All Classical FM at 89.9 in Portland, Oregon is having another spectacular year. My co-blogger Jack Allen would never toot his own horn, but the station is up 58% in listenership over two years. They have a 3.6 share, according to Arbitron, and have broken into the top ten stations in the city. In addition to new audience, All Classical’s revenues are at an all-time high, and they have a balanced budget.
Jack and I have talked a lot about programming, and he feels that broadening and deepening the playlist — the opposite of “dumbing it down” — has brought in the new listeners. At least one listener appears to agree with that philosophy . In the comments to a post on the Seattle blog Crosscut on Wednesday, a Seattle listener vents his snark about his own local station but raves about the programming on All Classical from Portland. Programming is always fair game for public opinion on a public station, and Portland listeners seem to have voted with their ears and their checkbooks.
More great news: Portland is now syndicating Edmund Stone’s fabulous film music show The Score and they have a new sponsor, Bob’s Red Mill. Edmund is a walking encylopedia of film knowledge, and frankly there hasn’t been a good movie- music show available for a while, so I’m glad to see this one picking up steam.
In fact, I applaud All Classical for having the vision not only to improve its local footprint, but also to share its best stuff with the rest of us. I’ve always wondered why stations don’t syndicate their best shows. Did the big gorillas in the business steal all the syndicating juice?
I may be a little biased, but I give Jack Allen credit for being a real leader in the biz and making these things happen.
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It is great to hear that you all are doing so well.
Thank you, Marty, for your generous comments on “The Score”. At All Classical Public Media we are proud of the program’s national support from Bob’s Red Mill; and delighted “The Score” continues to gain new stations, with positive feedback from listeners across America. Soon “The Score” will become an internationally syndicated film music program when the program debuts in Brisbane, Australia.
Great news Oregon! We here in Columbus are soon to celebrate the re-emergence of 24 hour Classical music as we add Classical 101 to the Central Ohio dial in the Fall.
Best,
Boyce Lancaster
Tell me more, Boyce! Are you going from dual format to two separate stations?
Marty
Follow-up on All Classical FM’s ratings success of late spring and summer:
Just in…November Arbitron data show that the station is now #8 in the market and enjoying a 4.1 share.
We’re naturally very pleased and ecstatic that we exceeded our fall membership drive goal of $450,000 by $30,000.
The Score is doing well, gaining carriage every quarter.
Last night, 276 attended our annual holiday open house.
I’ve spent the afternoon calling $1000 donors who have responded to our end-of-year fund-raising mailer. The mantra among them is how precious this resource is and how satisfying they find the programming to be.
These ratings, revenue and raves are true gifts this holiday season.
All the best to you and yours!
-Jack
Portland, Oregon