Australia has big ears

And very different ears

And they are out there ..... listening in huge numbers.

That is the key message that the community radio sector can take from the results of the McNair National Listener Survey.

The survey found that more than 7 million Australians – or 45% of people aged over 15 – listen to community radio in a typical month.

3.7 million Australians – or 24% of people aged over 15 – listen to community radio in a typical week, and they listen for an average of 7.7 hours.

Of particular note is that … for many Australians … community radio is their sole listening choice. In an average week, there are 685,000 exclusive community radio listeners - that is – they do not listen to commercial radio or the ABC/SBS. They only listen to community radio. This accounts for nearly 1 in 5 of the entire community radio audience.

These are stunning results in which we can take enormous pride.

And we are …the more than 20,000 people who make community radio – nearly all of us volunteers.

So you can see, we have a significant number of loyal, engaged and active listeners,for whom community radio is they key source of not just information and entertainment, but also a means to maintaining culture and keeping connected.

So why are so many Australians tuning in to community radio?

According to the survey, the main reason is because community radio provides diversity in programming, with a range of specialist music and information programs. This is the main reason given by …. both men and women ….. all age groups ….. and all occupation categories.

It demonstrates conclusively that our greatest strength is our ability to cater to audiences whose needs are not met elsewhere on the dial.

The survey also paints an encouraging picture of listening habits in rural and regional areas …. where one quarter of the population ….. 1.4 million Australians … tune in to community radio each week.

With increased networking by the commercial and national sectors in regional areas, country Australians are crying out for local content. With more than 70% of our stations in rural and regional communities, and with 80% of our content locally produced, community radio fulfils this need.

In the bush, more than 35% of our stations are the only radio service in their area or the only service producing local content.

It’s not surprise to us that rural and regional Australians put local news and local information are the main reason for listening to community radio.

It is heartening to note that community radio draws its audience from a wide cross section of the community. In fact, the survey found that at least 20% of most demographic groups tune in to community radio during a typical week.

While, the survey reveals we are particularly attracting a higher number of younger listeners – 18-24 year olds – to radio, the diverse nature of our programming that we are able to reach all sections of the Australian population.

The National Listener Survey was conducted by McNair Ingenuity by means of a telephone survey of a representative sample of 5,014 people aged 15 and over throughout Australia.

We acknowledge the efforts of McNair Ingenuity Research, particularly Ian McNair and Matt Balogh, and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, particularly the Communications Research Unit, for designing such a robust and rigorous survey.

7 million Australians know what they’re listening to

This speech was delivered by Deb Welch at the launch of the audience research results at the CBAA office on September 15 2004.

To view the full research results, go to: www.cbonline.org.au