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So less people have ears? – Canberra Radio ratings #1 for 2007

I’ll write the statistical rundown shortly (some time in the next 24 hours), but first an opinion piece.

Canberra’s first radio ratings have been released for the year, and I can only say that I’m shocked. The radio station for people without ears has won the ratings (666 ABC Canberra), with 18.5% of the audience.

Somewhat surprisingly Canberra’s two FM music stations did quite poorly…they both lost a fair bit of ground. FM 104.7 down to 18.4% from 22.2%, and Mix 106.3 dropping even further to 18% from 22.2% (they were equal leaders last survey).

2CC lost a little bit of ground, 8.9% from 9.3%, which is interesting considering that the programming is an awful lot better than on 666.

JJJ were next, gaining ground to 8.7% from 7.0%, followed by more strong gains for the ABC, Radio National 8.2% from from 5.8%, and Classic FM 7.3% from 4.8%.

2CA were the only commercial music station to gain, 4.3% from 2.9%. I’ll miss the AFL on 2CA this year, but it’s good to see 2CA gaining ground again.

I can honestly say that NewsRadio being the only ABC station to lose ground does not surprise me, it’s a station designed for 15-30 minute listeners and it requires too much attention for most people. It should have stayed on AM and left room for 2CA to move to FM. NewsRadio dropped to 2.7% from 3.1%.

Unlisted stations attracted an audience of 5%.

The amazing swing towards ABC stations in these ratings, and away from the commercial FM stations, indicates to me that the sample group may not have been particularly similar to the one used last time. Perhaps not enough people are receiving the ratings books for the sample groups to be consistent.

Whilst it is possible that this is an accurate reflection of the radio audience in Canberra, I find the large swings just a bit unusual, and I fail to see how such a large number of Canberrans could all change to the ABC (or any other group for that matter) in the one survey. Perhaps these ratings are truly reflective and previous ones weren’t, perhaps it is the other way around, I don’t know. But what I do know is that if these ratings are accurate, that I live in a town filled with a lot of people who don’t use their ears.

(Statistics to follow)

Samuel

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#1 Comment By kaydo On March 30, 2007 @ 5:55 pm

Newsradio is great, particularly when they have NPR etc. Not entirely for the short term listener. Rest assured, I’d probably never have noticed if it wasnt on the FM dial

#2 Comment By Samuel On March 30, 2007 @ 7:11 pm

My statement about NewsRadio was a bit rash, I was talking about the programming where they seem to repeat themselves every 15-30 minutes. The other programming is quite conducive to long term listenership, but I suspect that most people only ever hear the short term programming.

As for it being on FM, it’s a talk station, 2CA is a music station. Perhaps there is a need for an AM music station, but I can’t help but think that 2CA would have had their disastrous year last year when they changed format if they had been on the FM band. As it is, they are on AM, and seem to be getting back to the format which has carved out a niche for them for years…I still think it would rate better on FM though.

I’ll admit that NewsRadio had a pretty crummy frequency (1440kHz), but if they had moved to 1053kHz and 2CA moved to 103.9Mhz (where NewsRadio are now), I think both stations would rate a lot better.

#3 Comment By Tim On March 30, 2007 @ 7:17 pm

Is this an AC Nielsen survey?

I know when we had to do one of those once, only one person in the house did it because the others were too busy, or couldn’t be bothered. The lady was quite disappointed when she came to pick them up, which was sad, but perhaps this has something to do with the tendencies of the sample group.

Perhaps those who listen to ABC are those with more patience, and hence would be able to fill out a 15 page radio survey? And those who listen to the commercial stations would get bored and turn them off if there was a lack of music for 3 minutes?

#4 Comment By Samuel On March 30, 2007 @ 9:34 pm

Yes, AC Nielsen. They are the people contracted to run the commercial radio ratings.

Your theory sounds quite reasonable Tim. I was involved in an AC Nielsen survey last year and it did take a fair bit of time and effort. It would be nice to have an electronic measuring system for the radio ratings, but as radio is more portable than television, and you can hear it in shops and other places where you can’t really affix a ratings meter and work out how many people were listening, the diary system is the best we have…it’s not perfect, as I think this survey and recent jumpy surveys in Sydney have shown, but an electronic system would be almost impossible. (AC Nielsen, feel free to prove me wrong and invent a workable elctronic solution).