Minnesota Public Radio, which operates 30 stations in that state, has shaken up the public radio scene in Los Angeles since taking over KPCC-FM 89.3 last year.
Significant moves made at the Pasadena station have been followed by a number of corresponding changes at competing stations, including KCRW-FM 89.9 in Santa Monica, which increased its news and talk programming in the past year. That move followed KPCC’s decision to double its staff of reporters, producers and on-air hosts to 14.
Vice President of Programming Craig Curtis said MPR’s introduction to the local airwaves has been beneficial across the public radio spectrum.
“Our presence in the market has allowed other stations to focus on what they do best,” Curtis said. “KUSC, for example, has made some changes to its format to focus more on classical music. This allows all stations to do well, whether its increasing fundraising or expanding their listener base.”
But Bob Goldfarb, director of broadcasting and new media at KUSC-FM 91.5, said the recent changes to his station’s classical music format were not prompted by KPCC. Instead, the changes were made to advance the station’s mission of making classical music and arts a more important part of people’s lives, he said.
“We need to be a reliable source of classical music whenever listeners tune in,” Goldfarb said.
In the past month, KUSC has taken several longtime programs off the air, including “A Prairie Home Companion,” which is produced by MPR. Other programs dropped include the Celtic music show “The Thistle and Shamrock,” “Hearts of Space,” and “My Word and My Music.”
Meanwhile, at KCRW, Ruth Seymour, the station’s general manager, said “KPCC is doing local news the exact way MPR does it. We don’t interrupt NPR programming and replace it with news. We do local news in another way.”
Approach to local news
Seymour explained that the Santa Monica College-based station covers local news with talk programs such as “Which Way L.A.?,” anchored by Warren Olney. “Our commentators also cover local arts and culture and our music programmers cover the local club and concert scene,” she said.
The recent addition of “To the Point,” a national talk show produced by KCRW and Public Radio International and hosted by Olney, was not a response to KPCC, according to Seymour, but rather the result of the station being able to raise enough money to hire the necessary support staff.
Nevertheless, Seymour, who has been with KCRW since 1978, said she’s concerned about the changes at KPCC and their affect on local public radio stations. In particular, she cited a trend away from eclectic programming.
KCRW has an annual budget of $6 million and more than 450,000 listeners each week, almost twice the size of its main rival in Pasadena.
“We are following in the footsteps of commercial radio where each station provides the listener with a separate format. In that sense, these stations have become single-format radio,” she said. “We are not in the business to make money; we are in the business to make great radio.”
Goldfarb, whose station also averages 450,000 listeners each week and has an annual budget of $3.8 million, said KPCC’s programming had improved since the change in ownership and he acknowledged that “they’ve added to the impact of public radio on Southern California.”
Since MPR purchased the station last year, KPCC has tripled its budget from $1.37 million to more than $3.5 million. It also hired two employees exclusively to sell “underwriting,” which means corporate sponsorships of a station’s programming.
Turning off the music
The station also eliminated its music programs, once known for their Polish- and German-speaking hosts, and replaced them with more news and talk programs from National Public Radio, including “Talk of the Nation”, and The BBC World Service.
“The changes were designed to help us become the premiere news and information station in Southern California,” said Cindy Young, KPCC’s general manager. “The more visible we are, the better it is for stations at our end of the dial. It’s the only choice for people who are offended by commercial radio.”
The changes so far seem to be paying off for a station once considered a learning center for students at Pasadena City College. During its November pledge drive, KPCC brought in close to $500,000, far surpassing its expectations of $350,000. The station also earned an additional $30,000 from listeners donating online.
In terms of ratings, Young said the station has an average of 270,000 listeners per week. New figures are expected to be released by the end of the month.
“I have a feeling our audience has grown, especially after the response to our last pledge drive,” she said.
Curtis agreed, saying, “Early indications are that the changes implemented at KPCC are going very well. The station has begun to build a news department and hired local hosts for NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘All Things Considered.’ I feel pretty good about the direction the station is going in.”
KPCC will eventually move to a new home off campus. MPR will continue to pay the lease at the current studio, which will be used by the college for a digital broadcast-training center.
When asked whether MPR had plans to purchase other struggling public stations, Curtis laughed and said there was no secret plan to own 1,000 stations like Clear Channel Communications Inc. or other large radio and television station companies.
“We are not actively looking to purchase another station,” Curtis emphasized. “We’ve had our hands full with this station.”
