Ten percent more people than last year are tuning into community radio stations for local content and specialised music programs according to the 2008 Community Radio National Listener Survey. The survey results were released today in Canberra, but Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who was expected to officially launch the results, did not make it.
The survey found 57% of Australians aged over 15 years listen to community radio each month, an increase of 10% in the last two years.
The most significant reasons why people listen to community radio, according to survey responses, are for
Specialist music programs (55%)
Local information and news (53%)
They play Australian music and support local artists (46%)
The announcers sound like ordinary people (43%)
CBAA President Deborah Welch says the results are a testament to the high standard of community radio in Australia and the important role it plays in the Australian media landscape:
“Community radio attracts a huge number of listeners for the specialist music programs, local news
and information and the desire to support Australian artists. There is a great local flavour to community radio, and you are bound to hear something you won’t hear anywhere else on Australian radio.”
While Communications Minister Conroy was called to a Cabvarchar(15) meeting, Jason Clare, secretary of the Government’s Communication’s Committee filled in for him and launched the survey. Also speaking at the launch was Lauren Black, a young broadcaster from Canberra’s Artslund FM.
The survey shows 84% (13.9 million people) of Australians listen to radio in an average week, and 93% (15.5 million people) listen to radio in an average month. These overall figures are roughly consistent with the Nielsen Commercial Radio survey figures, but the sector breakdowns are, as would be expected, different from the commercial figures, which do not include community radio stations by name.
This survey found that 72% listen to commercial radio in an average month, 57% of people listen to community radio in an average month, and 54% listen to ABC or SBS radio monthly. 7% of community radio listeners do not listen to commercial or ABC radio. 27% of people listen to community radio weekly.
Most community radio listeners (80%) tuned in to their favourite community stations for between 1 and 10 hours per week, a dedicated 9% of community radio listeners were locked on to their favourite station for over 20 hours per week. Average weekly listening for community radio is 7.8 hours per week. Non-metro listeners are also likely to listen to community radio for longer, with the time spent listening in non-metro areas averaging 10.1 hours compared to 6.4 hours per week for metro areas.
By contrast with commercial stations, most community radio listeners tuned in during the afternoon time slot (48%), followed by mid-mornings (42%) and breakfast (41). 4% of Australian radio listeners only listen to community radio.
40% of community radio listeners have visited a radio station website and 27% have listened to a radio program on line.
Community radio listening varies by State with the Northern Territory having the most listeners in an average week per head of population (42%), while Canberra has the least number of listeners per head (18%). Overall, non-metropolitan areas have marginally more listeners (28%) than metro areas (27%). Based on total audience size, the metropolitan areas account for nearly 3 in 5 of all community radio listeners.
Older people aged 55+ listen the most to community radio, averaging 9.4 hours per week. People aged 15-24 and 40-54 average 6.4 hours per week, and people aged 25-39 average 8.4 hours per week.
In the four years since the McNair Ingenuity surveys began there have been steady increases in the number of weekly community radio listeners in all States/Territories except Western Australia (where the numbers have decreased slightly), among men and women and all major age groups.
The number of Australians aged 15+ listening to community radio in an average month has risen from 7,054,000 people (45%) in 2004 to 9,562,000 people (57%) this year, an increase of 36% in the total number of people listening since 2004.
The CBAA is calling on the Federal Government to increase funding to the community radio sector, whose core funding has dropped 41% in the past decade and by 18% for individual stations. The government did not take the opportunity provided by the launch of the new figures to announce any new funding for the community sector.
For 2008/09, the Government has provided $8.8 million in funding through the Community Broadcasting Foundation to support community radio broadcasters. At the 2008/09 Budget, the Rudd Government announced $2.4 million over the next four years for the Australian Music Airplay Project and $600,000 for the National Training Program.
The increase in community radio listener numbers also attracted the attention of the Australian Greens. The party’s communication spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam says:
“The Australian community radio sector is a vibrant and growing industryin this country, and it is important that we ensure they are not left behind in the switch-over to digital transmission. The Greens will support legislation later this week that extends the opportunity for the community radio sector to become shareholders in the [Digital Radio] joint venture companies.”
To read the full listenership report, click the link below.
