2004 Annual Report - Radio Audience

The growth in stations, and the possible erosion in local journalistic content, has not materially transformed how many people listen to radio. The 94 percent figure calculated by Arbitron has stayed virtually unchanged for the last five years, the time from which data are available.

Radio Reach

Percent of the population 12 and older, 1998 - 2002

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Arbitron ’Radio Today’ annual report

Similar to what is occurring in the magazine industry (see Magazine Audience), the growth in stations, instead, appears to be fragmenting the radio audience into finer and finer niche groups. The 47 recognized radio formats include such things as Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Country, Classical, Beautiful Music and Farm/Agriculture. And even these 47 formats are prone to splitting and changing to create new niche markets. What was once Contemporary Hit Radio, or CHR, now includes CHR-Pop, CHR-80s and CHR-Dance.¹

This represents a remarkable shift. When commercial radio was begun, stations were broadly programmed channels, much like the later television networks. The same channel, depending on time of day, offered serials, then soaps, music and news. Today, the strategies behind formating radio are even more targeted than cable television. This narrowcasting, as it is termed, adds to cultural fragmentation. It also tends to minimize accidental learning - people becoming more familiar with news, information or even music that they were not seeking out.

This targeting in recent years has most likely played a part in the stability of radio's overall audience. The stability might also be attributed to the fact that radio is a medium built on habit. With preset stations on the car radio, the clock radio and even on streaming audio, people's radio tendencies tend to vary little day to day. Think about your own radio listening. Have your habits changed significantly? Do you listen in the car on weekdays? In the kitchen on Saturday morning when you have your coffee? Only to Dr. Laura?

Tied to listening to the same stations for the most part, data gathered over the last five years reveal little change in where people listen to the radio. The lone shift here has been a steady climb in car listening over the past five years. Why? The most likely explanation is cultural. People are driving more. Data from the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics indicate that the average driver spends 55 minutes behind the wheel every day.²

What has intrigued radio professionals is that there has been no apparent change in listening due to technology. There were theories that Internet radio streaming, which makes it possible to listen to radio on the computer, at work or at home, and to pick from among many more stations than just those in the listener's own city, would radically transform radio. The Internet has led to a surge in news consumption of text-based Web sites. People check out news Web sites such as MSNBC.com at work throughout the day, creating a whole new class of news consumers (see Online Audience).

But no analogous surge in daytime listening has happened on the radio. Research suggests that while people may be willing to dip their feet in the water they may not necessarily dive in. According to a 2003 study by Arbitron/Edison Media Research the number of individuals who had ever listened to radio stations on the Internet increased from 6 percent in 1998 to 33 percent in 2003.³ But when asked about more regular online listening, only 10 percent had listened to a radio station online in the past month. Only 5 percent had listened in the past week.

Where People Listen, 2002

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Arbitron ’Radio Today’ annual report

Where People Listen

1998-2002

Design Your Own Chart

Arbitron ’Radio Today’ annual reports

What is the cause of this apparent disconnection between radio and the revolutions occurring in broadcast technology? One contributing factor is the decision made by some organizations to limit or prohibit alternative forms of broadcast-such as Internet streaming of audio and video--for their so-called over-the-air radio stations (those stations also available through traditional radio outlets and not Internet or satellite-only stations). As a result, the information and programming that attracted a listener to the station is simply not available online.

Another might be the attitude cited by some researchers that many listeners view their computer as simply another receiver, no different than the traditional radio that might already be sitting in their kitchen or on their desk. The listener with this mindset would most likely choose whichever mode of listening is most convenient to their location. Add to this the reality of the digital divide and the weight online streaming can put on computers and computer networks. Some organizations and corporations have instituted rules limiting or prohibiting the use of streaming websites in office settings while some at-home computer users are simply not sufficiently equipped to enjoy streamed audio in as clean a fashion as the traditional radio on their desk.

The newest evolution of radio is the advent of satellite networks like Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. While this report is primarily concerned with the state of radio journalism on over-the-air stations these satellite networks are enabling radio listeners an increasing amount of control over the content they listen to thanks to a finely delineated formatting scheme. Moreover, satellite technology allows listeners the kind of universal access offered by the Internet (an individual abroad can access radio stations from back home) while specially designed receivers for car and home preserve the mobility that is radio's personal strength as a medium.