Choir concert in PBS top 10
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The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert has continued a tradition of being one of the top 10 most-viewed December programs over the Public Broadcasting System.
Each year, the live concert is recorded for broadcast on PBS stations during December of the following year. That means the 2007 concert featuring the King's Singers was broadcast this past December.
The program was in the top 10 and was one of only two Christmas shows in the list, said Scott Chaffin, director of broadcasting at KUED, the University of Utah public television station that originates the choir's Christmas broadcasts.
"We're the intermediary between PBS and the choir to make sure the program is delivered and scheduled in the different markets," he explained.
Portland, Ore., was the market that garnered the largest rating — 3, or 3 percent of the viewing households in the area. "In public television terms, that's a very good-sized audience," said the director, explaining that 1.1 is typical for a PBS program.
Other cities with high ratings include Buffalo, N.Y., with 2.8; Fort Myers, Fla., with 2; and Las Vegas, Nev., with 1.9.
In the KUED market, the program was aired seven times during December, with a cumulative viewership of 67,500 households.
In the New York market on member station WNET, more than 82,000 households tuned in to the program when it aired Christmas Eve. On the same night in the Los Angeles market, 52,900 households were tuned into the program.
This is the fifth year that KUED has originated the annual Christmas concert broadcast. "It has been in the top 10 almost every year that we have presented the program, and we're very proud of that fact," the broadcasting director said, adding that it gets wide coverage across the United States. This past December, almost every PBS station carried the program, amounting to a potential audience of 97 percent of the country.
