Tech study sheds light on classical listeners’ habits

A few weeks ago I paid a quick visit to the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Cleveland. I’m working on an article for Current about the application of midday classical music research, which was discussed on the conference, so I can’t get into that subject on this blog quite yet. But there’s one thing I can share: links to the second annual Public Radio Technology Study.

This extensive study by Jacobs Media surveyed more than 28,000 public radio listeners about their use of technology. Respondents were grouped according to their preferred radio formats, so there’s lots of information to digest about classical listeners in particular, and it’s interesting to compare their habits to those of other listeners.

Perhaps not surprisingly, classical listeners were not as up on some trends. Sixty-five percent of classical listeners said they never send text messages — that’s the largest proportion of any format’s fans. Likewise, only 28 percent of classical listeners listen to podcasts — the smallest share of any format.

There’s much, much more to be learned from the study, so take a look at the PDF. PRPD has also made available an audio stream of Fred Jacobs presenting the study, which is definitely worth a listen — it may help you to process the large amount of data gathered.

About Mike Janssen

Mike Janssen Served as Scanning The Dial's original co-authors from Mar, 2008 to Jan, 2010 and is a freelance writer, editor and media educator based in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He has written extensively about radio, mostly for Current, the trade newspaper about public broadcasting, where his articles have appeared since 1999. He has also worked in public radio as a reporter at WFDD-FM in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he began his career in journalism and filed pieces for NPR. Mike's work in radio expanded to include outreach and advocacy in 2007, when he worked with the Future of Music Coalition to recruit applicants for noncommercial radio stations. He has since embarked on writing a series of articles about radio hopefuls for FMC's blog.

Mike also writes regularly for Retail Traffic magazine and teaches workshops about writing, podcasting and radio journalism. In his spare time he enjoys vegetarian food, the outdoors, reading, movies and traveling. You can learn more about Mike and find links to more of his writing and reporting at mikejanssen.net.

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2 thoughts on “Tech study sheds light on classical listeners’ habits”

  1. It is very dangerous to assume only geek classical listeners are listening on the internet. I have no idea how to send a text message, send a tweet or set up a My Space site. If you can type a stations web site into Internet Explorer and press the listen button you are listening. It is less work then reading parts of the on line version of the NYtimes. Finding a station that programs the way you like to listen takes more time but you are using the music listener side of your brain to do this. No tech knowledge required unless you have an interest in good quality sound.

    I do not expect anybody who has a good classical station over the air will go to the internet for classical music unless they are forced to try it. We have many of examples of what will force them to the net. Stations going off the air, downshifting in power, reducing the number of hours of classical programming, reducing programming quality (playing only one movement of a symphony) or moving to HD 2. I expect they will like Internet radio that is simulcast with an over the air broadcast once they figure out how easy it is to listen over the net.

    Net, Net. (bad pun) Classical listeners on the Internet have lost terrestrial classical radio and are using this technology because the idea of no classical music in the house is unthinkable. Think of these people when you are trying to increase the number of people attaching to your stream that may also contribute to your station.

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