Fundamentals In Brief
Public service begets public support.
Listeners send money to public radio when they rely upon its service and consider it important in their lives.
They are also more inclined to send money when they believe their support is essential and government and institutional funding is minimal.
Listeners who have more money can give more money; however, their reliance on public radio and its importance in their lives exert greater influence over the size of their gifts.
Public service and public support are linked so tightly that listener support can be used as a proxy for the public service that causes it.
Public support, like public service, is the product of two factors: the value listeners place on the programming, and the amount of listening done to the programming.
- and All Things Considered are both highly valued and widely heard by listeners. Consequently, they generate almost a third of all listener support.
Morning Edition
Local classical music is widely heard but not as highly valued. While it generates almost a quarter of the listening to public radio, it produces a fifth of all listener support.
The value that listeners place on programming is based more on its importance in their lives than on their incomes.
Listeners generally value news over music, entertainment over news.
Listeners generally place higher value on network programming than on local programming.
Public service causes giving; fundraising efforts trigger it.
The most powerful way to increase public support is to improve public service.
Giving is the product of two programming factors (the value listeners place on the programming and the amount of listening done to it) and one development factor (the efficiency with which fundraising efforts turn this into financial support).
Effective fundraising activities can raise giving and gift amounts above public service predictions.
Fundraising practices can lower giving and gift amounts below public service predictions when they attenuate or otherwise interfere with public radio’s service to listeners:
The vast majority of listeners say that pledge drives are becoming more prevalent and harder to listen to. Half say they tune out or listen less during drives.
Many are concerned that underwriting has become more prevalent and annoying, and that it may eventually force changes in programming.
Some say they are less likely to contribute to public radio as more businesses support it.
Public radio transcends simple demographics to speak to listeners’ interests, values, and beliefs.
People listen to public radio programming because it resonates with their interests, values, and beliefs. This appeal generally cuts across age, sex and race.
Appeal can also cut across program genres and format types. Different programs and formats may appeal to the same kind of listener as long as they stay focused on that listener’s interests, values, and beliefs.
Changes in the sound and sensibility of programming can alter its appeal. When programming appeal changes, so does the kind of listener it attracts.
Public radio’s primary appeal most strongly attracts Americans with college or advanced degrees.
They are younger and older, women and men of many racial and ethnic backgrounds, present in numbers that reflect the level of college education in their respective demographic groups.
For most public radio stations, increasing public service – and public support – means better serving the needs of college- educated Americans.
But the principle of appeal allows us to serve well any kind of listener we choose, as long as the programming we air consistently reflects the interests, values and beliefs of that listener.
Audience Research Analysis
Copyright © ARA and CPB. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 01, 2000 12:38 PM.
