Nearly half of Australians (aged 15+) listen to community radio

New audience research into community radio listenership conducted by McNair Ingenuity between March and May 2006 shows that the number of Australians aged 15+ listening to community radio in an average month has risen from 7,054,000 people (45 per cent) in 2004 to 7,515,000 people (47 per cent) in 2006

National community radio listener survey

The National Listener Survey is a survey of the community radio listening habits of Australians though a hybrid telephone and online survey of a representative sample of 10,000 Australians over the age of 15, across all Australian states and territories. It is conducted on behalf of the CBAA by McNair Ingenuity Research, an accredited Australian market and social research organisation with a long history of media research dating back to the first radio audience surveys held in the 1930s. The surveys provide invaluable feedback about listener trends and the sector itself. This information is freely available via this series of Area Fact Sheets. Some key results from the latest survey include: 26% of Australians aged 15+, or 4,797,000 people, listen to community radio in a typical week. Overall, 84% of Australians aged 15+ listen to some radio in the course of a typical week.  The number of Australians aged 15+ listening to community radio in an average week has risen from 3,767,000 in 2004 to 4,797,000 in 2014, with some statistically insignificant fluctuations in between – with the peak in 2013 at 5,027,000. The majority of community radio listeners find community radio and its services to the Australian community valuable, with 41% finding it very valuable and 53% quite valuable.   The key reasons for listening to community radio are that they have “local information / local news (52%)”.  This is true regardless of listeners’ age, location, how long they listen for or what time of day they listen. This is followed by they have “specialist music programs (36%) and “local voices / local personalities” (28%). For non-metro listeners, “local information/local news” is easily the most cited reason (66%), followed by other statements with a “local” emphasis.  For metropolitan listeners “specialist music programs” (38%) and “programs not available elsewhere / I hear something that I don’t hear anywhere else” (28%) are the most frequent reason after “local information/local news” (45%). Of community radio listeners surveyed, 14% do not listen to either commercial radio or ABC/SBS radio. This means that they are listening to community radio exclusively.  Of the broader Australian population aged 15+, 4% (or 678,000 people) are exclusive listeners to community radio in an average week. That is, listening to community radio but not commercial radio or ABC/SBS radio. People who tune in to community radio in an average week tend to have a portfolio of radio listening, with 43% listening to a mix of community radio, commercial radio and ABC/SBS Radio, 30% listening to both community radio and commercial radio but not ABC/SBS radio, and 13% listening to both community radio and ABC/SBS radio but not commercial radio. Overall, 72% of Australians aged 15+ are aware of community radio. Regular listeners to any radio are more likely to be aware of community radio than the general population.  Since 2012, survey respondents were also asked if they had heard of individual community radio stations, which allows us to calculate the proportion who have heard of at least one station. Compared with the stated awareness level, this proportion is a little lower – 69%. In 2012, this figure was 75%.  Nevertheless, both figures suggest that most Australians know about community radio. Community radio listeners spend 17 hours listening in an average week. Most listening happens during the weekday. Community radio listeners spend on average 2.7 hours per day listening to community radio on an average weekday.  On an average Saturday, listeners spend 1.9 hours and on an average Sunday listeners spend 1.7 hours. Among community radio listeners, the mid-morning (9am-Noon) is when people listen most often with 57%, followed by breakfast (5am-9am) with 55% listening, Drive (3pm-7pm) with 52% listening, and the afternoon (Noon-3pm) with 49% listening.  The evening (7pm-Midnight) and late night (Midnight-5am) are when people listen less with 32% and 16% respectively. In this survey, a new question about where and how much time was spent listening to any radio on a typical weekday was added.  The results show of the time spent listening to the radio on a typical weekday just over one third is done ‘at home’ (34%), followed by ‘in the car’ (29%) and ‘at work / while working’ (23%). ‘Elsewhere’ and ‘Outdoors’ account for 6% and 9% respectively of time spent listing on a typical weekday. In terms of time spent listening (TSL) to radio at various places, people spend an average of an hour per weekday listening to radio in the car, 1.2 hours at home on a typical weekday and 0.8 hours per day ‘at work/while working’.  In total, people spent 3.5 hours listening to radio on a typical weekday, which equates to a total of 17.5 hours spent listening to radio per working week. 34% of people who regularly speak a language other than English in their household listen to community radio during a typical week. 54% of the weekly community radio audience are men and 46% are women. 15% are aged 15-24, 28% aged 25-39, 24% aged 40-54 and 33% are aged 55 or over.  40% are engaged in full-time work and 20% in part-time work.&nbsp

Community broadcasting national listener survey

More people are tuning into community radio stations for the local content, according to this report. The survey found 57 per cent of Australians aged 15 years and above listen to community radio each month, an increase of 10 per cent in the last two years. People listen to community radio 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%

Policy lessons for strengthening nonprofits

Those who develop or influence Australian public policy impacting on the nonprofit sector rarely have adequate empirical research upon which to base their judgments. Giving Australia research evidence relevant to strengthening giving and volunteering is brought together in this article to inform policy options for government, nonprofit and philanthropic entities. It begins with consideration of research findings related to the capacity of those that give or volunteer and the implications these findings have for policy. Three key criteria are developed for assessing policies to strengthening giving and volunteering, behaviours that primarily assist nonprofit organisations – policies that build trust between those that give and the recipients of their gifts, policies that strengthen affiliation and policies that encourage planned giving