NPR gets supersized

Forget images of academics who wear socks with their clogs. NPR's listeners have grown up, and now National Public Radio is one of the best buys out there in radio.

What gives? A few years back, the widow of Ray Kroc -- founder of McDonald's -- passed away and left NPR a gift of $230 million. NPR hired a boatload of reporters, coverage of politics and international news expanded, listeners noted the rise in quality, and the audience jumped from 12.5 to 25 million. At a time when most news organizations are cutting heads, NPR had four reporters on the ground in Iraq and 70 new journalists around the world.

For advertisers, this means the audience has grown larger and sweeter. NPR listeners are more educated, more affluent, and have some interesting demo bubbles -- for example, physicians are 2.5 times more likely to listen to NPR than other stations. Those 10-second "underwriting" taglines may not be sexy for your creative team, but because they are brief, listeners are more likely to stay tuned.

So next time your plan calls for reaching affluent executives, busy surgeons or Washington policymakers, consider adding NPR to the media plan. A national radio pulse costs about as much as a year of a single billboard in your local market.