Community Radio listenership figures

fm 1

Are there listenersship figures for community radio and if so were ?

bbability

In short... No they are not included in the jnlr returns although the BAI should carry out an annual review on listenership and the impact a community radio station is having on it's community. Good bad or indifferent it's long overdue

BrianD

I believe that the figures for community radio might be included in the "other radio' in each survey book.

The interviewers do ask what other radio stations that the respondent listened to and record it. So the data is collected.

i suppose the main issue is that most community stations would not be able to afford the JNLR subscription. Furthermore, the primary objective of the JNLR is to record listenership data for making decisions on and evaluating advertising schedules, one has to ask what would the benefit be to the community sector as many don't take advertising (or in any case aren't fully commercial operations).

Most programming by community stations is not commercially driven or aimed at the largest audiences. They are aimed at filling particular needs in the community. This means that the audience may be small by design. The JNLR is a quantitative study and provides no indication of programme quality.

The JNLR sampling methodology is built for local, regional and national measuring. As many community stations only cover small areas within a county the sampling method may not accurately record community radio listenership. For example, the Dublin book reflects listenership in Co. Dublin and not in Dublin 15 or west Dublin etc. I would imagine that there would be a cost increase for all subscribers to get this level of detail.

Lenny Lovett

I would think it's not in the BAI's best interests to survey the Community stations too closely as the results could upset the current 'Independent' stations. I believe Tipp Midwest, West Limerick 102, Liffey Sound and West Dublin are doing very well indeed listener wise.

feckabout

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

I would think it's not in the BAI's best interests to survey the Community stations too closely as the results could upset the current 'Independent' stations. I believe Tipp Midwest, West Limerick 102, Liffey Sound and West Dublin are doing very well indeed listener wise.

West Dublin and Liffey Sound? You can't be serious man, they're both on for about half an hour a month with signals and audio so poor that barking dogs can drown them out in their franchise area. Seriously, Dublin ATC probably have more listeners than either of those two stations!

BrianD

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

I would think it's not in the BAI's best interests to survey the Community stations too closely as the results could upset the current 'Independent' stations. I believe Tipp Midwest, West Limerick 102, Liffey Sound and West Dublin are doing very well indeed listener wise.

there's nothing to stop them so far as I know, participating in the survey if they stump up the fee. As I said, the survey is for commercial radio and wouldn't be of much benefit to a non-commercial station.

Lenny Lovett

feckabout wrote: »

West Dublin and Liffey Sound? You can't be serious man, they're both on for about half an hour a month with signals and audio so poor that barking dogs can drown them out in their franchise area. Seriously, Dublin ATC probably have more listeners than either of those two stations!

Sorry! Was mixing it up with Dublin City FM and West Dublin! Both broadcast all day don't they?

bbability

It's not a jnlr survey community radio needs but more of a 'are they serving the community' survey.
For me some of the stations are been left to their own devices. A mandatory change of the boards of management should be bi-annually and would keep new ideas and new people a chance to keep things fresh.
It's not about ratings but more about serving a giving a community the service it requires.

Lenny Lovett

bbability wrote: »

It's not a jnlr survey community radio needs but more of a 'are they serving the community' survey.
For me some of the stations are been left to their own devices. A mandatory change of the boards of management should be bi-annually and would keep new ideas and new people a chance to keep things fresh.
It's not about ratings but more about serving a giving a community the service it requires.

They provide a great training ground for new talent. Many of todays's 'names' started out on community radio.

leggo

I'd definitely add my weight to the argument that Community Radio should be more closely monitored for standards and benefit to the community rather than ratings.

It can be a very effective tool for a community, as Lenny said a good training ground for up-and-coming talent, and a massive benefit to both volunteers and listeners if done correctly. However it can also be a massive exercise in mental masturbation if it's handled poorly. The BAI should ensure that all stations are serving the needs of the greater community and the volunteers and not the few voices of a vocal minority.

Lenny Lovett

leggo wrote: »

I'd definitely add my weight to the argument that Community Radio should be more closely monitored for standards and benefit to the community rather than ratings.

It can be a very effective tool for a community, as Lenny said a good training ground for up-and-coming talent, and a massive benefit to both volunteers and listeners if done correctly. However it can also be a massive exercise in mental masturbation if it's handled poorly. The BAI should ensure that all stations are serving the needs of the greater community and the volunteers and not the few voices of a vocal minority.

It's kind of catch 22 as regards serving the minority especially when it comes to broadcasting hours. Because most community stations have little or no advertising income and rely on donations/sponsors they can't be on air all day hence not many voices make it to air. Maybe a chunk of the licence fee could be diverted their way?

leggo

I don't mean in terms of presenters. Most community stations have more than enough repeats etc that anyone with a good idea who is serious about a project that serves the community (and isn't some wannabe DJ just wanting to host a dance show) can make it to air.

In fairness, CRAOL is quite good for grants and forces stations to get their act together and put a legitimate 5-year plan into practise once given a grant.

When I speak of the minority, I'd be speaking more in terms that stations are made accountable TO the community: fitting what kind of programming the community both wants and needs to hear that can't be heard elsewhere. And not what kind of programming 1 or 2 people on a board (that doesn't accurately represent many of the diverse demographics within a community) personally want to hear or THINK the community needs. A man in his late 60's and a disgruntled, failed radio DJ in his 40's do not a community make.

