RADIO LISTENING HOLDS STEADY IN CANADA Laurel Hyatt – CARTT Total hours tuned to radio held steady in the fall of 2004 compared with the same period a year ago, Statistics Canada reports. Canadians spent an average of 19.5 hours a week listening to the radio, the same number as in 2003, but 1.5 hours less than in 1995.
The latest numbers confirm what the industry has long known: that during the week, most listening in the home happens in the morning (from 6 to 10 a.m.), most work tuning occurs mid-day (from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), while most hours tuned in the car occur during the morning and afternoon drive periods.
Also not surprising: teens continued to tune out. In the fall of 2004, teenagers listened to the radio an average of only 8.5 hours a week, down nearly 3 hours from just five years ago. Of Canadians aged 12 and up, teens are the least likely to listen to the radio. Young adults aged 18 to 24 were only slightly more active, averaging 15.7 hours per week. The most likely group to tune in was women aged 65 and over, who tuned in an average of 23.6 hours per week.
The hottest formats continue to be adult contemporary, accounting for one-quarter of adult listening time, followed by gold/oldies/rock (15.3%), CBC Radio (11.1%), and talk (10.6%). The more education someone has, the more likely they are to listen to CBC Radio. The less education, the more likely they are to be country music listeners.
FM is still far and away the more popular band, accounting for three-quarters of all hours tuned in the fall of 2004, mainly due to better sound quality and the migration of many AM stations to FM over the past few years.
The FM band is most popular with younger listeners, while older people prefer AM stations, which may be due to the predominance of talk radio on the AM dial, Statscan says.
French-language AM stations are struggling, accounting for only 9% of AM listening, whereas French FM stations pulled in a healthy 26% of all FM tuning.
The biggest radio listeners are Prince Edward Islanders, tuning in an average of 21.2 hours per week in the fall of 2004, while British Columbians listened the least, with just 17.8 hours per week spent on the radio. |