4PeopleMedia

New McNair Ingenuity Research 2010 / 2011.

The Community Broadcast Association of Australia commissions a biannual independent survey of the sector from McNair Ingenuity Research.

Who’s listening?

•    45% are engaged in full-time work and 20% in part-time work.

Why are they listening?

•    The key reasons for listening to community radio are that they have ‘specialist music programs’ and that they have ‘local information/local news’.

•    Listeners aged 15-39 really value the ‘Australian music/local artist’ on community radio. “I hear something that I don’t hear anywhere else!” was a major reason given for listening to community radio, particularly in the evening time slots. Whereas in the mornings “local news/local voices/local personalities.” were key reasons stated for tuning in.

When are they listening?

•    Afternoon - 54%    Breakfast - 45%    Mid-morning - 42%    &    Evening - 32%
•    Females are more likely to listen during the mid-morning and afternoon; whereas men are more likely to listen during the evening.

How long do they listen in an average week?

•    The average community radio listeners tunes in for 7.1 hour per week.

Community Radio Awareness

•    1 in 7 listeners to community radio are exclusive listeners.
•    54% of Australians aged 15+ listen to community radio in a typical month. An increase of 32% ot the total number of people listening since 2004.

Click here to download the PDF of the "Community Radio Listener Survey 2010", conducted by McNair Ingenuity Research.

What is Community Radio?

Community broadcasting is guided by adherence to simple but powerful principles:

Access:
Community broadcasting promotes active volunteer participation in media operations, administration and production rather than passive consumption of media. The sector provides skills and training that ensure access to the media for all parts of the community.

Diversity:
Community broadcasting fosters innovation, creativity and diversity of content in its programming. In both structure and output community media reflects Australia's immense cultural diversity and by doing so supports greater tolerance, understanding and social cohesion.

Localism:
Community media has an expanding local role. While commercial media and the ABC are reducing local content and increasing networking, community stations have become the voice of local communities.

Independence:
Community broadcasting stations are owned and operated by not-for-profit groups. Each licensed group has open membership and democratic decision-making practices. All stations must adhere to a code of practice that embodies the sector's philosophy and secures their independence.

The community radio sector of the Australian broadcasting system is non-commercial, non-profit and is supported and financed primarily through listener subscriptions (memberships), community fundraising ventures, donations, limited government subsidies, business sponsorship and the efforts of volunteers.

Stations depend on the community in the service area for management effort, financial and technical support and program input.