Local orientation in news/talk reaps audience gains for WGBH-FM

Since launching an NPR news and local talk format on WGBH 89.7 FM in late 2009, the pubcaster has gained listenership at the expense of WBUR, Boston's dominant NPR News franchise, according to the Boston Globe. The audience shifts during the weekday noon timeslots -- when WGBH's locally focused Emily Rooney Show goes up against WBUR's national Here and Now -- suggest that 'GBH's gains have come at 'BUR's loss, Emerson College professor Jack Casey tells the Globe. WGBH also has the advantage of a powerful broadcast signal that reaches far beyond metropolitan Boston, where WBUR's audience is concentrated.