RATINGS, NEW STAFF AND JULIA CHILD TURNS 100!
posted by Laura McKee
The healthy rainfall this monsoon season has been a blessing for our long drought. Hopefully the rains continue along with the anticipated start of the new fall semester here on the UA campus. AZPM looks forward to welcoming a new group of student crew, interns, and volunteers that help us across the organization each semester.
Recent ratings information was released for television and radio. In the May Nielsen sweeps, PBS 6 increased its full day reach by 4% from the same period last year. Top rated programs in May include MASTERPIECE Mystery! Sherlock on Sundays at 8 p.m., Antiques Roadshow on Mondays at 8 p.m. and Men of Mystery! on Thursdays at 8 p.m. PBS Kids viewership grew 27% in full day viewership and 242% in primetime compared to last May.
Our NPR radio service maintains its top rank among other news/talk stations in the Tucson market. NPR 89.1 set a new record for cumulative audience in Pima, Pinal, Cochise, and Santa Cruz counties. The cumulative audience for listeners age 12+ was 109,400, eclipsing the previous high of 108,700 in the Fall of 2009. For listeners age 50+, NPR 89.1 increased 5% and Classical 90.5 increased 5.7% from Spring 2011.
You’ve been hearing a new voice mornings on NPR 89.1. John Weaver joined the radio team as the new morning host and newscaster just a few weeks ago. John has an extensive career in both commercial and public radio throughout the Midwest, having most recently spent more than seven years at Minnesota Public Radio. Also new to the AZPM team is Enrique Aldana who joined us as our new Associate Director of Development. Enrique, a graduate of UA’s Eller College of Management, comes to AZPM from Tucson Newspapers, Inc. where he served as Advertising Sales Manager since 2004.
This month, ReadyTV celebrates what would have been Julia Childs’ 100th birthday (August 15th) all month long with a marathon of your favorite Julia shows including; In Julia’s Kitchen, French Chef Classics, Julia Child Memories, Cooking with Master Chefs and more.
AZPM’s Your Vote 2012 election coverage continues with a series of special broadcast forums. In anticipation of the upcoming Primary Election on August 28th, AZPM hosted the first of these forums on July 23rd with the CD2 Republican Primary Forum on a special edition of Arizona Illustrated, simulcast on NPR 89.1 and online. On August 13th PBS 6 will host the CD2 Democratic Primary Forum and the CD2 Democratic Primary Forum on August 20th. Both programs are special editions of Arizona Illustrated at 6:30 p.m. More candidate forums and special debates will be announced during the weeks ahead. Check your weekly Preview newsletter for dates and times. AZPM’s Your Vote 2012 is your source for thorough, un-biased, expert analysis across radio, TV, and online at azpm.org/your vote. The website has candidate interviews, forums, interactive maps, proposition overviews and more.
I am pleased to announce that the PBS drama series MASTERPIECE, has been honored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with 37 nominations for the 2012 Primetime Emmy® Awards – the highest number of nominations the series has received in its history. MASTERPIECE Classic: Downton Abbey received 16 nominations and MASTERPIECE Mystery! Sherlock received 13 nominations. Other nominees include Great Expectations, Page Eight, and The Song of Lunch.
August 18th starts the first TV membership drive of the new fiscal year. Program highlights include one of the best live Frank Sinatra concerts of all time, Frank Sinatra: Concert for the Americas filmed in the Dominican Republic in 1982. This two-hour special airs on Monday, August 20th at 8 pm on PBS6. Other program highlights include The Civil War, Ken Burns’ nine-episode epic documentary starting July 31st at 9 p.m., and The Orangutan Diaries, a five-part BBC’s nature documentary that follows the fragile lives of Bornean Orangutans on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. starting August 8th. Wacky Americana series continues Thursdays at 8 p.m. through the month with Lords of the Gourds, Ferrets: the Pursuit of Excellence, and Cherry Picking Apple Blossom Time. Check program listings here.
I hope you will keep in mind that your pledges of financial support help AZPM to provide you with the award-winning, wide variety of programming that you have grown to expect. Thank you for your viewership, listenership and continued support.
Jack Gibson
