How Many NPR Stations Does Boston Need?

Good article in the Boston Globe: "To listeners, line blurs between WGBH, WBUR."

It presents a good look at how two NPR-affiliated stations are competing in one market.

Both stations are working on answering the question: How many NPR stations does Boston need?

On the other hand, how many classic rock stations do we need? Or pop? Or country?

The real issue comes down to advertisers and donors -- and getting the former to buy time and the latter to donate to one station over the other.

How many overlapping stations does one market need?

Boston Radio News is Getting More Competitive

Boston radio has undergone some significant changes lately, which a number of format and station changes. We've seen the growth of additional sports stations.

Up next, a new all-news and talk station, owned by public station WGBH, to compete with public station WBUR-FM.

That means two stations will broadcast some portion of NPR-generated content.

WGBH-FM can now re-package news from its television operation, WGBH-TV.

Not only will they compete for listeners. Since both stations rely on fund raising, they will compete there, too.

Check out the Globe article, "WGBH bids for broader presence in public radio" for more details.

The question is: does this change in the Boston market represent a trend -- will other markets see more competition for listeners for news -- or is this a one-off event.

Given the change in the NY radio landscape, one thing is for sure: classical music stations (Beethoven & Bach, not the best of the '60s & '70s) don't have a bright future. New York still has one classical music station, but it's moving higher up on the spectrum, has a weaker signal and smaller coverage area.

If it's going to be a trend, WGBH will need to come up with a product that's different from WBUR, as another NPR station.