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800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015 No end in sight for urban ratings roll. To say the urban format is on a ratings roll would be an understatement. For a second consecutive month, the format shattered its PPM record in May. Urban’s latest share of audiences aged 6+ (3.6), 18-34 (6.6) and 25-54 (4.1) were all new records under PPM measurement. “Simply put, the last year-and-a-half has been the best stretch we’ve seen yet for urban contemporary,” Nielsen says its monthly format trends report. Programmers say it’s more than just mega-hits from core acts like from Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar and Trey Songz driving the growth. “Urban programmers have continued to learn how to effectively program their station to deliver compelling content to their station’s P1 consumers,” consultant Tony Gray says. Stronger contesting and marketing are helping help drive more listening occasions. Gray also points to a number of urban station operators that have added the Telos Voltair audio processor to their audio chain, thereby increasing the likelihood of their station’s encoded signals being detected by Nielsen ratings meters. While it’s tough to peg the growth to any one factor, urban’s ratings trajectory is undisputable. Cox Media Group’s “99 Jamz” WEDR, Miami charged 3.7-4.4-5.0 in May, despite the presence of a well-oiled competitor. Radio One’s “92-Q” WERQ, ranked second in Baltimore with a 7.2, up from a 5.4 in January. In St. Louis, Radio One’s “Hot 104” WHHL has trended 3.8-5.4 during the past year. New competitors, meanwhile, are expanding the format’s market share. The February arrival of a second urban station in Los Angeles has grown the format’s 6+ share by more than 50% since January. No summertime blues for classic hits. When it comes to ratings growth, the summer of 2014 belonged to classic hits. Could the Greatest Hits format scale the ratings chart again this summer? Based on Nielsen’s May survey results, it’s off to a strong start. Across PPM markets, classic hits jumped 5.0-5.3 in all listeners aged 6+ from April to May. The format strengthened its stature in the 25-54 Money Demo, trending 4.1-4.5. Even 18-34 year-old listening is up 3.2-3.4. “All of these results are on par with or slightly ahead of where the format sat a year ago, putting classic hits squarely into the race this summer,” Nielsen says in its monthly ratings trends report. Last year the format quietly grew its total audience share by 10% during the summer months. CHR, meanwhile, cooled a bit in May, dipping 8.5-8.4 in 6+, 12.8-12.6 among 18-34 year-olds and 9.4-9.1 with 25-54s. But it’s considerably above its May levels for the past two years in all three demos. And Nielsen says the format is “setting a faster pace this year than any of the last four.” [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015 Country faces ratings headwinds Borrowing a phrase from the finance community, country radio faces “strong headwinds” heading into the summer months. No, it’s not the dust-up over female artists, but comparisons to last summer’s scorching ratings growth that are the issue. Sure, the format has made a turnaround in recent months, reversing a nine-month ratings slide among Millennials. But it still lags last year’s record-setting growth. May marked country’s third consecutive growth across the three broad demos Nielsen tracks in its monthly format trend reports. It returned to positive growth among Millennials in March and has been increasing its share of the demo ever since, trending 8.5-9.0-9.3. In fact, its most dramatic growth in May was among 18-34 year-olds. Country’s on the upswing with other demos, too. “Country’s 8.0 share among all listeners 6+ is the first time the format has been back above an 8-share since October 2014,” Nielsen says in the report. Its 25-54 audience grew 7.4-7.6-7.8. Country was No. 1 in total audience in eight of the 48 PPM markets in May: Baltimore (iHeartMedia’s WPOC), Indianapolis (Emmis’s “Hank FM” WLHK), Milwaukee (iHeartMedia’s WMIL-FM), Providence (Hall Communications’ WCTK), Raleigh (Curtis Media Group’s WQDR-FM ) and Columbus, OH (iHeartMedia’s WCOL-FM ). It commanded the top two positions in Charlotte (iHeartMedia’s WKKT, followed by Beasley Media Group’s WSOC-FM ) and San Antonio (Cox Media Group’s KCYY, followed by iHeartMedia’s KAJA). Country ranked second in a total of seven markets and placed third in five. More on-demand, less live streaming at NPR. NPR’s online listeners are increasingly choosing what they listen to on demand, rather than going with scheduled programming. On public radio stations, total live streaming hours