerous spotload -- the seemingly endless commercials that dog commercial radio.

Television is dealing with that so much of their advertising is being jumped over with the use of TiVo, and DVRs. They're figuring out other ways to pay the freight: product placement, etc. (We haven't seen a teevee commercial since approximately 2002).

Radio, on the other hand,  has been bought up by Wall Street investors who want to squeeze every penny possible out of their investment without any reinvestment. These beancounters have insisted on a heavy concentration of advertising which has driven away listeners in droves.

It's not a sustainable model, the pie is shrinking and these investors are already divesting.

We're always asking -- and no one has been able to explain -- why a commercial station using the public radio business model (pledge drives withholding content, fundraising, underwriting, etc) couldn't be successful.

Rev asks:  "It would be interesting to know how much KUOW charges for their 'underwriting' commercials, as compared to what the commercial stations charge for a 30-second spot. And if there's any research on
the comparative effectiveness of ads on KUOW vs, say KIRO or KING-FM."

Most commercial stations are run by huge out-of town media conglomerates who by definition don't give a sh** about serving the local listeners. (Fisher Communciations, (KOMO, KVI,) is a locally owned exception but unfortunately it seems less concerned with saving the medium of radio than most). KPTK, owned by CBS, which is progressive talk, gives all manner of lip service to "community," but skips the most important community service they could make: investment in local programming.

Maybe the only hope for the revivification of radio, will be after Wall street pulls their collective dicks out of the stations and gone on to other things still redolent with cash.

Maybe then we can reinvent radio. It just seems like such a wasteful, roundabout way to do it.

Posted by michael hood on May 09, 2008 at 04:02 PM