FY20 Successes and FY21 Plans

Our programs have continued to bring listeners the in-depth content that they have come to know and love. Station feedback continues to play a pivotal role in making sure we’re optimizing our content for listeners and station operations alike. Below you’ll find some of the big wins that our programs have had this year, along with what their upcoming plans are.

Marketplace

The Marketplace portfolio now reaches nearly 14 million weekly listeners. Marketplace Tech alone has had a year over year +20% growth in CUME to nearly 1.8 million weekly listeners. Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace continue to see growth over Nielsen Fall book (4%+) with Marketplace now heard on over 500 stations.

Wins this year:

  • Marketplace transitioned from multiple live feeds to one live with subsequent file feed on ContentDepot – a result of strong station feedback.
  • Programmatic wins this year include the United States of Work series from Kai Ryssdal, the Econ Extra Credit project where David Brancaccio read an introductory economics textbook with listeners, and Molly Wood’s interview with the CEO of Delta Airlines.

Looking ahead:

  • Continued dynamic coverage of COVID-19 through the economic and contextual lens of Marketplace. 
  • More broadcast specials from Marketplace talent to help audiences make sense of the current economic climate. 
  • Election coverage – focusing on the question, “Is the economy working for you?” 
  • Increased cross promotion between shows and host features. 
  • Continued efforts to shift to a “one newsroom” mentality and creating efficiencies and integrations across Marketplace programming. 

BBC

Newshour is now heard on over 330 stations reaching nearly 3.5 million weekly listeners, while carriage of Topline’s six :90 second complementary Morning Edition feeds now reaches over 3.2 million weekly listeners.

Wins this year:

  • Launching the Global View on 2020 weekend minute-long module, which looks at global perspectives of the United States presidential campaign.
  • Newshour evergreen segments were made available to network stations to help maximize pledge drive activity.
  • Newshour Weekend was made consistent during interim schedules, emphasizing and leveraging the importance of weekend news.

Looking ahead:

  • Continued coverage of COVID-19 through the resources of the BBC, making the global perspective relevant to local markets.
  • Launching a new BBC partner site with increased efficiencies for ease of use and a library of videos available for stations to stream.
  • How-to videos on how you can best utilize BBC programming, the partner site and digital offerings.
  • A strong commitment to covering climate change and the upcoming 2020 election.

The Daily

The Daily, now carried on over 230 stations, grew carriage 40% year over year resulting in 16% growth in CUME to over 2 million weekly listeners. Over 70% of stations place The Daily adjacent to Marketplace, resulting in a 99% audience retention rate.

Wins this year:

Looking ahead:

  • Continued COVID-19 and election coverage.
  • Continued deep dives into the most important stories in the news, all while complementing live news programs heard on your local station. 

The Splendid Table

Francis Lam and The Splendid Table continue to offer a wide variety of voices, conversations about cooking, sustainability and food culture all while celebrating the intersection of food and life. Year over year CUME grew over 3% with F19-S20 carriage growing 3% as well.

Wins this year:

  • Turkey Confidential was carried on 368 stations – a new high carriage total!
  • Top three ‘big get’ interviews this season include:
  • Samin Nosrat of Netflix’s Salt, Fat, Acid Heat.
  • Chef Kwame Onwuachi, winner of the 2019 Rising Star Chef award and author of Notes From a Young Black Chef.
  • Bestselling cookbook author Alison Roman.

Looking ahead:

  • Continue bringing listeners guests who are the biggest names in cooking every week!
  • Based on audience feedback, The Splendid Table is committed to bringing more home cooking segments with Melissa Clark from Weeknight Kitchen.

Live from Here

Live from Here audiences held steady over the last year, with big names and new emerging talent bookings delivering new, younger audiences across the 18-34 demo across top markets.

Wins this year:

  • A full season in Town Hall, drawing more talent and bigger names, including Paul Simon, Jake Gyllenhall, Sarah Silverman, Nathaniel Rateliff, The Lumineers, Andrew Bird, Ezra Koenig, Sarah Bareilles and many more.
  • Live From Here continues to provide music discovery for listeners, with many previous guests being nominated for Grammy Awards this year.

Looking ahead:

  • Providing additional promotional tools for upcoming shows.
  • Even though the program can’t broadcast live from Town Hall for the foreseeable future, they remain committed to providing new episodes and quickly pivoting operational procedures to do so.

Classical

APM’s Classical portfolio continued a strong and steady year, reaching nearly 3 million weekly listeners.

Wins this year:

  • Performance Today’s New York Out Loud series.
  • John Birge began hosting Composers Datebook.
  • A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols celebrated its 100th anniversary last year.
  • This year, John Birge celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first U.S. broadcast by getting the story from the man who made it happen — no easy feat in an analog world!
  • More than 20 radio specials offered.

Looking ahead:

  • Happening now: a one-hour radio special “Performance Today’s Classical Critters” hosted by Fred Child (air window: March 18-June 30, 2020).
  • Providing a respite during as stressful election season.
  • Pipedreams has a strong bias against including reruns in their schedule, creating between 48 and 50 new episodes each year.