dropped 6% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to data from NPR Digital Services, which monitors 239 public radio streams. But on-demand listening, which includes podcasts and recorded segments that aired on NPR stations, is on the upswing. It now accounts for one-third of all digital listening hours for station content, NPR said. In April, NPR listeners downloaded about 2 million hours of on-demand audio content, according to an NPR study of 161 member stations. On average, NPR says users download 40 minutes of audio each month. The shift reflects a larger consumer trend in media, with users opting to control their consumption by choosing on-demand over scheduled entertainment. Radio stations with spoken-word content, like news, talk and sports, are well-positioned to grow their on-demand offerings. “People want to control the media they are consuming. They are able to in many other ways of their lives. Of course they’re going to want this when listening to audio as well,” Steve Mulder, NPR’s senior director of audience insights, told Nieman Labs. INPR’s digital portfolio also includes its NPR One app, which allows users to customize local and national content. As of April, NPR One counted about 150,000 users, with 75,000 returning users each month. While the app’s popularity is growing, it still trails NPR’s other digital options, including on-demand, station streaming and iTunes, in usage. New NPR chief pushing for better content, promotion. The popularity of NPR’s podcasts is one of the many things that new NPR president & CEO Jarl Mohn wants his stations to spotlight. Public broadcasters can learn a few things from their commercial counterparts by establishing personalities and buzz, Mohn told the Associated Press. He’s challenging stations to increase promotions and draw attention to NPR’s unique offerings, including podcasts like WBEZ, Chicago’s “Serial,” and the network’s flagship shows “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” He also wants stations to stage more live events, including ticketed shows with popular local personalities. “It’s basics,” Mohn told the AP. “It’s blocking and tackling that a lot of people may have forgotten just because year after year after year, things have drifted.” After years of recent tumult, NPR is set to break even in 2015 for the first time with its $190 million budget, Mohn said. The broadcaster has suffered annual deficits Jarl Mohn between $4 million and $6 million per year recently, as well as lost funding, resulting in layoffs and other cuts. NPR has also been rocked by executive turnover, with Mohr now the fifth acting or permanent CEO in six years. Mohr is a radio and TV veteran, a former DJ and founder of E! Entertainment Television, and spent 12 years on the board of Southern California Public Radio. NPR needs to grow its audience and funding, he told the AP. NPR’s audience is strong, with 28 million to 30 million, but time spent listening is down. Mohr says compelling content will drive listening and plans call for expanding international reporting, science news and other areas to strengthen the network’s appeal. [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015 O’Rielly lambastes FCC for excessive enforcement penalties. Calling the state of FCC enforcement “dangerously misguided,” FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly lambasted the agency for extracting excessive settlement amounts from companies in what he described as a display of self-aggrandizing fanfare. “The Commission seems more intent on obtaining newspaper headlines trumpeting accusations and eye-popping fines,” he said in a speech before the Federal Communications Bar Association. O’Rielly relayed conversations he’s had with a couple of parties potentially subject to enforcement actions. In trying to first discuss their issues with the Enforcement Bureau, O’Rielly says they were told any potential settlement would generate a penalty “in the multiple-hundreds of millions or billions and require an admission of guilt. “In the few settlements that have occurred, parties have told me that settling for unfair terms was just a better option than years of prosecution and having their Michael O’Rielly company name dragged through the mud,” O’Rielly said. The Republican commissioner accused the Enforcement Bureau of ratcheting up proposed penalties “beyond the original intent of the statute,” at times basing them, not on the actual violation, but a number that “seems to be picked out of a hat, loosely based on a company’s revenues.” Rather than gauging success on compliance with the Commission’s rules, O’Rielly said it’s now valued on how much can be extracted from fines and penalties.