Lenny Lovett

leggo wrote: »

A man in his late 60's and a disgruntled, failed radio DJ in his 40's do not a community make.

That's true but during the Celtic Tiger era (remember that!;)) the community stations depended on retired people for much of their programming and back room work as they were the only ones with enough time on their hands. I expect things are different now? I don't know but it would be interesting to find out if many newly unemployed younger people are getting involved in community radio.

leggo

And that would be involved in the proposed review of their standards: how active are the station in selling the idea of community volunteer work to the masses?

Thousands of people would LOVE to be heard on radio, though many wouldn't see it as an accessible or worthwhile goal, and wouldn't be aware that they can do so as a hobby. Most or all of us WOULD care about community if we were told why it mattered...after all, the community is on our doorstep and the its goings on affect our lives on a day-to-day basis.

If a station cannot marry these two things then it's either under-resourced (and therefore it should receive assistance or have its licence reviewed) or it's doing it's community a MASSIVE disservice in favour of the aforementioned mental masturbation.

monkeyfudge

At Near 90 fm we commissioned a TNS/MRBI survey a few years back.

It is indeed a very expensive undertaking.

But we made sure we were getting qualitative survey as opposed to just a quantitative one to find out how well we were serving the community. And we've based a lot off policies of the back of it as a result.

flutered

do they not have to send a tape or whatever of each days broadcasting away to make sure that they keep to a certain criteria ?.

monkeyfudge

All stations are required to maintain a log. Think it's 6 months.

The BAI can then request the logs for a specific date and time.

Fuzzy Clam

monkeyfudge wrote: »

At Near 90 fm we commissioned a TNS/MRBI survey a few years back.

It is indeed a very expensive undertaking.

But we made sure we were getting qualitative survey as opposed to just a quantitative one to find out how well we were serving the community. And we've based a lot off policies of the back of it as a result.

Are 98, 104 and Q counted as "Other Local/Regional" ?

monkeyfudge

I may have cropped them out at the time as the slide was poorly formatted. The listenership's of other commercial stations wasn't hugely relevant. But I believe they would have been in there on the original documents that tns/mrbi gave us.

The Muppet

flutered wrote: »

do they not have to send a tape or whatever of each days broadcasting away to make sure that they keep to a certain criteria ?.

monkeyfudge wrote: »

All stations are required to maintain a log. Think it's 6 months.

The BAI can then request the logs for a specific date and time.

Stations have to keep a log for 90 days, it's no longer done on tape the BAI accept a number of formats including mp3,

grenache

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

I would think it's not in the BAI's best interests to survey the Community stations too closely as the results could upset the current 'Independent' stations. I believe Tipp Midwest, West Limerick 102, Liffey Sound and West Dublin are doing very well indeed listener wise.

I'll tell you this much, i would listen to West Limerick 102 any day over that pathetic excuse for a station that is Limerick's Live 95fm. WL102 has a playlist, has a much better variation of music and doesn't play the same boring old tunes every day unlike that other station. Given that they're a voluntary station often comprised of amateur broadcasters , they do a very good job and put the "professional" 95fm to shane.

Lenny Lovett

monkeyfudge wrote: »

At Near 90 fm we commissioned a TNS/MRBI survey a few years back.

It is indeed a very expensive undertaking.

Have you any idea (ballpark) of the survey cost to the station? I ask because it was a survey of only 300 people so it can't have cost them (mrbi) a huge sum to carry out. Considering they probably tied it in with several other surveys.

monkeyfudge

In and around €10,000 I believe.

Not something we can afford to do regularly. And not something many community stations could ever afford to do.

Makes sense for the commercial stations to fork out big bucks, listenership numbers mean more commercial revenue for them. Listenership figures aren't as overly important for community stations due to the increased importance of the participatory element.

Lenny Lovett

monkeyfudge wrote: »

In and around €10,000 I believe.

Not something we can afford to do regularly. And not something many community stations could ever afford to do.

Makes sense for the commercial stations to fork out big bucks, listenership numbers mean more commercial revenue for them. Listenership figures aren't as overly important for community stations due to the increased importance of the participatory element.

Hmm, €10k seems a lot for what they gave you. I agree it's a lot for a community station to find. Money that could be invested in better things like equipment, training etc. I'd love to see (for the craic) the community stations being surveyed in the JNLR books for a year and see how they fare against their commercial brothers. I bet we'd be surprised at how ell they'd stand up against them. Well, I wouldn't as I believe strongly that the community stations are doing a trojan job considering the odds that are staked against them in terms of advertising constraints etc.

monkeyfudge

Well like I said it was a lot more than just a listenership survey.

We were able to determine a lot of what people wanted to hear more of on the station.



It's a while since I've read the thing... this was about 5 years ago, but there was a lot in it. It also played a part in our license application back in 2006.

Lenny Lovett

Ah, five years ago. Right. Yeah, I see the additional info. Interesting stuff. So how much does the JNLR inclusion cost a commercial station? Is there a flat cost or is based on geographical area/population size etc?

monkeyfudge

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

Ah, five years ago. Right. Yeah, I see the additional info. Interesting stuff. So how much does the JNLR inclusion cost a commercial station? Is there a flat cost or is based on geographical area/population size etc?

I'd imagine it's a good deal higher. JNLR means big bucks to a commercial radio stations advertising power, so they know how to charge for a stations inclusion in the survey.